Diana Barrero Zalles

Diana Barrero Zalles is Director of Research at the Global Blockchain Business Council. She is also co-author of the book Transparency in ESG and the Circular Economy: Capturing Opportunities Through Data, which discusses the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues for today’s connected world, and the role of emerging technologies to uphold sustainability. From a lens of ESG, Diana has advised on governance frameworks and product management strategy, as well as capital raising and M&A for blockchain implementations. She is also Senior Contributor for Forbes covering Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and Stablecoins, in addition to having published industry research and best practices for various topics related to digital assets, including market integrity for crypto trading platforms, market infrastructure, and decentralized finance (DeFi). She previously advised the Parliament of Cyprus to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets and a national anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) risk assessment. Diana also managed cross-border transactions with the investment banking offices of the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC. She is an alumna of the University of Notre Dame and has an MBA from Yale, where she founded and still runs a blockchain discussion forum. She was born in Bolivia and is a native Spanish and English speaker.