As Bitcoin and blockchain continue to gain momentum across global financial markets, mortgage professionals can no longer afford to view digital assets as a niche technology. In this Hot Topics, David Lykken sits down with attorney and blockchain advisor Manny Alicandro to separate fact from fiction and explain why Bitcoin is about much more than investing. Together, they explore how blockchain can improve transparency, streamline financial transactions, reduce costs, accelerate mortgage closings, and expand access to financial services around the world. Whether you’re curious about cryptocurrency or wondering how decentralized technology could transform housing finance, this conversation provides a practical, balanced introduction to one of the most significant innovations shaping the future of lending.
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Manny Alicandro is the founding Partner and Member of the Firm, The Alicandro Law Firm, PLLC (“Alicandro Law”). Manny focuses on compliance, risk management, regulation, controls, surveillance, supervision, and governance. He has worked in diverse leadership roles in alternative asset management, banking, management consulting, electronic markets, trading technology, and regulation. He is a frequent industry speaker, panelist, webcaster, and published author.
Manny was General Counsel at a hedge fund, trading, technology, and asset management firm. He led all strategic and tactical legal initiatives and was involved in incubating new FinTech and RegTech. Previously, he was Director of the Financial Services Risk and Regulatory Practice at a global Management Consulting Firm. He advised clients on the overall management and performance of their business, focusing on compliance management, regulation, risk, controls, and governance.
Prior, Manny was Executive Director and Assistant General Counsel at a Global Investment Bank covering cash equities and electronic trading. Earlier in his career, through his almost ten years at a Global Exchange where he was an Assistant General Counsel, he focused on electronic trading, U.S. trading regulations, management of electronic exchanges, and market structure issues.
Before that, Manny spent almost thirteen years in compliance and regulatory leadership roles working for several large securities firms and FINRA. He has been exposed to legal and regulatory compliance issues about equities, derivatives, options, and futures markets during this time.
Manny has a B.A. from New York University, an M.S. from Pace University, a J.D. from New York Law School, and an MBA from MIT. He is a member of the Bar, State of New York, and admitted in the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, United States Bankruptcy Court Southern District of New York, the DC Federal Court, the U.S. Tax Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court.