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SmartCon Hong Kong 2024

Finance Is On — the future of markets is shaped by those bold enough to build it.

Global Leaders

Featured Speakers

More speakers to be announced soon.

View All Speakers
Thomas Zschach
Chief Innovation Officer, Swift
Chris Perry
President, Broadridge Financial Solutions
Nelli Zaltsman
Head of Platform Settlement Solutions, Kinexys by JPMorgan
Raj Dhamodharan
Executive Vice President, Blockchain and Digital Currencies, Mastercard
Mark Garabedian
Director of Digital Assets and Tokenization, Wellington
Jonathan Ehrenfeld Solé
Head of Strategy, Swift
Sergey Nazarov
Co-founder, Chainlink
Program Themes

From Crypto to Capitol Hill

SmartCon brings governments, financial institutions, and leading Web3 projects together to discuss the blockchain technologies transforming markets, public services, and the global economy. The conference will enable leaders across capital markets, government, and Web3 to define how global markets move onchain, shape the next evolution of Web3, and discuss how onchain technology can strengthen trust, transparency, and efficiency in government systems.

Capital Markets

01

Future of Asset Management

02

Onchain/Offchain Payments

03

Regulated Stablecoins and Digital Money

04

Collateral Mobility

05

Modernizing Market Infrastructure

06

Compliance and Privacy

Web3

01

DEFI

BTCFi
Liquid Staking
Derivative

02

Blockchains

Research
Governance
Regional Trends

03

Privacy

Zero-Knowledge Proofs

04

Technologies

Interoperability
Layer 2s
Programmable Money
AI and Blockchain

Government

01

U.S. Digital Asset Landscape

02

Tokenized Assets

03

Identity and Proof of Reserve

SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
Finance is On

What is SmartCon?

SmartCon is the premier conference for leaders across finance, Web3, and government to explore the convergence of traditional finance and the onchain world. It’s where the most important updates in the blockchain industry are shared and where the future of the global financial system comes into view.

Built to Make an Impact

What Momentum Looks Like

1,800+

Attendees from finance and government

30+

Sponsors demoing their solutions

200+

Speakers presenting on Web3 and blockchain

395k+

Conference video views

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SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
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SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
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SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
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SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
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SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
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SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
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SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
Video Poster
SmartCon Hong Kong 2024
NOV 4-5, 2025  |  THE METROPOLITAN PAVILION

It’s On, NYC.

Get Tickets
Summer Mersinger
CEO, Blockchain Association
Summer Mersinger is CEO of Blockchain Association, where she leads advocacy efforts to advance digital asset innovation and policy in Washington. She previously served as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, nominated by President Biden and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. With over 20 years of experience in public policy and government affairs, Summer has held senior roles at the CFTC, on Capitol Hill as Chief of Staff to Senator John Thune, and in the private sector.
Matthew Sigel
Head of Digital Assets Research, Vaneck
Mr. Sigel helps guide VanEck’s digital assets strategy and manages two of the firms digital asset-oriented funds. He produces frequent research on Bitcoin, smart contract platforms, and emerging markets adoption of digital asset. Prior to VanEck, Mr. Sigel worked as a research analyst and portfolio strategist at CLSA, an analyst and portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein (where he covered technology and other sectors under Cathie Wood), and a journalist at Bloomberg, CNBC and NHK Japan Broadcasting, where he covered finance. Mr. Sigel is a CFA Charterholder and has a BA from Harvard University.
Demia Brener
Founder & CEO, OpenZeppelin
Founder & CEO at OpenZeppelin
Joe Flanagan
Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at Maple, Maple Finance
Joe Flanagan is a co-founder and the executive chairman at Maple, the leading onchain asset manager.
Adam Lawrence
Co-Founder, CEO, RWA.xyz
Adam is the co-founder and CEO at RWA.xyz. He previously worked at Microsoft.
Ryan Rugg
Head of Digital Assets Citi's Treasury and Trade Solutions, Citi
Ryan is currently the Head of Digital Assets for Citibank's TTS business. The TTS team helps enable their global clients by simplifying the management of treasuries, payments and commerce on a day-to-day basis. Recently, Ryan and the team announced Citi Token Services, which is a pilot that enables clients to transfer liquidity between Citi branches on a 24/7 basis. The service uses blockchain and smart contract technologies to deliver digital asset solutions for institutional clients. Citi Token Services will integrate tokenized deposits and smart contracts into Citi’s global network, upgrading core cash management and trade finance capabilities.

In Ryan's last role she was responsible for IBM’s America's blockchain team, helping to enhance client’s solutions and capabilities for building Digital Ecosystems. She provided strategic guidance for; operational and governance considerations, technology roadmaps, and services infrastructure to help clients focused on TIPS (Tokenization, Identity, Provenance & Sustainability).

In addition, her team helped build New York’s Excelsior Pass (Digital Wallet for Vaccinations & PCR tests), which was groundbreaking with millions of users and will help serve as a framework to aid in the development and implementation of digital health credentials and beyond. The blueprint will help as a guide to assist other states, territories, and entities in the expansion of credential systems to advance economic development efforts nationwide.

Prior to that Ryan was the Global Head of Industry at R3 (Fintech Startup), where she sat at the forefront of blockchain innovation across multiple industries. She was responsible for the strategic direction of R3’s key verticals, helping industry leaders capture the full benefits of blockchain for their businesses. Ryan also launched the Centre of Excellence for distributed ledger technology (DLT) in cooperation with ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development).
Kevin Liu
Co-Founder, Metis
Kevin is Corr Contributor at GOAT Network, the DC of Strategy at Metis Foundation, co-founder of ZKM (zkm.io), co-founder of Metis L2 (metis.io). He creates and delivers his vision of the foundation for Web3 mass adoption.

Besides GOAT Network, Metis, ZKM and Metis Foundation, Kevin is a founder of various successful projects including Token Economy Institution (TEI), where he helped to structure and execute their vision, narrative and strategy.

Kevin is an active researcher of the Token Economy, DAO and governance protocols. He completed MBA at the University of Chinese Academy of Science and currently resides in Toronto, ON.
Amar Kuchinad
CEO, Copper Technologies
Amar Kuchinad serves as the Global CEO of Copper Technologies, a leading digital asset infrastructure provider offering custody, treasury optimization services, and collateral management solutions. With a diverse background spanning traditional finance and fintech innovation, Amar brings a wealth of experience to drive Copper's institutional-first approach.
Paul-Adrien Hyppolite
CEO, Spiko
Co-founder & CEO of Spiko, Europe’s driving force in the tokenization of financial instruments.
Markus Franke
Founder & CEO, Mento Labs
Markus Franke is CEO and Co-Founder of Mento Labs, the development team behind Mento, an onchain FX platform. Markus is an economist who has been working for over 20 years at the intersection of economics, finance and technology: in traditional finance (J.P. Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Allianz), as a post-doc researcher (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Columbia Business School NYC, HKUST), and in the Web3 ecosystem (co-creator of Celo, Board Member of cLabs, Chief Economist at Celo Foundation). Markus holds a PhD in economics and is an advisor to many projects in the blockchain space.
Stephanie Lheureux
Head of Digital Assets Competence Center, Euroclear
Stéphanie Lheureux is the Director of the Digital Assets Competence Center for the Euroclear Group, based in Paris. With extensive experience in managing and delivering innovative projects for financial institutions and capital markets, Stéphanie has expertise in both traditional and blockchain technologies.

Before joining Euroclear, Stéphanie served as the Chief Product Officer (CPO) of Lemonway, a European Payment Service Provider. In this role, she was responsible for the core product offerings, including digital identity, payment, and cash management, as well as the company's web3 strategy.

Previously, Stéphanie was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of LiquidShare, a consortium founded by major European financial institutions in 2017. At LiquidShare, she led a transversal team to build a blockchain-based settlement infrastructure for listed and non-listed SMEs. This infrastructure connected asset managers, brokers, exchanges, custodians, and issuers to enable instant settlement of listed equities during industry pilots.

Prior to her role at LiquidShare, Stéphanie was the Head of Post Trade Innovation at Calypso Technology (now Adenza, part of Nasdaq Group), where she spent 14 years overseeing Post-Trade Product Management. She led a team of product managers responsible for Calypso’s range of products in securities services, clearing, cash management, cross-border payments, and other post-trade cross-asset services. Stéphanie was also a founding member of the Calypso Blockchain Accelerator group, where she spearheaded digital assets initiatives.

Stephanie Lheureux | LinkedIn
Alexander Höptner
CEO, AllUnity
Alexander Höptner is CEO of AllUnity. AllUnity, backed by DWS, Flow Traders and Galaxy Digital, is on a mission to launch the leading regulated EUR-denominated stablecoin to unlock greater institutional adoption of tokenized assets and seeks to bridge the Decentralized Finance and Traditional Finance ecosystems and enable market participants to access the developing on-chain economy. Prior to joining AllUnity, he served as Group CEO at 100x Group, the holding structure for the BitMEX platform. Before that, Alexander was with Börse Stuttgart GmbH and Euwax AG, where he served as CEO. Under Alexander’s leadership Börse Stuttgart exchange became a pioneer of digital asset trading and the first traditional exchange operator in the European Union to integrate crypto markets. He previously held executive committee roles for Deutsche Börse AG, operator of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, where he worked for 15 years before leaving to establish two start-ups for the trading of virtual assets on blockchain in the gaming industry.
Eliezer Ndinga
Head of Strategy, 21.co
Eliézer is Head of Strategy at 21.co, parent of 21Shares—the world’s largest issuer of crypto exchange-traded products.
Guided by a thesis that digital asset infrastructure will underpin tomorrow’s economy, he helped scale the firm from $20 million to over $10 billion in assets—shaping thesis-driven strategies that guide product, growth, and capital deployment.

He founded and led 21Shares research division, inventing industry-first frameworks—including the GCCS classification system (developed with CoinGecko)—and building real-time analytics now used by global institutions, regulators, and financial media. He co-authored The State of Stablecoins with Blockchain.com—widely recognized as the industry’s first deep dive on the topic, published before USDC’s rise. His team also launched the first public dashboards on Dune Analytics, setting the standard for on-chain intelligence and becoming a core reference for policymakers, analysts, and developers.

His research on crypto market integrity was instrumental in shaping the SEC’s approval of the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs—now the most successful ETF launch in history, with over $130 billion in AUM.

With over a decade in digital assets and early-stage venture capital—including backing a fintech unicorn at the seed stage—Eliézer is known for turning complex market signals into strategic clarity. He anticipated major inflection points in the industry, including China’s Bitcoin ban and the collapse of FTX, and has advised leading investors and institutions through cycles of volatility and transformation.

Most recently, he helped spark the creation of BlockSensai, an institutional-grade AI risk intelligence platform that laid the foundation for 21 Technologies, 21.co’s new business arm focused on infrastructure and data innovation.

His work has been cited by institutional investors, the global press, and RAND Corporation, where it contributed to U.S. policy and defense briefings. He lectures at global institutions on blockchain and financial systems and advises across go-to-market, product, and regulatory strategy.
Luca Prosperi
CEO & Co-Founder, M0
Luca Prosperi is Co-Founder and CEO of M0. With a 20-year career dedicated to building, advising, researching, and investing in financial intermediaries, Luca Prosperi has been at the forefront of transformative change in the financial sector. Before founding M0, his journey has seen him contribute to the evolution of some of the most impactful DeFi protocols, including his previous role in Lending Oversight at MakerDAO, advising investors operating in the space, and publishing his research at Dirt Roads.
Zubin Pratap
DevRel Engineering Manager, Chainlink Labs
Rajeev Bamra
Head of Strategy, Digital Economy , Moody's Ratings
Rajeev Bamra serves as the global Head of Strategy for Digital Economy at Moody's Ratings, based in New York.

A seasoned executive and thought leader, he plays a pivotal role in shaping the intersection of traditional finance and evolving digital economy within the rating agency. In his current position, Rajeev leads the Digital Economy Strategy and Operations Group, driving key decisions at Executive and Senior Leadership levels, and ensuring Moody's readiness for the digitalization of the global economy.

Rajeev serves as a significant catalyst in embedding the concept of digitalization, encompassing digital finance, digital currencies, decentralized technologies, AI, Quantum, innovative product design and emerging digital risks like Cybersecurity, into the fabric of Moody's ecosystem.

His visionary leadership extracts the maximum potential from the evolving digital economy, steering the innovation agenda and operational planning for the organization.

As a recognized thought leader, Rajeev has authored research papers and thought leadership documents on digital economy infrastructure development, leveraging transformative technologies such as blockchain and AI across various sectors.
Actively representing Moody's at events, panels, webinars, and podcasts, Rajeev helps optimize stakeholder relations to underscore Moody's commitment to digital finance and innovation. His visionary leadership and strategic acumen continue to propel Moody's into the forefront of the evolving digital economy.
Kristen Mierzwa Barrie
Head of Digital Assets, FTSE Russell, an LSEG business
As Head of Digital Assets for FTSE Russell’s Index Investing Group, Kristen is charged with developing its growing this new index segment in alignment with global institutional investor needs. Since 2019 Kristen has been responsible for the partnership with Digital Asset Research (DAR), the London Stock Exchange’s digital asset subject matter expert and pricing provider bringing institutional-grade digital asset data and indices to market.

Kristen joined FTSE Russell in March 2008 to work with Asset Managers that offer Exchange Traded Products, eventually leading the Americas ETP team to partner with clients on the design of alternative and cap weighted indices across asset classes. For example, Kristen has led development of the JP Morgan Diversified Factor Index Series, FTSE Invesco Dynamic Factor Index Series and all FTSE Russell’s full range of digital asset indices, including the most recent launch of the FTSE Grayscale Crypto Sector Index Series.

With more than 20 years of experience in the financial industry, Kristen started her career at Barclays Global Investors (now BlackRock).
Jeremy Ng
Founder & CEO, OpenEden
Jeremy Ng is the Founder and CEO of OpenEden Group, a leading RWA tokenization platform. He has over 24 years of experience in institutional finance, fintech, and digital assets. Prior to starting OpenEden, Jeremy served as APAC CEO of Gemini Exchange and established it as the leading fiat on-ramp exchange in Singapore. He also has extensive TradFi experience in Tier-1 investment banks, including leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, Leonteq, and Morgan Stanley.
Ashish Khandelwal
Founder & CEO, Anq
Ashish Khandelwal is the co-founder, CEO of ANQ. In the past he had served as the Head of Country for Xiaomi Financial Services in India, where he successfully built and expanded the payment, lending, and insurance businesses. Prior to this, he has led and built the consumer lending business for Capital Float, led senior positions at Bajaj Finance, Equifax, HSBC among other cos. Beyond his corporate achievements, Ashish has also been an active angel investor, providing financial support, mentorship, and strategic guidance to promising startup ventures.
Philip Forte
Founder, Elixir
Philip Forte is the founder of Elixir, the high-throughput network powering deUSD. Previously he was a Partner at BlockVenture, where he served as an advisor to Solana, Moonbeam, Flow Network, and others. He also previously founded the Carnegie Mellon Blockchain Group.
Zayi Reyes
Head of Partner Marketing , Chainlink Labs
As Head of Partner Marketing at Chainlink, Zayi leads marketing for the Build and Scale programs, bridging product, community, and strategy to accelerate partner success in the web3 economy.
Maredith Hannon
Head of Business Development, Digital Assets , WisdomTree
Maredith Hannon joined WisdomTree in May 2022 as Director of Business Development for Digital Assets and was promoted to Head of Business Development, Digital Assets in January of 2024. In this role, she is responsible for leading business development and partnerships for WisdomTree’s digital assets division, including WisdomTree Prime.

Prior to joining WisdomTree, Maredith was an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley, Head of Business Development and Strategy for the Outsourced Chief Investment Office (OCIO). In this role, she was responsible for sales and operations across business development, marketing, strategic initiatives, and business management. OCIO’s client base included institutional clients, including family offices, ultra-high net worth clients, defined contribution and defined benefit plans, nonprofits, and corporations, both domestic and international. Maredith began her career at Bank of America Merrill Lynch where she worked across product, sales, and strategy roles before becoming Director, Head of Sales Performance and Strategy for their Workplace Financial Solutions business, which focused on delivering wealth management solutions to institutional clients and their employees.

Maredith graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University.
Will Peck
Head of Digital Assets, WisdomTree
Will Peck serves as Head of Digital Assets. In this role, he oversees WisdomTree’s digital asset, crypto and blockchain initiatives. These initiatives include crypto asset management products, tokenization and WisdomTree’s digital wallet offering, WisdomTree Prime. Previously, he served as Head of Strategy and Emerging Technologies for WisdomTree. Prior to WisdomTree, he worked in investment banking for Bank of America Merrill Lynch covering a range of financial services companies. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University.
Sandra Ro
CEO, GBBC
Sandra is a proponent for ‘human-centric tech’. From investment banking and currency markets to blockchain technology, she is an early angel investor and advocate of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. She currently serves as the CEO of Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), the trusted non-profit association for the blockchain, digital assets, and emerging technology community, with more than 500 institutional members, 284 ambassadors, across 124 jurisdictions and disciplines.

In 2023, she was appointed onto the CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham’s Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC), Digital Asset Market Subcommittee (DAMS) and cochairs the Taxonomy and Tokenization Infrastructure workstreams within the subcommittee. She was previously appointed as the Senate representative of the New York State Digital Currency Task Force, and serves on the Japan Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Trade (METI) blockchain advisory group, the AIFC Fintech Council (Kazakhstan), World Economic Forum’s Digital Currencies Governance Consortium, International Securities Services Association’s DLT & ISO Standards, GI Trust FATF Travel Rule Standards Task Force (South Korea), GBBC’s Global Standards Mapping Initiative, Blockchain for Climate (BxC) Board, Salesforce’s AI Advisory Board, Filecoin Foundation Advisory Board, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator Advisory Council, and several government Convergence AI working groups and councils as well as Board director of several fintech start-ups.

Whilst at CME Group, she headed FX & Metals Research & Product Development and founded a new business unit, Digitization. Sandra and her team created the CME CF Bitcoin pricing index and reference rate, CME Bitcoin Futures, and post trade, clearing and settlement solutions.

Previously, she was a London-based derivatives banker at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank in the foreign exchange and interest rate markets.

Sandra holds a M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from London Business School, studied Computer Science at Columbia University, School of Continuing Studies and earned a double B.A. degree from Yale University in History (Military) and Studies in the Environment.
Ben Jones
Co-Founder, Optimism
Ben is the Co-Founder of Optimism and one of the earliest contributors to Ethereum research and development. He is dedicated to bringing Ethereum to scale with the OP Stack and the Superchain.
Andre Salem
Co-founder & CEO, Cryptum
André Salem has 9 years of experience in blockchain, having worked as a researcher at IBM Research Lab and as a blockchain solutions architect at IBM Brazil. He is the founder of Cryptum, a company specialized in Digital Assets and DeFi, which develops and operates advanced on-chain financial strategies. Cryptum partners with leading players in innovative finance, including investment firms, DAOs, and infrastructure providers, to design products that integrate decentralized finance with institutional-grade execution. André also represented Ethereum Brazil in São Paulo, served as an advisor at Blockchain Academy, and was a speaker at TEDx 2018, among other key initiatives in the space.
Kevin Zhang
Contributor, DFX
Kevin has been building stablecoin infrastructure for the past 5 years. Initially started building a stablecoin on/off ramp in Canada, then building a decentralized foreign exchange network, to building Canada's leading CAD-backed stablecoin.
Nic Roberts-Huntley
CEO & Co-Founder, Blueprint Finance
Nic Roberts-Huntley is the CEO and Co-Founder of Blueprint Finance, leveraging his unique background spanning medicine, economics, and finance. A former surgeon who practiced at prestigious institutions including Oxford University Hospitals and The Royal Marsden, Nic pivoted to finance after completing his MBA and Master's in Evidence Based Policy Evaluation & Economics at Oxford University. His career trajectory includes roles as Vice President at Point72, Venture Architect at Virtual Ventures, and various surgical fellowships.

At Blueprint Finance, Nic oversees two innovative protocols: Concrete, which provides institutional-grade financial services through its Earn, Borrow, and Protect products that optimize yields and offer liquidation protection; and Glow, a Solana-based protocol offering advanced trading, lending, and liquid restaking solutions. His multidisciplinary expertise and quantitative approach position him as a distinctive voice at the intersection of traditional finance and DeFi innovation.
Michael Bentley
Co-founder and CEO, Euler Finance
Michael Bentley is the CEO of Euler, a cutting-edge, modular lending platform he co-founded in 2020 during the height of DeFi summer. Before co-founding Euler, Michael worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Oxford, focusing on dynamical systems (ODEs and PDEs) and evolutionary game theory.
Nelli Zaltsman
Head of Platform Settlement Solutions, Kinexys by JPMorgan
Nelli is the Head of Platform Settlement Solutions at Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, where she focuses on product development and industry collaboration that enables the use of the Kinexys Digital Payments product suite (formerly JPM Coin), a first-of-its-kind cash on chain solution, as an integrated settlement solution with a wide range of transactional infrastructures, including both new tokenized RWA infrastructures and traditional financial platforms.

Nelli has been on the leadership team for Kinexys Digital Payment and its predecessor organizations since 2019. Prior to her product leadership role, Nelli was an attorney and the global legal lead for Payments blockchain initiatives at J.P. Morgan. As the first product attorney at JPMorgan to cover in-production use of blockchain, Nelli led the creation of the legal frameworks for core Kinexys products and platforms.
Haseeb Qureshi
Managing Partner, Dragonfly
Haseeb is Managing Partner at Dragonfly, a multibillion dollar leading crypto VC firm, and is a longtime technology-focused crypto investor. Haseeb was previously a General Partner at Metastable Capital (now acquired by Dragonfly). Prior, Haseeb founded a stablecoin startup, was a blockchain engineer at Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), an anti-fraud engineer at Airbnb, and was previously a top 10 globally ranked professional poker player. He has taught a class on web3 Entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley and is widely followed for his technical expertise in crypto.
Charles Adkins
CEO, Hedera Foundation
Charles Adkins is the CEO of the Hedera Foundation, where he leads initiatives to empower entrepreneurs building on the Hedera network. With over two decades of experience spanning blockchain, finance, government, and consumer brands, Charles has held leadership roles at Aptos Labs, Polygon Labs, and US Dept of Treasury. His background includes positions at Nike, Red Bull, and Morgan Stanley. A seasoned speaker, Charles has presented at over 50 events worldwide and co-authored the book "The Future of Community." He is recognized for his commitment to sustainable innovation and bridging the gap between emerging technologies and real-world applications.
Thomas Zschach
Chief Innovation Officer, Swift
Tom Zschach is Chief Innovation Officer at SWIFT, where he leads efforts to future-proof the global financial system through innovation in digital assets, artificial intelligence, and next-generation payment infrastructure. A former investment banker and technology executive, Tom now focuses on making SWIFT the trusted orchestration layer for tokenized finance. His work bridges traditional financial institutions with the emerging digital economy, ensuring scale, safety, and global interoperability.
DavideFi
General Manager, LFJ
General Manager at LFJ - the cornerstone DEX and liquidity hub of Avalanche, and inventors of Liquidity Book DLMM in 2022.
DavideFi has supported for years any project looking to partner with LFJ, bringing clarity to the intricacies of tokens liquidity management on decentralized exchanges.

Co-Founder of ETHMilan, the biggest web3 conference in Italy.
Alex Gluchowski
CEO / Founder, Matter Labs
Alex is a software architect with over 15 years experience in engineering and startups. He is the co-inventor of zkSync and currently serves as the co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs. At Matter Labs, he leads a talented team focused on addressing blockchain scalability challenges using zero-knowledge proofs. Alex's passion lies in using technology to advance personal freedom, self-ownership, and decentralization.
Lidia Kurt
CEO, BX Digital
Lidia Kurt holds a PhD in Finance from the University of St. Gallen, is the author of the book Digital Assets and Tokenization and has extensive expertise at the interface of financial systems and innovative technologies. Since founding the company vision& in 2017, Lidia has worked as a consultant for digital assets and has successfully accompanied numerous blockchain and digital asset projects. Previously, she was managing partner of a quantitative finance advisory firm and gained valuable experience at J.P. Morgan and Swiss Re in Zurich, London and Hong Kong. Since 2021, she has been working for the Börse Stuttgart Group as an external consultant on blockchain-specific topics and took over the role of CEO for BX Digital in 2024.
Mark Garabedian
Director of Digital Assets and Tokenization, Wellington
As the director of the Digital Assets & Tokenization initiative, Mark is focused on connecting the firm to the market infrastructure needed to manage and trade digital assets and tokens, for both public and private investment vehicles. This involves evaluating and performing due diligence on digital asset service providers as well as developing internal workflows and the necessary data architecture to manage the assets. In addition, Mark is helping to foster a continued understanding within the firm of the new technology and its potential for disruption, helping to build a network of external digital asset relationships, and looking to explore the broader concept of tokenization as it can apply to our product offering.
Chris Perry
President, Broadridge Financial Solutions
Chris Perry serves as President of Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR). A global technology leader and part of the S&P 500® Index, Broadridge offers trusted expertise and transformative technology to help clients and the financial services industry operate, innovate, and grow. The company powers investing, governance, and communications – managing over 7 billion communications per year and underpinning the daily trading of more than $10 trillion in securities globally – driving operational resiliency, elevating business performance, and transforming investor experiences.

He is focused on driving Broadridge's overall growth strategy, including overseeing Broadridge International as well as helping lead M&A, DEI and ESG strategies. Chris also oversees all client and marketing activities globally and is responsible for delivering the company’s annual sales targets spanning all business units and product lines. He has been a driving force behind the transformation of the organization from a portfolio of companies to an enterprise cloud-based services provider. Broadridge has enjoyed eight years of consecutive record setting sales under Chris' leadership.

Prior to joining Broadridge, Chris has held numerous management and commercial roles at Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI), and its predecessor, Thomson Financial. There he served as Global Managing Director of Risk for the Financial and Risk Division, where he was responsible for overseeing Governance, Risk and Compliance, as well as Pricing and Reference services. Previously, he served as President of Global Sales and Account Management of the Financial and Risk Division responsible for US$6 billion in revenue and responsible for 4,000 professionals worldwide. Earlier in his career, Chris worked in several FinTech companies and institutional trading and retail brokerage for Kemper Financial Services', Blunt Ellis & Lowie unit as well as correspondent firms of both Prudential and Pershing.

In January 2019, Chris was elected to the Board of Directors of the Financial Services Institute (FSI) and is former Chairman and ongoing member of British American Business, a membership organization that enables transatlantic commerce. Chris serves on the Board of Directors on several non-profits including Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Jersey, NPower an organization that provides underprivileged youths and military veterans with the opportunity to build tech skills and achieve their potential, the United Way of NYC and the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. In addition, he is a sponsor of the Women on Wall Street Association, a New York-based business leadership organization that helps accelerate careers of women in financial services and unites business professionals in support of equality, executive leadership and breaking the glass ceiling.

Chris holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Northern Illinois University and an MBA in Marketing from Lewis University, where he serves on the Board of Trustees.
Cynthia Wu
COO, Matrixport
As COO, Cynthia leads investor relations and oversees global business strategies at Matrixport. Previously Investment Director at Bitmain Technologies, Cynthia focused on investments in blockchain technology and decentralized applications.

Prior to venturing into crypto, Cynthia was Vice President at Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX), responsible for derivatives product development and institutional sales. She started her career in HK as a commodities trader.
Ophelia Snyder
CoFounder, 21.co
Ophelia Snyder is Co Founder and President of 21.co, the parent company of 21Shares, one of the world’s largest issuers of cryptoexchange-traded products. Since launching in 2018, she has helped scale the platform to over $10 billion in assets under management across 50+ products on major global exchanges.

She also leads Block Sensai, a data platform built for institutional-grade crypto intelligence.

Ophelia is a frequent advisor to investors, institutions, and regulators navigating the shift to digital finance, and her work has been featured in Bloomberg, Forbes, CNBC, and the Financial Times.
✂️ Elena Sinelnikova
Co-founder, Metis
Elena Sinelnikova is the co-founder of Metis, a next-generation Ethereum Layer 2 dual-chain system focused on the human-aligned AI. She also co-founded CryptoChicks, a global nonprofit that empowers women through blockchain and AI education. A long-time advocate for regenerative Web3 ecosystems, Elena is leading the movement toward ethical, community-driven AI infrastructure.
Sota Wantanabe
CEO, Startale Labs
Sota Watanabe is the founder of Astar Network, CEO of Startale Labs, and Director of Sony's blockchain initiative, Soneium. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia for his work in enterprise tech. A leading voice in Japan’s Web3 ecosystem, he also serves on the board of the Japan Blockchain Association.
Michael del Castillo
Founder and CEO, Media Luna
Michael wrote his first article on bitcoin in October 2011, and never looked back. A graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, he was the first hire at CoinDesk after it was acquired by Digital Currency Group in 2016, going on to create the Forbes Blockchain 50 which he edited for five years, until being admitted to the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship for career business reporters. After completing the fellowship he joined the Fortune newsroom, where he covered banking until April 2025, when he left to found Media Luna Creations, a research and consulting firm specializing in supporting open-source software projects and sustainable business models.
Juan Carlos Reyes
President of CNAD, Government of El Salvador
Juan Carlos Reyes President, El Salvador's National Commission on Digital Assets (CNAD)

Breaking with global tradition, Juan Carlos Reyes, President of El Salvador's National Commission on Digital Assets (CNAD), champions a tech-first approach to regulating digital assets. A product of El Salvador's heritage and Canadian upbringing, Reyes combines international insight with deep technical expertise, courtesy of his academic background in Engineering, Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, and a Harvard University Master's degree in Management and Finance. As a Certified Crypto Assets Financial Crime Specialist with 20+ years of entrepreneurial acumen, Reyes has successfully positioned El Salvador as a global digital asset hub, with its regulatory framework ranked 2nd worldwide by Coincub, just behind Switzerland, pioneering a new standard in digital asset governance.
Dror Gurevich
CEO, Velocity Career Labs
Dror Gurevich is the founder and CEO of Velocity Network Foundation. Mr. Gurevich has been instrumental in engaging key Members of the Foundation, including SAP, AON, Randstad, Korn Ferry, Cisive, ACE, 1EdTech, Serifier, Territorium, and many other international HR Tech and Ed Tech organizations. Mr. Gurevich has 25+ years of experience in Labor Market Tech, as founder and leader of multiple successful companies in this space. Prior to launching Velocity, Mr. Gurevich co-founded and led AKT, one of the largest HR tech system integrators in the EMEA region, with offices across Europe and the Middle East.
Raj Dhamodharan
Executive Vice President, Blockchain and Digital Currencies, Mastercard
Raj Dhamodharan is the executive vice president for blockchain and digital assets at Mastercard. As the company continues to bring relevant payments solutions and programs to the blockchain and digital assets ecosystem, Raj is responsible for managing Mastercard’s strategy, products, and partnerships in the space.  

Raj and his dynamic, global team work closely with crypto-native players, traditional financial institutions, and governments alike to advance Mastercard’s blockchain strategy, innovate consumer choice in payments, and instill a foundation of trust in crypto and digital assets. Raj is focused on bringing the best of what Mastercard’s technology has to offer to the digital assets ecosystem, proving new use cases for blockchain and crypto technology, and enabling safety and security for the ever-changing landscape.  

Raj joined Mastercard in 2010 and has held several roles at the company, including managing Mastercard’s relationships with global digital partners, developing and commercializing new payments innovations and standards – including digital wallets and Click to Pay – and leading Mastercard’s digital payment products and Labs group in Asia Pacific.   

Raj has deep expertise in payments and previously held executive positions at Visa, in addition to co-founding Think Business Networks, a telecom software company in Silicon Valley that built products for multinational organizations across the world. He also holds several patents in the field of loyalty marketing, advertising, and payments.  

Raj graduated from Coimbatore Institute of Technology, India with a BS in Computer Technology. He holds MBA degrees from Columbia Business School, and Haas Business School, University of California, Berkeley.
Stani Kulechov
Founder, Aave Labs
Stani Kulechov is a pioneer in decentralized finance and blockchain technology. He’s a strong believer in decentralized solutions and an advocate for a more open, fair internet. He is Founder and CEO of Avara, the software development company behind Aave Labs, which developed DeFi protocol Aave and Aave-native stablecoin GHO, Lens Chain, the high performance tech stack for SocialFi, and mobile crypto wallet Family, acquired in 2023. Avara's vision is a people-powered internet that benefits all.
Aviad Stein
Global Head of Digital Asset Solutions, Broadridge Financial
Driving the future at Broadridge as the Global Head of Digital Asset Solutions, I bring over 20 years of experience in leadership and innovation. My current focus is on converging cutting-edge technology with exceptional customer experience (CX) to reshape the digital asset landscape. I spearhead our global business in digital assets, tokenization, and real-world assets, serving a diverse ecosystem of intermediaries, investors, and regulators in developing data, communications and governance solutions to accelerate the growth and adoption and in defining a path for converging TradFi and DeFi into OneFi.
✂️ Ryan Wyatt
Chief Growth Officer, Optimism
Ryan Wyatt is the Chief Growth Officer, where he oversees a global team bringing Optimism’s world-class technology to market.

Prior to joining Optimism, Ryan was President of Polygon Labs, where he led a team of over 300 people across 20 countries. Under Ryan’s leadership, Polygon achieved notable recognitions including TIME's 100 Most Influential Companies, Fortune 40 Crypto, Decrypt's Project of the Year, and CoinDesk's Most Influential 2022.

Before that, Ryan was the Head of Gaming at YouTube, where he was responsible for launching and scaling the YouTube Gaming vertical to become the largest gaming platform in the world by Daily Active Users (300M), generating billions in revenue.

Ryan is a venture partner at BITKRAFT and an active angel investor in sectors across AI, blockchain, and gaming. He’s a New York Times bestselling author, and has earned accolades like Forbes 30 Under 30, The Hollywood Reporter 35 Under 35, and Fortune 40 Under 40.
Steven Goldfeder
CEO and Co-Founder, Offchain Labs
Steven Goldfeder is the CEO and co-founder of Offchain Labs, the company building Arbitrum. Steven received his doctorate from Princeton University and is a published author of multiple research papers on computer science, cryptography, blockchain technologies, smart contracts, and more. Steven co-founded Offchain Labs in 2018.
Vanessa Fernandes Da Silva
Advisor / Partner, Aeonic Digital
Vanessa Fernandes is a dynamic Business and Technology Leader renowned for her innovative approach to digital transformation. With a robust international background, she has been recognized for leveraging emerging technologies to drive operational efficiency and develop sustainable solutions.

She has held several leadership roles, including Global Head of Digital at State Street, Chief Digital Experience for BNY Mellon, CEO of Itaú Digital Assets, CTO for Corporate Architecture and Head of Emerging Technologies and Open Source.
Justin Sun
Founder, TRON
H.E. Justin Sun is the Ambassador and former Permanent Representative of Grenada to the WTO, Prime Minister of Liberland, Founder of TRON, a world-leading blockchain and DAO, and Advisor to HTX, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. A protege of Alibaba's Jack Ma, Sun has been featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine April 2025, where he was recognized as one of the most dynamic and outspoken figures in crypto—earning the moniker 'Crypto’s Billionaire Barker' for his bold approach to innovation, advocacy, and industry leadership. He was also named Forbes' 30 under 30 in the Consumer Technology category several times, among other global recognitions. Sun is an avid art collector, gamer, investor, philanthropist, and space enthusiast.
Samuel Bisig
CTO, Boerse Stuttgart Digital Assets / BX Digital
Samuel Bisig studied Material Science at ETH Zurich and Philosophy/Psychology at Université de Lausanne. In addition, he completed his Executive MBA curriculum with Honors. He further worked and studied in Oxford (UK), Boston (US), Shanghai (China), Antigua (Guatemala) and Tessenderlo (Belgium).

Originally, he had worked in Nanotech at/with global leaders (eg TSMC, MIT, Harvard), commercialized a novel polymer system (w IBM Research) and held several R&D/management positions.
After a transition to Fintech, he explored next-gen tokenization, trading, and clearing&settlement solutions based on DLT/blockchain technology at GFT Technologies.
Currently, he is pushing the frontier as CTO at BX Digital/Börse Stuttgart Digital Assets, responsible for strategical technology and infrastructure development.
Jonathan Ehrenfeld Solé
Head of Strategy, Swift
Jonathan Ehrenfeld is responsible for Swift’s strategy across payments, securities, FX, trade and digital assets. Based in New York, he represents Swift at multiple working groups and associations, including the International Securities Services Association (ISSA). Jonathan is the author of several articles published in the Journal of Securities Operations & Custody, among other publications. Jonathan is an advocate for responsible innovation in blockchain, Web3, and tokenised assets and has helped many fintech companies go from start-ups to established leaders in financial services. Before joining Swift in 2011, he was an assistant professor at the University of Brussels. Jonathan earned both his BA and MA Hons in Communication and Information Science and Technology from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Ari Juels
Chief Scientist, Chainlink Labs
Ari Juels is the Weill Family Foundation and Joan and Sanford I. Weill Professor in the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and the Technion and a Computer Science faculty member at Cornell University. He is a co-founder and co-director of the Initiative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts (IC3). He is also Chief Scientist at Chainlink Labs.

He is the author of crypto thriller novel The Oracle (Talos Press, 2024).
Jacquelyn Melinek
Founder, CEO, Token Relations
Jacquelyn Melinek is the Co-Founder and CEO of Token Relations, and an award-nominated host of the Talking Tokens and Crypto in America podcasts. She's previously was a Senior Crypto Reporter at TechCrunch, where she hosted and built a 'Top 50 Tech' podcast series.

Jacquelyn's articles are published in over 100 global news outlets and she's been a featured guest on CNBC Worldwide Exchange, CBS News Prime Time and Yahoo Finance Live for her crypto coverage and analysis.
Shea Ketsdever
Product Lead, Flashbots
Lead Ethereum products at Flashbots
Wormhole Oracle
Founder, LlamaRisk
Wormhole is the founder of LlamaRisk, a DeFi risk service provider that works with industry heavyweights such as Aave, Curve, and Ethena. LlamaRisk specializes in comprehensive asset risk evaluation of stablecoins and other pegged assets. It employs quantitative approaches to ensure the resiliency of its partner protocols while optimizing for performance and user experience.
Mustafa Al Niama
Former Head of Americas Digital Assets, Goldman Sachs
Mustafa Al Niama is a visionary leader and strategist in the digital assets space with over 15 years of experience at the forefront of financial innovation. Most recently serving as the Americas Head of Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs, Mustafa led transformative blockchain initiatives and steered multi-billion-dollar tokenization efforts in collaboration with some of the largest institutional players in the U.S. financial ecosystem. His work on tokenized money market funds, municipal bonds, and crypto-linked product development has redefined operational efficiency, collateral utility, and institutional adoption of blockchain.

An advocate for thoughtful regulation, Mustafa has been a key voice in policy development through his work with trade groups like SIFMA, FIA, and the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee. He has authored proprietary collateral mobility white papers and engaged deeply in regulatory dialogue around stablecoins and digital market infrastructure.

Beyond his executive leadership at Goldman Sachs, Mustafa brings technical expertise in computer science, a Fulbright Scholar pedigree, and advisory experience with the Digital Dollar Project and DTCC’s digital initiatives. His passion lies in building the connective tissue between traditional finance and the decentralized future—delivering impactful insights on how institutions can thrive amid digital transformation. He holds FINRA series 7, 63, 9, and 10 licenses and attended Columbia Business School to study Venture Capital and Private Equity.

Mustafa is an avid LGBTQ+ advocate, having served on ERG steering committees at both American Express and Goldman Sachs. He’s married and live with his partner in New York with their beloved 7 years old dog.

Mustafa is a sought-after speaker known for bridging policy, technology, and strategy to make digital assets accessible and actionable for leaders navigating this rapidly evolving landscape.
Alec Lovett
Head of Stablecoins, Coinbase
Alec Lovett is the Head of Stablecoins at Coinbase, where he leads efforts to accelerate stablecoin adoption across both consumer and institutional markets. His focus is on unlocking the full potential of stablecoins as programmable, accessible, and yield-bearing assets that can transform global payments and modern financial infrastructure. A frequent speaker on the future of digital money, Alec's expertise includes how stablecoins can fundamentally reshape payments, money movement, and financial services more broadly. Before joining Coinbase, he helped build and scale digital financial platforms at Stripe, Podium, and Paxios.
Sergey Nazarov
Co-founder, Chainlink
Sergey Nazarov has worked in the blockchain industry since 2010, giving him one of the longest-running tenures of any technologist in the industry, which began only a year earlier in 2009 with Bitcoin’s creation. Sergey initially built some of the first smart contracts before blockchains like Ethereum were even a concept and went on to invent Decentralized Oracle Networks in the Chainlink whitepaper, which is the core technology powering Chainlink and underpinning the majority of data transfer onto all chains. After Chainlink became the leading source of all data transfer into various blockchains, it was successfully expanded to become the most secure form of cross-chain connectivity across blockchains for both data and value transfer. Chainlink has so far enabled over $20 trillion in transaction value.

Sergey Nazarov actively engages in U.S. policy discussions around blockchain and digital assets, recently participating in the White House Digital Asset Summit with President Trump and key industry leaders. Sergey also actively engages in fireside chats with government officials, including a sit-down conversation with U.S. Representative Bryan Steil in D.C. and a fireside chat with Majority Whip Tom Emmer at the Digital Chamber’s D.C. Blockchain Summit to explore how blockchain is reshaping the foundations of the U.S. financial system.
Max Heinzle
Founder & CEO, 21X
Max is a seasoned entrepreneur and visionary in the field of corporate finance. As founder and CEO of 21X, he is playing a pivotal role in shaping the digital financial landscape. He previously co-founded MEZZANY, a pioneering force in crowd investing in Germany with a transaction volume of more thanEUR 100m and over 90,000 registered users. He served as a board member at Altify and is a founding member of the Institute for Value-based Enterprise (IVE) in Switzerland. Max began his career in capital markets, working in investment banking with a focus on structured products. He holds a MSc in global banking and finance from London’s European School of Economics.​