Ron Totaro, CEO of Tassat | Episode 137

A Poughkeepsie NY native with a self-proclaimed passion for “understanding how all the pieces work functionally, operationally, strategically and globally,” Tassat CEO Ron Totaro will be the first to tell you that he has learned more from his failures than his successes. However, the successes have been abundant.Beginning his career working for several big industry players such as American Express and AOL, Ron is no stranger to driving innovation at a more rapid pace. In fact, he drove Tassat at a pace so rapid that three years ago, they went to market as the first official B2B blockchain payments business in the world.So, what do they do? In a nutshell, Tassat enables the tokenization of U.S. dollars and deposits so that once a dollar is converted into a token on the blockchain, it can be sent instantaneously to another wallet that exists within the same system. According to Ron, it’s similar to a “Venmo-like transaction – only industrial-strength grade for the B2B space.”Tassat utilizes permission-based blockchain to equip each individual bank customer with the capability to tokenize U.S. dollars into a digital wallet. And in mid-December, the company launched the first  and only member-owned blockchain network that will facilitate real-time bank-to-bank transfers from within the network.But, according to Ron, “it’s not just about selling blockchain but, rather, about creating the ecosystem that is going to be most effective for each individual bank.” And his professional pillars for success? Transparency, accountability, collaboration and teamwork.