SPEAKER
Prior to FTX, Can co-founded and co-chaired the Blockchain Practice Group at Fenwick & West LLP, where he played a pivotal role in structuring and launching cryptocurrency projects globally and advising major exchanges (such as Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken, and more) on regulatory compliance. Can holds a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University, and has authored numerous policy papers, and presented at many blockchain conferences worldwide.
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.
With over a decade of expertise in machine learning, embedded systems, and distributed computing, Ala has previously led engineering efforts at leading tech companies including VMware and Instacart, where he specialized in large-scale system design, predictive scaling, and AI productization. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from McMaster University, with research spanning wearable sensors, pattern recognition, and human-centric sensing platforms. Ala is also a published academic with numerous IEEE and ACM contributions, and a holder of multiple patents in applied AI and cloud computing.
Ala’s current work at Crucible Labs—an ecosystem product studio for TAO—focuses on building high-performance crypto wallets and staking infrastructure for large-scale decentralized participation. He is also a vocal advocate for the sovereign ownership of compute, data, and capital in the age of artificial intelligence.
Founder and CEO, Outblaze
Veteran technology entrepreneur/investor Yat Siu is the co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, a global leader in blockchain and gaming with the goal to provide property rights for virtual assets. Yat began his career at Atari Germany, then established Hong Kong Cybercity/Freenation, the first free web page and email provider in Asia. In 1998 he set up Outblaze, an award-winning pioneer of multilingual white label web services. After selling one of its business units to IBM, he pivoted Outblaze to incubate digital entertainment projects. One of those projects is Animoca Brands.
Yat has numerous accolades, including Global Leader of Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum, Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the DHL/SCMP Awards, and recognition as one of Cointelegraph's top 100 notable people in blockchain.
Before founding Hashed, Simon co-founded Knowre, an innovative ed-tech startup in the US and Korea, where he served as Chief Product Officer. Under his leadership, Knowre was recognized by Fast Company as one of the World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Education and was later acquired by Daekyo, South Korea's largest education company.
Kim's expertise extends to policy-advising, having served as a member of the 4th Industrial Revolution Committee of the South Korean Parliament. He also held a position as a Director of the Korea Blockchain Association and a member of the Busan Blockchain Free Zone committee.
With a strong technical background, Kim studied Computer Science and Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH).
Ryuichi joined B Dash Ventures in 2013. He led the growth and management of B Dash Camp, while also engaging in investment activities. He is now focused on blockchain-related investments, having stepped away from B Dash Camp operations.
Prior to joining B Dash Ventures, he served as Editor-in-Chief at technology media outlets such as TechCrunch Japan and CNET Japan, where he was involved in media management and event planning.
She is responsible for expanding Berachain’s presence across the APAC region, driving ecosystem growth, strategic partnerships, and community engagement.
Ella has been a veteran in the web3 industry since 2016. Prior to Berachain, she was Head of Ecosystem at Cronos, where she played a key role in the blockchain’s rapid adoption and growth. She also served as Director of Partnerships at Stellar Development Foundation and has held various roles in investment, advisory, and DeFi.
Ella has a background in banking and corporate finance and holds an M.B.A. from UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Prior to his journey with Hashed, he was a software engineer at AWS working on IoT and Robotics. He was also the founder of a last-mile logistics startup. He graduated from CMU where he studied robotics and computer engineering.
Since September 2024, Tomoe Makino has served as the Head of Japan at Tools for Humanity, the technology company supporting World.
Prior to joining Tools For Humanity, he held leadership roles at Google, YouTube, and Twitter, and served as country manager for TripAdvisor and Activision Blizzard Japan. With over 20 years of experience in the US tech industry, Tomoe has a proven track record in innovation, growth strategy, and business leadership. He has also served as an advisor and committee member for various government and local government bodies.
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.
In 2023, as part of his role at Nikko, he founded Proof of Japan Inc., a joint venture with the firm utilizing AI and Web3 technology to support Japanese culture. Representing Nikko Securities, he also serves as Secretary of the Japan Cryptoasset Business Association's (JCBA) Use Case Subcommittee (since 2023).
He joined Nikko's Open Innovation Lab (NOIL) at its establishment in 2020 after participating in the internal venture pitch program. At NOIL, he coordinated 'Next-gen Tech x Regional Revitalization' projects and launched key initiatives such as the 'KOSEN Intercollege Challenge' (2021) and a Furusato Nozei-linked finance scheme (2022).
Previously, he worked in SMBC Nikko Securities' Investment Banking division, which he joined in 2012, specializing in Consumer Retail & Healthcare M&A and financing after 2014.
Prior to Mysten, Ken spent nine years in New York working across finance and entertainment with MUFG, Sony, and Warner Music. He most recently led the consultancy business unit at Utopia Music, a 1,000-person Swiss music fintech company.
Born in Japan and raised in the UK, Ken holds a B.A. from Brown University.
With over 15 years of experience within traditional finance firms in New York and technology startups in Silicon Valley, Lu has a unique and global perspective across finance and tech.
Before joining the Solana Foundation, He was also with Fireblocks for numerous years and holds a BA in Business Administration from Ross School of Business at The University of Michigan.
He joined the blockchain industry in 2018 as Managing Director, Head of APAC for Ledger.
Glenn has an extensive career in the financial services and fintech, working for S&P Global Market intelligence as Head of North Asia based in Korea and Hong Kong for 9 years, and prior to that, at Shinhan Financial Group in asset custody and funds administration.
6 billion times globally, making it the world leader in this space. He has created hit characters such as Betakuma and Usagyuuun!
In 2018, he entered the blockchain/NFT field, with CryptoCrystal becoming a global trend. In January 2022, Quan merged with wwwaap, the No.1 social media manga company in Japan. Since 2022, he has been expanding the collaboration between Japanese iconic IPs (such as Captain Tsubasa, Fist of the North Star, and Attack on Titan) and blockchain-based metaverse platforms like The Sandbox.
In addition to Web3 content, Minto is also growing a content studio focused on Webtoons and Short-Drama production.
・2017年~ツインエンジンでプロデューサーを担当
・2018年~MAPPA でアニメプロデューサーの他、ファイナンス、ライセンスビジネス等をはじめとしたライツ事業全般を統括
・2024年~Your Rights 創業
We are led by a team from institutional finance and crypto, coming from Point72, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Coinbase, Eigenlayer, Consensys, and more.
We are backed by Polychain, VanEck, Yzi Labs (FKA Binance Labs), Hashed, Decima Hyperithm, and other leading investors.
In addition to his role at The Sandbox, Sébastien serves as the President of the Blockchain Game Alliance in 2020, a non-profit organization comprising 600 key members within the industry. His contributions to the crypto and blockchain space have garnered significant recognition, including being ranked #4 on CoinTelegraph's Top 100 Most Influential People in Crypto for 2022: https://cointelegraph.com/top-people-in-crypto-and-blockchain/sebastien-borget
The Sandbox extends beyond the gaming realm, earning recognition in TIME100's prestigious list of Top 100 Most Influential Companies in 2022: https://time.com/collection/time100-companies-2022/6159401/the-sandbox/
Furthermore, Sébastien has been acknowledged by Forbes, where he was honored as one of the OC Top 100 Creators for 2024 in the Gaming category: https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/05/15/forbes-open-campus-animoca-brands-celebrate-success-of-oc100--web3-education/?sh=34f296a23b9b
Mr. Kano currently holds the roles of Representative Director & CEO of bitFlyer Holdings, Inc., Representative Director of bitFlyer, Inc., Representative Director of bitFlyer Blockchain, Director of bitFlyer USA, Inc. and Director of Custodiem, Inc. and is serving as Chairman of the Japan Blockchain Association (JBA).
Beyond that, Mr. Kano is a member of the ISO/TC307 Domestic Deliberative Committee and an opinion leader for the Ministry of Defense. He has been actively involved in various activities for the development of the web3 industry to realize bitFlyer's mission since the company's founding: "Simplify the world with blockchain.”
Hojin is also taking Chief Strategy Officer of UNOPND, a venture builder arm of Hashed. One of his incubating projects is Modhaus, a Web3 K-pop startup, where he led the overall operations and development of their NFT platform COSMO as a COO.
Prior to joining the Hashed group, he was a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group(BCG). He also spent years as a quant analyst at Korea Asset Pricing, a subsidiary of Global credit rating provider Fitch Rating.
Hojin received a BS in Computer Science from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
https://x.com/harryhojinkim
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hojinkim/
https://shardlab.com/
As a member of Circle’s global and APAC senior leadership teams, his focus is on strategic planning for markets and engaging APAC governments and stakeholders on policies related to Circle’s signature USDC stablecoin and digital assets.
Prior to his current appointment, David was the Managing Director of Public Affairs for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) based in Singapore. David led the corporate communications, government relations, corporate citizenship and sustainability functions for KKR across Asia Pacific markets. David was a member of KKR’s Asia Pacific leadership team. David also served as Director of Public Affairs Asia Pacific for Intuitive, the global leader in surgical robotics and manufacturer of the DaVinci surgical robot.
Previously he was the Deputy Head of Global Government Relations and Head of Asia Pacific Government Relations for PayPal Inc. and sat on PayPal’s Asia Pacific leadership team. Prior to PayPal Inc., he worked at eBay Inc., where he managed Asia Pacific GR for both eBay Marketplace and PayPal - then owned by eBay Inc. Before joining eBay, David worked at Visa Inc. where he served as their first head of GR for the Asia region.
David was Chief of Party of a USAID program in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat in Singapore, where he advanced policy and capacity building. David served in the Executive Office of the President for eight years as a Senior Director at the United States Trade Representative (USTR) with responsibility for Southeast Asia, APEC, China and Taiwan trade policy. Prior to USTR, David was an economic officer in the U.S. diplomatic service, with tours in Taiwan, Mongolia, and Singapore, and he was a special assistant to U.S. Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell.
David earned an MBA from the University of Edinburgh and his BA from the University of California at Berkeley.
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