Rebecca Liao is Co-Founder and COO at Skuchain, a top blockchain company that provides an end-to-end platform for trade and supply chain and a 2019 World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer. In 2020, the World Trade Organization named Skuchain one of the top three blockchain companies in trade finance. Under her leadership, Skuchain’s platform grew to $4 billion+ in annual volume.
She was a member of Secretary Clinton’s foreign policy team for her 2016 presidential campaign, responsible for Asia trade and economic policy. Prior to Skuchain, Rebecca was Director of Business Development and Head of Asia at Globality, Inc., a Softbank-backed B2B unicorn for AI-powered procurement of professional services. She began her career as an international corporate attorney at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP and Fenwick & West LLP. She represented clients in Asia, North America and Europe across a variety of industries, including Internet, mobile, semiconductors, enterprise software, energy, advertising technology, consumer technology and finance. Her work focused on domestic and cross-border transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity investments, venture financings, debt financings and public offerings of debt and equity. She also regularly advised public and private companies on corporate governance and securities law compliance.
Rebecca is also a writer and China analyst. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, The National Interest, Bloomberg View, n+1, Democracy Journal, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Times Literary Supplement, Chinafile, The Diplomat, Huffington Post, Dissent Magazine, The New Inquiry, the LA Review of Books, The China Story Journal, Tea Leaf Nation, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Classical Voice. She regularly comments on China for Deutsche Welle and Channel NewsAsia and has also appeared on HuffPost Live and SiriusXM Radio. She is a contributing editor at SupChina.
A graduate of Stanford University, where she studied Economics, and Harvard Law School, she founded The Aleph Mag, a digital magazine about art, culture and Chinese law and politics. She serves on the Board of Advisors of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and is a Co-Chair of the Brookings Society. She is also on the Board of Directors of Words Without Borders, Voices of Music and the Wagner Society of Northern California. She is also a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations. Rebecca is a jazz and opera singer and tweets at @beccaliao.
Hi Ms. Liao:
I read with interest your recent article in Foreign Affairs on the potential of blockchain.
That article presupposes that readers know what blockchain is.
Do you have a layman’ guide that explains to a novice exactly what blockchain is and how it functions, perhaps with a concrete example or two?
Best
Uwe Reinhardt.
Hi Professor Reinhardt,
Many thanks for your kind words. Certainly, I can recommend a few materials to get you started with blockchain. Blockchain Revolution, by Don Tapscott, is the industry classic. For the world of private blockchains (as opposed to cryptocurrencies), this Medium article remains a great explainer: https://medium.com/@marcusswanepoel/beyond-the-blockchain-3ebd5eda3d54. Hope that helps!
All best,
Rebecca