Stephen McKeon spent six years out of college working in finance for venture-backed startups before returning to graduate school and earning his PhD in finance in 2011. Blending his interest and experience, Steve focuses his research on corporate finance, M&A, security issuance, and most recently, crypto assets, where he has become a leading academic authority in the nascent area.

Our conversation starts with Steve’s first job smack into the teeth of the tech meltdown in 2000 and his subsequent roles at a winery and a drone company. We then turn to his work as an academic in the world of crypto assets, walking through the thesis for security tokens.

Steve presents a case for the future of security tokens that is tangible and achievable. Now that the noise from soaring crypto currency prices has died down, we can learn a lot from Steve about what blockchain technology may bring to investing in the years ahead.