Mai Santamaria

Head of Financial Advisory Unit, Department of Finance

“Mai leads the Financial Advisory team in Ireland’s Department of Finance. This team carries out research into emerging and new areas of financial services and technology, advising and recommending policy. Mai led the Market in Crypto Assets Regulations (MiCA) negotiations for Ireland with the EU Commission. She is also a bureau member of the OECD’s Committee in Financial Markets and member of its Ad-Hoc Expert Group in Digital Finance. She was a member of the BlockchainIreland advisory board for two years (2018-2020); organised an Irish government-wide public services blockchain hackathon in 2019; was a co-founder of BlockW; and co-chair of BGIN (Blockchain Governance Initiative Network). Most recently, in 2023, she we was the recipient of the Fintech Public Servant of the Year Award.

Prior to joining the Department of Finance, Mai worked in finance executive roles in the banking and insurance sectors for over 20 years. In 2021 she published a World Economic Forum paper on the use of stablecoins for cross-border aid and, in 2017, co-authored a Department of Finance virtual currencies and blockchain discussion paper. She is a native of Barcelona and a Fellow Chartered Accountant in Ireland.

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