Patrick Gruhn
Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship, Digital Innovation & Ethics
LL.M., MBA
Prof. Patrick Gruhn teaches and conducts research in Entrepreneurship, Digital Innovation & Ethics at the European Institute of Management (EIM). An accomplished entrepreneur, lawyer, and software engineer, he brings over two decades of leadership experience across technology, law, and finance. His work bridges the worlds of fintech innovation, regulatory frameworks, and artificial intelligence, with a particular focus on blockchain-based financial infrastructure.
Mr. Gruhn embarked upon his entrepreneurial journey at the mere age of 18 in Germany, establishing his first technology venture during the nascent stages of the dotcom era. Since then, he has founded and helmed numerous successful enterprises across Europe and the United States, including Perpetuals.com, a European provider of market infrastructure for derivatives, and previously DigitalAssets.AG, which was subsequently acquired by the FTX Group. In preceding years, he established WebActis, an AI-powered LegalTech company specializing in the automated analysis of insurance documentation, which was successfully divested to a leading European media and services conglomerate. Furthermore, he was the founder of MagicalWorks, a multi-award-winning German web hosting provider which was also sold in 2007.
With deep expertise in fintech regulation and emerging financial technologies, Prof. Gruhn’s legal background complements his technical and managerial insights. He finished multiple post-graduate academic programs and executive certificates, including an LL.M., an MBA, as well as advanced studies in blockchain technology and artificial intelligence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He is currently completing a Ph.D. in Management at EIM, where his research explores the intersection of innovation, governance, and financial technology.
Beyond academia and entrepreneurship, Prof. Gruhn plays an active role in philanthropy and Catholic media leadership. He serves as CEO and Owner of K-TV, the largest German-speaking Catholic television network, and sits on the Boards of the Humanity 2.0 Foundation, The Catholic Herald, and the Chesterton Academy of Mater Dei in Oregon. He is also an investor in The Longbeard, a Catholic AI startup.
Prof. Gruhn is a Member of the Founders Circle of the German University of Digital Science, an institution focused on IT, AI, and technology management. His professional memberships include the International Bar Association (IBA) — where he participates in the Banking & Financial Law, Technology Law, and Securities and Capital Markets Committees — as well as the German Informatics Society (Gesellschaft für Informatik, GI), the Strategic Management Society (SMS), and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).
Prof. Gruhn’s commitment to ethical entrepreneurship and human-centered innovation reflects his belief in technology as a force for both economic and moral advancement.
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Creative destruction and innovation processes in IT and FinTech
Discovery and management of breakthrough ideas and disruptive technologies
Strategic management and competence-based theory of the firm
Integration of the Austrian School (Kirzner, Schumpeter, Mises), Resource-Based View (RBV), and Theory of Constraints (TOC)
Quantitative & Empirical Research
Empirical analysis of financial and crypto markets with a focus on retail investors
Study of market structures, trading data (MTF/DMA), and competitive dynamics
Application of machine learning and prediction market methods (including MIT Superminds) for market forecasting
Bridging economic theory, data analytics, and behavioral market research
Business Ethics & Philosophy
Classical virtue ethics and business ethics in the digital era
Catholic social teaching and its application to finance and entrepreneurship
Artificial intelligence ethics and moral responsibility in digital innovation
Compatibility of profitability, innovation, and ethical integrity
Prof. Patrick Gruhn’s research lies at the intersection of entrepreneurship, digital innovation, strategic management, and ethics.
His work seeks to understand how breakthrough ideas emerge, how creative destruction can be systematically fostered and managed, and how organizations can develop sustainable core competencies in fast-changing technological environments.
Theoretically, Prof. Gruhn draws on the Austrian School of Economics (Kirzner, Schumpeter, Mises), the Resource-Based View (RBV), and the Theory of Constraints (TOC).
This framework allows him to analyze how entrepreneurial discovery, heterogeneity, and market constraints shape competitive advantage, innovation cycles, and strategic decision-making.
Empirically, his research focuses on financial and crypto markets, particularly retail investor behavior and market dynamics across multilateral trading facilities (MTF/DMA).
By leveraging extensive real-world trading and usage data, Prof. Gruhn investigates innovation patterns, market inefficiencies, and predictive modeling.
His work integrates machine learning and collective intelligence systems (based on MIT’s Superminds framework) to explore how markets form and adapt to expectations in real time.
In parallel, Prof. Gruhn’s research addresses the ethical dimension of digital transformation.
He studies classical virtue ethics, the compatibility of modern finance with Catholic social teaching, and the emerging field of AI ethics.
His goal is to develop frameworks that reconcile technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and financial activity with human-centered moral responsibility.
06/01/2023 – today | Founder and Group CEO of the Perpetuals.com Group - Derivatives Financial Market Infrastructure Provider - Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) license (https://www.cysec.gov.cy/en-GB/entities/investment-firms/cypriot/100273/) |
| 07/01/2020 – 11/12/2022 | Founder of DigitalAssets.AG (sold to FTX in November 2021, after the sale remained on board as “Head of FTX Europe”) - Tokenization of Assets - Crypto Derivatives Issuer |
| 08/01/2016 – today | CEO and sole Owner of Kephas Corporation (DBA PMX technologies previously DAAG Technology Services) - Technology and Software Development Firm |
| 09/01/2011 – today | Founder and CEO of the leading German-speaking catholic Television Station “K-TV” (Kephas Stiftung gemeinnützige GmbH and K-TV Kephas Fernsehen AG) - 35 Employees (including all subsidiaries in Europe) - Subsidiaries in four countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein) - approx. 31,235,000 households technical coverage in Europe (without the internet) |
| 01/01/2014 – 03/12/2015 | Interim management as “Global Process Director” at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions - Responsible for global business process improvement initiatives (including US) - approx. 14.5 million USD Budget responsibility - Reports directly to the CFO |
| 09/01/2011 – 2014 | Founder and CEO of “Rheintal Consulting AG” in Switzerland (continuity of the business and services from “Internet Alliance GmbH” after moving to Switzerland) operating a LegalTech solution with Machine Learning for Insurance Files) - Sold company in 2014 |
| 09/01/2011 | Moving to Switzerland |
| 07/01/2001 - 12/31/2007 | Founder and CEO of the internet startup “MagicalWorks Deutschland GmbH” (Webhosting and Application Service Provider) - 21 times awards winner as best Webhosting provider in Germany (PC- Professionell, Internet Magazin, Homepage Magazin) - 22 Employees - more then 30.000 internet domains and more the 10.000 customers |
2025 (start date) | PhD in Management at the European Institute of Management |
| 2025 (start date) | Master of Science (M.Sc.) Applied AI at the German University of Digital Science |
| 2025 | Certificate in Artificial Intelligence Technologies (Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT) |
| 2019 | Certified Crypto Investigator (Blockchain Intelligence Group) |
| 2019 | Smart Contract Certificate (University of Buffalo) |
| 2018-2019 | Certificate in Blockchain Technologies (Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT) |
| 2018-2019 | Blockchain Certificate (University of Buffalo) |
| 2018-2019 | U.S. Contract Law Certificate (Yale University) |
| 2018 | English Common Law Certificate (University of London) |
| 2018 | Certificate in the Law System of the United States (University of Pennsylvania Law School) |
| 2018 | Certificate in U.S. Contract Law (Harvard) |
| 2012 – 2014: | Executive Master of Laws (LL.M.) in international Company, Foundation, and Trust Law (University of Liechtenstein) |
| 2013 – 2014: | Certificate of Advanced Studies in international Intellectual Property Rights (University of Liechtenstein) |
| 2012 – 2014 | Master of Business Administration (MBA) (General Management) study (Danube University Krems) |
| 2001 – 2006 | Law studies at Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover and Fernuniversität Hagen and additional courses in economics and computer science. |
| 2000 | High school / university-preparatory school: Albert-Einstein-Schule, Laatzen, Germany (certificate of education “Allgemeine Hochschulreife”) |