SPEAKER

Can Sun, J.D., Ph.D., is the co-founder and general counsel of Backpack Exchange, a fully regulated global cryptocurrency exchange. Prior to this position, Can served as general counsel at FTX International, where he oversaw legal operations and regulatory strategies across all non-US jurisdictions, seeking licensure and managing interactions with international regulators such as the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, the Japan Financial Services Agency, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and others.

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.

Laser Digital Japan, Representative Director.

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.

Ala Shaabana is the Co-Founder of the Opentensor Foundation, the organization behind the groundbreaking decentralized AI protocol, Bittensor—a $2 billion open-source network pioneering a new frontier where machine intelligence is trained, validated, and rewarded on-chain. Under Ala’s leadership, Bittensor has become one of the most technically ambitious and philosophically pure expressions of Web3 ideals, merging blockchain infrastructure with distributed AI collaboration.

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.

Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Animoca Brands
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.

Simon Kim is the CEO and Managing Partner at Hashed, a prominent blockchain investment firm. As South Korea's leading blockchain thought leader and evangelist, he has spearheaded blockchain initiatives with major IT companies.

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).

Sean Kim is a core contributor at Virtuals Protocol, where he leads marketing efforts to accelerate the adoption of AI agents.
Prior to Virtuals Protocol, Sean worked at Gartner Research and held a leadership role in the Indonesian mobile gaming industry, driving user growth and product strategy. He is a proud Navy veteran.

Director, B Dash Ventures

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.

Ella Qiang is the APAC Lead at Berachain, an EVM-identical Layer 1 blockchain powered by innovative Proof of Liquidity.
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.

Baek Kim is the General Partner of Hashed, a leading global crypto VC fund and a team of blockchain experts and builders based in Seoul, Singapore, Bengaluru, Silicon Valley, and Abu Dhabi.

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.

General Manager, Japan, Tools For Humanity

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.

Co-founder & CEO , Messari Japan Lead

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.

Taisuke Isono leads open innovation efforts at SMBC Nikko Securities and is currently focused on driving Web3 initiatives.
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.

Ken leads Japan Partnerships and Strategy at Mysten Labs, the original contributor to the blockchain Sui and the decentralized storage protocol Walrus. He has expanded Mysten’s presence in Japan, building a local partner network of over 20 companies, while also supporting ecosystem growth across Europe, APAC, and the Middle East.

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.

Lu Yin - the Solana Foundation APAC Lead, focuses on business development, partnerships, and policy.

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.

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東京大学法学部卒業

スタンフォード大学（Essentials for Business）

ハーバードケネディスクール（Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century)

一般社団法人野菜ソムリエ協会ゼネラルマネージャー

株式会社徳大寺自動車文化研究所CFO

株式会社リミックスポイント代表取締役社長

株式会社ビットポイントジャパン代表取締役

SBIホールディングス株式会社常務執行役員

Glenn leads and drives operations in APAC for at Blockdaemon, prior to taking over the role in January 2025, Glenn was Head of Sales for APAC since April 2022. Blockdaemon offers institutional grade blockchain infrastructures connecting enterprises to blockchains.
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.

Yoon Kim is the co-founder of Elysia, a leading primary RWA (Real World Asset) issuer and distributor based in South Korea. Since 2018, Elysia has tokenized over 150 RWA-backed assets, including real estate equity, real estate mortgage bonds, project finance loans, US Treasuries, and e-commerce receivables.
Before founding Elysia, Yoon spent eight years in the corporate sector and began his web3 journey as a business development specialist for the ICON Foundation.