(no title)

Researcher Entrepreneur Speaker

Robert Henker

Researcher, Entrepreneur and Speaker at the intersection of Information Technology and Innovation with focus on Algorithmic Automation and Decentralized Systems.

50+ conferences across EU, US & APAC

www.germanquantum.com www.voluntarycarbon.org www.resiliente-infrastruktur.de

About

Researcher, Entrepreneur and Speaker with a track record of more than 50 conferences in Europe, US & APAC.

Robert Henker is Researcher, FinTech Entrepreneur, Guest Lecturer and Speaker with a track record of more than 50+ international conferences & corporate events including:

Current roles: Researcher, Entrepreneur and Guest Lecturer

Robert Henker is Founder & CEO of German Deep Tech Quantum GmbH, a deep-tech startup based in Potsdam near Berlin, Germany. Founded in 2018 as a spin-off by researchers and PhDs in computer science, the company is part of the German Deep Tech Group. German Quantum's proprietary SaaS platform for Digital Asset Analytics combines real-time market data processing, quantitative analytics and algorithmic automation. The platform enables the development, deployment and monitoring of Automated Decision Systems (ADS) for data analytics, strategy deployment and algorithmic execution. B2B SaaS clients include asset managers, proprietary trading firms and digital asset exchanges, primarily across the APAC region. The platform enables the algorithmic execution of more than €20 billion in annual notional volume.

Robert Henker is a Doctoral Researcher in Computer Science at the University of Potsdam and an Affiliated Fellow Researcher and Advisor at XU Exponential University His research focuses on Autonomous Systems, Automated Decision Systems, Visual Analytics and Quantitative Models for digital assets. He initiated and led several industry–academia collaboration projects with renowned industry partners. His most recent projects include QAVCM Quantitative Analytic Models and Explainable AI (XAI) for the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), RITS, a resilient technology suite for critical infrastructure in the federal state of Brandenburg and ImmoToken, which explores the tokenization of real-world assets.
2017 to 2022 Mr Henker was Researcher and built up a Digital Asset Analytics research team at the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering (HPI) at the University of Potsdam. HPI was named after its founder and donator Hasso Plattner co-founder of software company SAP. His research bridges computer science and innovation, covering Autonomous Systems, Decentralized Systems, Algorithmic Automation and Visual Analytics.

Since 2009 Mr Henker teaches as Guest Lecturer in the fields of IT Strategy & Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at various universities.

Past Roles: FinTech Founder, Education, Awards

FinTech Founder
In 2010, Robert Henker founded the FinTech & robo-advisor platform CASHBOARD. As CEO, he scaled the company into one of Germany's leading robo-advisors and one of Europe's top 10 wealth-tech platforms, serving more than 10,000 clients by 2017. Initially bootstrapped, CASHBOARD twice set records as one of Europe's fastest crowdfunded startups, raising €100k in 51 minutes 2012 and €350k in 9 hours 2013. In 2015, the company raised €5 million from leading venture capital investors, including Earlybird, ProSiebenSat.1 and 500 Startups. Early crowdfunding investors ultimately realized a return of 148%.

Education
Robert Henker holds a Diploma in Business Informatics, is a Certified Portfolio Manager (Deutsche Börse/EBS University) and earned his MBA from ESCP Europe Paris, one of Europe's leading business schools. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science at the Digital Engineering Faculty of the University of Potsdam.

Awards
Mr Henker won several awards, most notably Europe’s highest endowed startup prize and one of the worlds most important startup awards (Forbes) - the SevenVentures Pitch Day at NOAH Leaders Conference London - worth a €4m TV media budget.

Publications

Chapter 2: Is Real Estate Tokenization the Killer App?

This chapter shows how tokenization digitally depicts real assets such as real estate and makes them flexibly tradable. Security tokens in particular offer investors security and could establish themselves as a standard in the real estate industry. Tokenization makes real estate more mobile, liquid and accessible, lowers entry barriers for small investors and enables automated transactions with smart contracts.

Haufe Book: Blockchain, tokenization and metaverse in the construction and real estate world Contribution – Chapter 2:
Is real estate tokenization the killer application?
First 4 Pages

A. Göke, C. Jacob, A. Jedelsky, S. Kukovec
(2024)

In 2016, BitMEX introduced a novel type of derivates – Perpetual Swaps, i.e., futures with an infinite term. Perpetual swaps provide a new strategic risk management tool for digital assets due to their custody-free nature, high leverage, and funding mechanism, but there has been little quantitative analysis on the their benefits. In this paper, we introduce a systematic strategy that combines a Quanto Perpetual Swap with a spot position to benefit from the funding mechanism.

A Low-Volatility Strategy based on Hedging a Quanto Perpetual Swap

R. Henker, D. Atzberger, T. Matsui, W. Knottenbelt, W. Scheibel, J. Döllner
(2024)

Most spot trading in digital assets occurs on centralized exchanges, where offers for buying and selling are organized via an order book. In liquid markets, the price achieved for buying and selling deviates only slightly from the assumed reference price, that is, trading is associated with low implicit costs. This paper describes the design and implementation of Athena, a system that automatically splits orders across multiple exchanges to minimize implicit costs. For this purpose, order books are collected from several centralized crypto exchanges and merged into an internal unified order book.

Athena: Smart order routing on centralized crypto exchanges using a unified order book

R. Henker, D. Atzberger, R. Henker, J. Vollmer, W. Scheibel, J. Döllner, M. Bick
(2024)

The paper introduces Hephaistos, a system designed to collect, process, and unify order book data from 22 centralized exchanges and 55 currency pairs. Unlike tick data, which only shows the last transaction, order books provide a more accurate view of market prices and available volume. Hephaistos aggregates this data into a Unified Order Book, enabling a Smart Order Routing algorithm that splits orders across multiple exchanges to achieve better execution prices. The system captures around 32% of global daily spot trading volume, and tests show that the algorithm reduces slippage, making it effective for high-frequency trading.

Hephaistos: A Management System for Massive Order Book Data from Multiple Centralized Crypto Exchanges with an Internal Unified Order Book

R. Henker, D. Atzberger, J. Vollmer, W. Scheibel, J. Döllner, M. Bick
(2023)

Real estate is the largest asset class and is popular with both professional and retail investors. However, it suffers from illiquidity and high equity entry barriers. The 2021 adoption of the Electronic Securities Act by the German Bundestag established a legal framework for tokenizing real estate assets and their management via digital ledger technology in Germany. This paper outlines a business concept for managing ownership and transactions in German real estate using blockchain. It also includes a market analysis of existing approaches and discusses legal limitations specific to Germany.

Real Estate Tokenization in Germany: Market Analysis and Concept of a Regulatory and Technical Solution

R. Henker, D. Atzberger, W. Scheibel, J. Döllner
(2023)

Trading for a currency pair on centralized exchanges is organized via an order book that collects all open buy and sell orders and serves as the basis for price formation. While basic 2D visualizations are typically provided, they do not support comparing different order book snapshots. This work introduces OrderBookVis, a 2.5D visualization that displays multiple order book snapshots in sequence on a 2D reference plane. Use cases include analyzing the temporal evolution of an order book for a specific market and comparing different order books across multiple markets.

OrderBookVis: A Visualization Approach for Camparing Order Books from Centralized Crypto Exchanges

A. Jobst, D. Atzberger, R. Henker, W. Scheibel, J. Döllner
(2023)

Most cryptocurrencies are traded on centralized exchanges using order books. Liquidity, alongside trading fees, is a key factor in exchange choice. This study analyzes liquidity across nine order books (three pairs on three exchanges) over 2022, showing that higher market cap and trading volume lead to greater liquidity. Liquidity correlations between exchanges are moderate. External events like the FTX and Terra Luna crashes significantly impacted liquidity, with recovery time depending on exchange size and market cap.

Examining Liquidity of Exchanges and Assets and the Impact of External Events in Centralized Crypto Markets: A 2022 Study

A. Jobst, D. Atzberger, R. Henker, J. Vollmer, W. Scheibel, J. Döllner
(2023)