People of OST: Asaf Weitzman, Global Controller
Asaf Weitzman is a seasoned New York-based certified public accountant with more than 12 years of mixed public and corporate experience in accounting, audits, and taxation. Asaf joined OST after working in accounting and finance leadership roles for NY-based global tech and e-commerce start-ups. Outside of work, Asaf enjoys working on home improvement projects and spending time with his wife and two kids.
Tell us about yourself!
I’m based in New York. After working for several years in public accounting and getting my CPA license, I shifted to in-house accounting finance roles in New York City-based startups. As far as my interests, I truly enjoy being part of a team that helps a young company grow and scale with time. Putting in the right financial foundation is very critical for any business that wants to grow.
What excites you about blockchain?
The way I think about it, the essence of blockchain is accounting. Most people that are not accounts don’t think of it that way, but in its most simplistic form, blockchain is a ledger that has details of transactions that go in and out. It’s similar to a T account table that list debits and credits. It was very natural for me to look at a wallet and see all the transactions that go in and out. The revolutionary part about the blockchain technology from the accounting standpoint is that it’s a decentralized, immutable technology. No one can change the records once they have been validated. It creates an almost absolute level of trust, which is one of the cornerstones of accounting and auditing.
What does your role as global controller at OST entail?
As global controller I’m in charge of all accounting, audits, and taxes for the company. I help the executive team make critical strategic decisions based on past and present financial results. Every major financial decision has to look at how it will affect the business. I give support based on past and present of financial results. The team takes a look at the company’s reports and then makes decisions going forward.
What regulations exist in your field?
For blockchain there are essentially very few regulations right now. Our approach is to take existing regulations for similar items and apply those regulations to blockchain and the different aspects of blockchain technology. There will be more regulations — it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. We know it’s coming, we just don’t know when exactly.
What do you look forward to for OST in 2019?
Well, I look forward to seeing our actual product in action. I’m looking forward to signing more customers, proving our business model. I’m very eager to see the company grow in transition from a concept to actual tangible products that people will use.
Thank you, Asaf!
Be sure to check out last week’s interview with OST lead user experience designer Swaminathan Jayaraman. Subscribe to our YouTube channel or listen to the audio format anywhere you listen to podcasts, including iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify. We’re also now available on Alexa! Simply add “OST LIVE” to your flash briefing.
About OST
OST blockchain infrastructure empowers new economies for mainstream businesses and emerging DApps. OST leads development of the OpenST Protocol, a framework for tokenizing businesses. In September 2018 OST introduced the OpenST Mosaic Protocol for running meta-blockchains to scale Ethereum applications to billions of users. OST KIT is a full-stack suite of developer tools, APIs, and SDKs for managing blockchain economies. OST partners reach more than 300 million end-users. OST has offices in Berlin, New York, Hong Kong, and Pune. OST is backed by leading institutional equity investors including Tencent, Greycroft, Vectr Ventures, and 500 Startups.
