Mr. Cesare Fracassi

Prof. Cesare Fracassi is an associate professor of finance and the director of the Blockchain Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business and the Fintech Research Lab. He went on leave in 2022 and 2023 to be the chief economist of the Coinbase Institute and the director of economic research at Coinbase. Prof. Fracassi also was a member of the State of Texas Work Group on Blockchain Matters. His primary research interest is in blockchain, financial technology and corporate finance. Prof. Fracassi?s research, published in the top finance journals, includes work on fintech, corporate governance, credit-rating agencies, small business financing, and the effects of social networks and culture on financial policies. He also teaches courses on fintech to undergrad, M.B.A., M.S.F., M.S.B.A. and M.S.I.T. students, corporate finance and valuation to M.B.A. students, and empirical corporate finance to Ph.D. students. Prof. Fracassi received his B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from the Politecnico di Milano (Italy), and his M.B.A. and Ph.D. in finance from UCLA Anderson. He also was a visiting professor at the Wharton School from 2012-13, and prior to earning his M.B.A., he worked as strategic management consultant at Booz Allen and Roland Berger in Italy, and as summer intern at the United Nations in New York.