Born in Tokyo in 1967, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at Waseda University. After working as the third-generation wholesaler at the Ota Vegetable and Fruit Market and serving as President of the Tokyo Junior Chamber, he entered politics. He has held key governmental posts, including the first Minister for Cyber Security and Minister for Digital Transformation. Notably, he has powerfully driven Japan's crypto-asset market as a pioneer by leading Web3 tax reforms. Currently, he shapes the nation's digital future as Acting Head of the LDP Headquarters for the Promotion of a Digital Society and Chair of the Sub-Committee on AI and web3.

Kaoru Numata joined Japan Financial Elan Technologies (JFET) in April 2026 and serves as Director and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to JFET, he held several leadership roles in the capital markets, including Chief Information Officer at Nomura Holdings and Head of IT and Operations at Nomura Asset Management. More recently, he focused on AI at SBI Securities and on blockchain and security tokens at Nomura Holdings.

He began his career as an engineer at Nomura Research Institute after graduating from Osaka University.

Engaged in quantitative risk measurement, management, and consulting for market, credit, and business risks at a financial engineering subsidiary of a major financial institution. Also engaged in financial data analysis, including mortgage-related analytics. Since 2017, responsible for planning and launching new businesses focused on payment solutions. Joined Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in 2025 and currently serves in the I&T Strategy Planning Department. Responsible for digital asset initiatives within the Bank's R&D division, including security token issuance projects and new business development leveraging utility tokens. Currently engaged in business development aimed at the practical implementation of digital assets through the integration of finance and technology.

After building a basic knowledge and experiences in corporate finance at Aozora Bank, he was involved in a wide range of venture and acquisition investments at ITX (a former Nissho Iwai IT-related business and investment company). He was also involved in the management of IT companies after their acquisition, gaining knowledge in both finance and corporate management.

He managed the cryptocurrency exchange business at BITPoint Japan, then moved to SBI Securities to lead Japan's first public Security Token Offering (STO). He has been the CEO of Osaka Digital Exchange since 2021.

He served as the ICO/STO Division Chair at JCBA from 2019 to 2020. He has been a JSTA director since April 2024.

After graduating from the Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering at the University of Tsukuba in 2006, he began his career at SAP Japan. In 2008, he joined Nomura Securities Co., Ltd., engaging in DCM and ECM operations. From 2016, he drove innovation at Nomura Holdings' Financial Innovation Office (currently the Digital Company), serving as a Director at N-Village from 2017 and as Representative at BOOSTRY from 2019. He assumed his current position in 2025, leading the group's digital asset strategy.

CJ Hetherington is CEO & Co-Founder of Limitless, a prediction market platform built on blockchain infrastructure (Base), with $1.6B in monthly trading volume and $20M in annualised revenue. A digital assets entrepreneur since 2017, he previously invested in digital assets companies and fund of funds at TA Ventures, and was a member of the WEF Crypto Sustainability Coalition. Limitless is supported by Coinbase Ventures, 1confirmation, F-Prime Capital, DCG and Arrington Capital, and is engaged in an active regulatory filing process with the CFTC in the United States.

Felix Eigelshoven is Managing Director for APAC at Dfns, the digital asset core banking system powering enterprises, banks, financial institutions, and payment providers. Felix began his career in academic research, publishing widely referenced early work on market efficiency for digital assets, as well as research on consensus algorithms and market manipulation, as a Research Fellow at the Weizenbaum Institute & University Potsdam, before turning research into practice at global scale. At EY and later as Web3 Lead for APAC in Accenture's Global Innovation group, he led blockchain and digital asset programs for Fortune 500 financial institutions and TMT clients — spanning tokenization, custody, Cross boarder payments, and modular blockchain builds — from strategy through to live deployment. Throughout his career, Felix has worked closely with regulators across major jurisdictions and serves as an advisor to multiple blockchain foundations on regulation application Design and GTM Strategy. Today he leads Dfns' expansion across Asia Pacific, bringing institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure to the region.
He holds a Ph.D in Physics and had worked at research institutes in Japan and abroad.
In 2007, he worked at Nomura Asset Management, where he had been involved in research analysis, quant/analytics, and equity investments in Japanese and foreign equities.
From 2019, he started a project at Nomura Holdings to commercialize digital assets, mainly security tokens.
In 2022, he assumed responsibility for business development in all digital assets, including crypto assets.
He is in his current position at Laser Digital Japan, which was established in 2023.

Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1978. He founded his first company in 2001 while studying at Hitotsubashi University, and has since served as CEO, CTO, and CFO across multiple companies. In 2016, he co-founded Real World Games, driving business initiatives utilizing location-based games and blockchain technology.

In 2019, he founded what is now JPYC Inc. and assumed the role of CEO. In 2025, he led the company to acquire Japan's first JPY-pegged stablecoin issuance license, successfully commencing issuance in October of the same year. He is currently spearheading the development of payment and financial infrastructure for the web3 era. He also serves as a board member of the Japan Cryptoasset Business Association (JCBA) and Vice Representative Director of the Blockchain Collaborative Consortium (BCCC), broadly contributing to the growth of Japan's token economy through the establishment of legal frameworks and governance.

After designing derivative products at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, Taishi worked at EY Tax Co., providing international tax consulting related to finance before moving to Deloitte Tohmatsu where he handled similar services focused on financial institutions and funds.He was involved in launching and marketing the blockchain game JobTribes and NFT marketplaces, listing DEAPcoin on Japanese and foreign CEXs, supporting several DeFi projects through development of on-chain liquidity and alliances/economic structuring. In 2022, he founded DeFimans Co. Ltd. and is currently providing consulting services to various web3 projects, including those associated with publicly listed companies and global DeFi projects.