Citi’s government affairs co-head in Europe joins financial data DeFi DIA

Ioana Surpateanu, formerly co-head of European government affairs at Citi, has joined DIA, the decentralized finance project focused on crowd-verified financial data.

Surpateanu, whose last day at Citi was March 12 after four years with the bank, joins DIA as chief strategy officer. Part of her remit will be running DIA Labs, a grants program run aimed at financing project developers on the network.

She will also work closely with the executive team to position DIA at the center of regulatory discussions in Europe.

“Some concepts need demystifying and some misconceptions addressed. A reliable and regulatory compliant data layer is a central element in creating a link between DeFi and institutional investors,” Surpateanu told The Block.

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“I also strongly believe progressive legislation on crypto will become an important geopolitical tool and one that the EU can very easily leverage to its advantage,” she added.

DIA, which stands for Decentralized Information Asset, describes itself as an “open-source, data and oracle platform” for the DeFi ecosystem. The Swiss non-profit raised $15 million through a sale of its governance token last August.

Besides running DIA Labs, Surpateanu’s initial focus will be to launch a DeFi education and promotional campaign with policymakers and regulators. She will also start a platform for empowering women in the emerging tech sector.

“DeFi has considerably and swiftly unlocked access for both users and creators of financial products and instruments. To ensure it evolves in the right direction, this new paradigm is contingent on a few prerequisites - transparency and impeccable data sets are amongst the most important ones,” she said.

About Author

Ryan Weeks is deals editor at the The Block, focused on fundraising, M&A and institutional trends in the crypto space, among other things. He is particularly interested in investigative work — so please send tips! Ryan previously worked at Financial News, Dow Jones as a fintech correspondent in London. Prior to that, he wrote for several different publications, including Sifted, AltFi and Wired. Beyond journalism, Ryan is a keen reader and writer. He enjoys all things active, especially running, rugby, climbing and tennis.