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JUNE 26-27   Istanbul Blockchain Week Brought to you by EAK Digital

Speakers

26-27 June 2025

HILTON BOMONTI HOTEL

THOUGHT LEADERS OF 2025

Engage with thought leaders in carefully curated keynotes and panels from industry leading minds

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. A classically trained musician, Yat is a member of the advisory board of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and a director of the Asian Youth Orchestra.

John Patrick Mullin is a Hong Kong-based entrepreneur and builder, focused on DeFi, blockchain technology, digital assets, and Web3. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of MANTRA and SOMA.finance. John has been investing/building in the crypto and digital assets space for over 10 years, having worked in decentralized finance and exchange/brokerage businesses.

John helped found MANTRA, a Layer 1 blockchain for RWA tokenization, and SOMA.finance, a US-regulated decentralized finance application. He has raised tens of millions of dollars for these ventures and works with a dedicated team of 50+ builders worldwide.

Onur Güven, çalışma hayatına 2002 yılında iş zekası uzmanı olarak başlıca telekomünikasyon şirketlerine ve bankalara danışmanlık vererek başladı. 2007-2015 yılları arasında Turkcell’de iş zekası, veri ve ürün yönetimi alanlarında önemli görevler üstlenen Güven, Paycell’in kurucularından biri olarak, 2015’te önce Genel Müdür Vekilliği, sonra CEO olarak görev yaptı. 2022’de Crypto.com Türkiye Ülke Direktörü olarak bu markanın Türkiye pazarına girişine liderlik etti. 2023 yılında ise BtcTurk Kripto’nun CEO ve YK Üyesi görevini aldı. FI Strat’ın Kurucusu ve CEO’su olarak da görev yapan Güven, 2025 yılının başında Garanti BBVA Dijital Varlıklar şirketinin Genel Müdürü olarak atandı.Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Matematik Mühendisliği lisans ve Özyeğin Üniversitesi Executive MBA yüksek lisans mezunu olan Onur Güven, finansal teknolojiler, dijital varlılar, kripto/blok zincir alanlarında 20 yılı aşkın tecrübeye sahip.

Ran Neu Ner is the CEO of Onchain Capital, a Crypto Asset Fund and Advisory service. He is also the founder of the world’s first live streaming Crypto Media Station , Crypto Banter.In 2017 Ran launched the world’s first televised cryptocurrency show called Crypto Trader which is aired weekly on a Thursday night at 20:30 on CNBC Africa.
In 2021, Ran launched Crypto Banter, a live stream cryptocurrency talkshow on YouTube. The show airs twice daily from Monday to Friday at 6:30am (EST) and 10:00am (EST). Within 5 months of being air, the channel skyrocketed to being in the top 3 Cryptocurrency channels globally and shows no signs of slowing down.His remarkable success in the Blockchain world has earned him the ranking of one of the top 10 most influential people in Blockchain by Richtopia. He also sits on various boards in an advisory role.

Theodore has been innovating in the technology sector since 1998, founding a number of IT and technology startups, subsequently started actively investing in the blockchain industry in 2012. In 2021 he started his work at Gunzilla Games expanding his expertise into the video game industry.
He envisions a future where gamers own all their assets and can monetize their playing time more democratically.Theodore has always been fascinated with video games, tracing back to the golden age of Atari and Commodore 64. Nowadays, he plays Off the Grid, Diablo, Elden Ring and Ghosts of Tsushima.

Miriam Kiwan is Vice President of MENA at Circle, a global financial technology
company helping money move at internet speed, with a mission is to raise global
economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value.
Prior to this, Miriam led Digital Assets and tech ecosystem development at Abu Dhabi
Global Market (ADGM). She held various strategic roles within the technology, financial
services and nonprofit in the UAE and Europe. She holds a Global EMBA from TRIUM,
a joint program between London School of Economics, New York University and HEC
Paris.

Anurag Arjun, co-founder of Avail, is a seasoned entrepreneur who has founded several successful startups across diverse industries, ranging from cash flow lending to regulatory tech. With a strategic move into the blockchain space in 2017, he co-founded Matic Network, which has since evolved into Polygon Labs, a platform for scaling Ethereum.
 
In 2020, Anurag spearheaded the development of Avail, an innovative solution within the Polygon ecosystem that empowers developers to create fast, efficient, and scalable applications. As a pioneer with a background spanning research, economics, and engineering, Anurag’s unique skill set has been invaluable in creating Avail and the broader blockchain community. In March 2023, he and co-founder Prabal Banerjee spun off Avail from Polygon to embark on a journey to empower rollup and application blockchain communities with the development of a unification layer that enables modular execution layers to scale and interoperate in a trust-minimized way.
 
With an unwavering commitment to realizing the full potential of modular blockchain technology, Anurag is excited to leverage this cutting-edge approach to maximize Avail’s impact. His expertise and vision continue to drive Avail’s success and position the company at the forefront of the blockchain revolution.

Mark Rydon is the Co-Founder and Head of Strategy at Aethir, the leading decentralized enterprise-grade cloud computing network.Mark’s strategic leadership and visionary efforts have been instrumental in Aethir’s exponential growth. Since its inception in 2022, Aethir has expanded from a small team of 5 to a robust organization of 157 employees, scaling from $0 to $3 billion FDV in 2 years.With a focus on revolutionizing DePIN with its Scalable Decentralised Cloud Infrastructure (DCI) for Gaming & AI, the company has grown from zero to a multi-billion dollar network, boasting the largest fleet of 3000+ NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs in the Web3 industry. Backed by industry giants like NVIDIA, Super Micro, HPE, and Foxconn, Aethir’s infrastructure makes high-performance GPU resources accessories acessible and affordable. Additionally, Aethir has secured over $130M in funding, 2M community members, and 75,000 Checker Node licenses, furthering Mark’s commitment to a more equitable and accessible DCI landscape. Aethir counts among its investors Framework Ventures, Sanctor Capital, Animoca Brands, Hashkey and more.Before co-founding Aethir, Mark gained extensive experience in infrastructure building and resource allocation, managing a 400-person team for a $34B oil and gas project at Wheatstone. In addition to Aethir, he serves as a partner at the VC fund Flux Capital and Gas Global, where he advises projects in blockchain technology, mining, and investments.

Ömür Çataltepe, based in Istanbul, Turkey, is currently leading Global Business Development efforts for the TON Foundation, bringing experience from his previous works at Binance, Gate.io, Stacks.
Nenter Chow is a partner at Animoca Ventures. He holds a dual role of head of portfolio strategy and investments, focusing on both early stage venture investments and working with portfolio companies to identify opportunities and synergies within the portfolio. Notable Web3 venture investments include the likes of Monad, Berachain, and TON. He was also an angel investor in several early Defi projects.
Prior to Animoca Ventures, he was an investment banker for 17 years in New York and Shanghai across various roles including head of corporate and investment banking for US MNCs in APAC, leveraged finance, cross border M&A, project finance, business development, relationship management, and credit trading. Nenter holds a BBA from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor Ross School of Business.

Peter is the founder of The House of Crypto, a media company that has rapidly grown into one of the most influential voices in the crypto space. Over the past year, it has become one of the fastest-growing platforms, attracting an audience of over 400,000 dedicated crypto enthusiasts. Peter has achieved this growth by simplifying complex crypto technologies, analyzing market psychology, and providing valuable insights into crypto investments and trends.More recently, Peter founded Perceptron, a groundbreaking project at the intersection of AI and Web3. Perceptron Network is built on the principle that AI agents and their communities should be aligned through shared incentives and decentralized trust. The network enables AI agents to mint and distribute composable mini-NFTs (PERCs) on demand, creating an incentive-driven ecosystem that rewards community participation while generating sustainable revenue for AI agents.

Inal Kardan graduated from the State University of Management (SUM) in Moscow, Russia with a Master’s degree in Tech Entrepreneurship and Acceleration of IT Startups, and also from Tongmyong University of Information Technology in Busan, Korea with a major in Digital Entertainment & Game Engineering. He worked at Waves Blockchain for six years in various roles, including Developer Relations Director and CTO. Inal founded several companies, including the successful Waves Ducks game, which saw over $20 million in NFT trading volumes in summer 2021. Recently, he served as GameFi Lead at TON Foundation, where he developed a comprehensive GameFi strategy, onboarded teams, managed projects, fostered partnerships, and delivered infrastructure such as SDKs for game engines and advised almost all most successful games on TON and Telegram.
Erhan Korhaliller is the Founder of BlockDown Festival, EAK Digital, Istanbul Blockchain Week, a specialist blockchain PR agency. Prior to launching EAK Digital, Erhan previously managed large scale project teams for blue-chip brands such as Nike, Rolls Royce, and Vodafone, successfully guiding his teams to multiple advertising awards, including a platinum award from Campaign Magazine. Erhan continues to lead from the front, giving PR a voice in the blockchain industry as a speaker at global events.
Vineet Budki was Managing Partner and CEO of Cypher Capital. He has led investments in over 300+ Blockchain Startups and shown outstanding returns on them. Some of his investments include: Mysten Labs (Sui), Berachain, Solana, Ton, Revolving Studios, Web3Auth, Particle Network, Kelp Dao, My Pet
Hooligan, Manta Network and many other game changing blockchain startups.
 
One of the most visible Crypto VCs globally, Vineet has shared his insights on venture capital in the blockchain space at several notable global forums, including Eth Denver, Consensus by Coindesk, Austin, Token 2049 in Singapore; the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos; Binance Blockchain Week Turkey, Proof of Talk Paris, Algorand Summit Barcelona; the Future Blockchain Summit
and the Global Blockchain Congress in Dubai. Vineet has also been prominently featured in Global podcasts like Coindesk, Kitco News, Wolf of All Streets, Washington Elite, Web3TV among others.

Farzam Ehsani is the Co-founder and CEO of VALR.com, the largest crypto exchange in Africa going global, serving corporate and professional traders as well as more than 1 million traders worldwide. He was previously the Blockchain Lead at Rand Merchant Bank and the FirstRand Group, and was the inaugural Chairperson of the South African Financial Blockchain Consortium. He previously worked at McKinsey & Company in Johannesburg, Deloitte Consulting in San Francisco, the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa, and the United Nations in Nairobi. He studied economics at the University of California – Berkeley.

With more than 10 years experience driving the adoption of transformative technologies, Tem is a communications specialist with a special talent for simplifying complex concepts into digestible narratives for curious audiences to follow. His introduction to blockchain began in 2012 during his graduate studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he studied Bitcoin’s impact on incumbent power structures.
As part of his recent integration as Wanchain’s CEO, his attention currently rests with advocating for the need to implement industry-wide standards to enhance the functionality of cross-chain bridging protocols. According to Tem, cross-chain messaging protocols are still too complicated. He argues that this is part of the reason that true interoperability is yet to be achieved, with reliance on inflexible, centralized off-chain systems still a major impediment.

Tyler Durden is the Project Lead of Mocaverse and Head of Projects at Animoca Brands, a $6 billion blockchain company. Over the past 15 years, “Tyler” has co-founded and operated a diverse range of startups, spanning from renewable energy and cross-border e-commerce to artificial intelligence. However, it was his unwavering passion for promoting mass adoption of cutting edge technologies that propelled him into a leadership role, advocating for AI and Web3 integration for Fortune 500 companies. Tyler’s obsession with technology has consistently fueled his professional pursuits. His whole career has been about venture building and technology, and eventually discovering the industry to which he would dedicate his talents: the captivating world of Web3.

Büşra Temurçin is the Turkiye Country Director of Crypto Female, a platform dedicated to empowering women in the crypto and blockchain industry. She is also a financial markets analyst and content creator, producing educational content on cryptocurrency, trading, and market analysis.
With a Master’s degree in Financial Markets and Investment Management from Marmara University, she has developed extensive expertise in both traditional finance and the digital asset space. Through her YouTube channel, Twitter, and Medium articles, she provides valuable insights into fundamental and technical analysis, on-chain data, and macroeconomic trends.
Her mission is to bridge the gap between traditional finance and blockchain technology while promoting financial literacy and inclusivity in the investment world. She is committed to fostering a more diverse and informed crypto community, helping investors navigate the evolving landscape of digital assets.

I have over 15 years of experience as a corporate legal advisor for tech companies operating in multiple jurisdictions—including Singapore, Hong Kong, Estonia, Ukraine, and Cyprus.For the past decade, I have advised fintech and blockchain companies on a wide range of regulatory matters, including obtaining the necessary licenses to operate.I currently serve as the Chief Legal Officer at Gunzilla Games, where we are developing the first AAA game featuring a blockchain component accessible across various platforms. I am also the co-founder of the consulting group MIBIT and the Executive Director of Legal Affairs for the Königsberger Bridges Institute, the official organizer of the International Blockchain Olympiad (IBCOL) and International Data Science Olympiad (IDSOL).Additionally, I am a member of the International Bar Association, while also acting as an active legal advisor at Swiss Blockchain Legal.I am a seasoned speaker who has presented at numerous international tech and business conferences, including RISE, DEVCON, Consensys events, the World Economic Forum Annual Meetings, and more.

Paul is the CEO of XPLA. XPLA is a Layer 1 blockchain that serves as a hub for digital media content. With its core content provider Com2uS, a web2 transmedia giant, XPLA aims to bring 1B web2 players to web3.
Paul leads the ecosystem expansion of XPLA through partnering with core technical infrastructure providers, user enabling services and investing in promising gaming projects onboarding on XPLA.
Started off his career as a strategy consultant in Korea, Paul has an extensive background on spearheading project initiatives and orchestrating strategic decisions across Asia in his previous positions at eBay and XPLA.
As EY Global Blockchain Leader, Paul Brody is responsible for driving initiatives and investments in
blockchain technology across consulting, audit, and tax business lines, including the build-out of the first
EY global SaaS platform, Blockchain.EY.com.
With Brody at the helm, EY was the first and only professional services firm to commit to public
blockchains and Ethereum. Since then, EY has launched public blockchain solutions, including
participating in the creation of the Baseline protocol alongside ConsenSys and Microsoft, which aims to
help enterprises adopt public blockchain. Brody also helped build the industry’s first smart contract
testing platform and first on-chain audit platform.
Beyond being the driving force behind enterprise blockchain innovation at EY, Brody also serves as the
Chairman of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), the leading global community for enterprise
blockchain.
Brody has gained global recognition for his commitment to public networks and for his belief that
enterprises can and should utilize the core principles of true decentralization and transparency for a
better working world. It is that commitment which led Brody to pioneer Nightfall, a breakthrough
technology that brings the benefits of privacy to the Ethereum network, and Starlight, a prototype
private business logic compiler. Both technologies are open sourced to boost awareness of public
blockchains and confidence in their security and transparency.
In 2023 EY Blockchain was named market leader in the HFS Horizons Public Blockchain Services report.
The EY team’s clear market vision and focus on Ethereum have led to this position for public
blockchains. In addition, W3B named the EY Global Blockchain Team 2022 Blockchain Services Award
Winner, recognizing providers of blockchain technologies and services that are working to transform
their clients’ operations, supply chains, or ecosystems. W3B also awarded Paul Brody the Blockchain
Leadership Award in 2022.
Prior to joining EY, Brody served as Vice President and Global Industry Leader in Mobile and IoT at a
 
multinational technology company. In 2023, he authored Ethereum for Business, a book to help non-
technical, C-level executives and company leaders understand how and why Ethereum applies to
 
specific use cases. Brody earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a certificate in African Studies,
both from Princeton University.
 
As EY Global Blockchain Leader, Paul Brody is responsible for driving initiatives and investments in
blockchain technology across consulting, audit, and tax business lines, including the build-out of the first
EY global SaaS platform, Blockchain.EY.com.
With Brody at the helm, EY was the first and only professional services firm to commit to public
blockchains and Ethereum. Since then, EY has launched public blockchain solutions, including
participating in the creation of the Baseline protocol alongside ConsenSys and Microsoft, which aims to
help enterprises adopt public blockchain. Brody also helped build the industry’s first smart contract
testing platform and first on-chain audit platform.
Beyond being the driving force behind enterprise blockchain innovation at EY, Brody also serves as the
Chairman of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), the leading global community for enterprise
blockchain.
Brody has gained global recognition for his commitment to public networks and for his belief that
enterprises can and should utilize the core principles of true decentralization and transparency for a
better working world. It is that commitment which led Brody to pioneer Nightfall, a breakthrough
technology that brings the benefits of privacy to the Ethereum network, and Starlight, a prototype
private business logic compiler. Both technologies are open sourced to boost awareness of public
blockchains and confidence in their security and transparency.
In 2023 EY Blockchain was named market leader in the HFS Horizons Public Blockchain Services report.
The EY team’s clear market vision and focus on Ethereum have led to this position for public
blockchains. In addition, W3B named the EY Global Blockchain Team 2022 Blockchain Services Award
Winner, recognizing providers of blockchain technologies and services that are working to transform
their clients’ operations, supply chains, or ecosystems. W3B also awarded Paul Brody the Blockchain
Leadership Award in 2022.
Prior to joining EY, Brody served as Vice President and Global Industry Leader in Mobile and IoT at a
 
multinational technology company. In 2023, he authored Ethereum for Business, a book to help non-
technical, C-level executives and company leaders understand how and why Ethereum applies to
 
specific use cases. Brody earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a certificate in African Studies,
both from Princeton University.

Ben Caselin is Chief Marketing Officer at VALR.com, the Pantera-backed crypto exchange. Headquartered in Johannesburg and the largest exchange by trade volume on the African continent, VALR serves over 1100 corporate and professional investors and more than 1 million traders worldwide. Drawing on years of experience in the digital asset space, mostly in Hong Kong and the wider APAC region, Dubai and now Africa, Ben focuses primarily on driving the adoption of bitcoin in emerging markets and advocates for an approach to innovation on the basis of spiritual principles.

icrazyteddy is the biggest crypto gaming influencer in the UK & EU with a strong following on X.X is his main platform and growing very quickly with great support from fans/community! Hosting weekly livestreams, gaming, Vlogs at events, post gaming videos/reviews, unboxing RWA items and sharing the Web3 Creator lifestyle as a gaming influencer; his consistency in content creation in the gaming community has made his opinion valuable for fans of gaming content, culture and technology!1.7 million combined followers across all socials.(prev influencer work w Warner Bros Games, Call Of Duty, AVAX, Illuvium, Immutable, Vechain, Scuf, Gfuel, Razer, XBOXUK, GTOmegaracing, Merit Circle, CWL, CDL, PlaystationUK, Gamescom, Dreamhack, Paramount, ArsenalFC, NordVPN, RockstarGames GTA5; GTAOnline; RDR2, Facebook Gaming …)

Burcak Unsal has almost 25 years of experience dedicated to law practice, admitted to New York State and Istanbul Bars. 

Burcak focuses his practice in transactional, compliance, regulatory, contractual and dispute resolution aspects of technology and corporate law. His contributions to legal practice is globally recognized by Chambers, Legal 500, Mondaq and etc…

In addition to his capacity as a lawyer, Burcak also occupies executive positions at the boards of leading companies in FinTech industry. 

Prior to establishing his own practice, Burcak has been the regional counsel of Google & YouTube for three years.

Burcak also has more than twelve years of experience at major international law firms such as Baker Botts LLP, DLA Piper and Kobayashi Todo in the US, Europe and Japan.

Burcak has an LL.M. at the University of Virginia Law School, 

an M.Sc. at the Institute of Science, University of Ege, and 

LL.B. at University of Marmara, Law School.

With a multi-disciplinary professional and educational background, Burcak is also qualified as a patent and trade-mark attorney before the European Patent Institute and the Turkish Patent Institute.

Badi Sudhakaran is a dynamic and visionary entrepreneur with a remarkable journey spanning over two decades in the technology and finance sectors. He is the Co-Founder of VALR, the largest crypto exchange in South Africa by trade volume. Badi’s multifaceted expertise, spanning blockchain technology, software engineering, product design, and leadership, has propelled him to the forefront of the crypto and fintech landscape.Badi’s entrepreneurial journey took a significant leap with the inception of VALR.com. Recognizing the transformative potential of cryptocurrencies, he embarked on a mission to democratize access to crypto assets globally. His vision revolves around the creation of an open financial system that fosters inclusivity and acknowledges the interconnectedness of humanity.

Filippo Buzzi is the Regional Managing Director at Hex Trust MENA, a subsidiary of Hex Trust Group, a leading digital assets financial institution specializing in custody, staking, and market services. Under his leadership, Hex Trust MENA became the first MVP operational entity within Dubai’s VARA regulatory framework, reinforcing the firm’s position as a key player in the region’s rapidly evolving virtual asset ecosystem.

With over 15 years of experience spanning consulting, financial services, and digital assets, Filippo has held management roles across Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Dubai. His career journey includes advising multinational firms on regulatory compliance, risk management, and digital transformation.

An early advocate for blockchain and digital assets, Filippo has been active in the space since 2015, navigating the intersection of regulation, institutional adoption, and emerging technologies. His academic background includes a degree in Political and Economic Sciences in Italy, with further studies at the University of London and IBFD in Amsterdam.

In 2024, Filippo was recognized as a Crypto Oasis Visionary, an honor that underscores his extensive experience and leadership in the digital asset industry. He leverages his expertise in tax, corporate consulting, and institutional finance to solidify Hex Trust’s reputation as a trusted partner for investors and businesses in the MENA region.

Filippo is an active industry speaker, sharing insights on institutional adoption, innovation, and compliance. His mission is to bridge traditional finance with the digital economy, fostering a secure and regulated framework for virtual asset growth.

Eric Lord is a SEC registered representative and CEO of
Investor Cosmos a marketplace where private investment opportunities can
 be listed and tokenized securities can be offered to investors. Eric
worked in New York gaining experience in real estate private equity and
consulting before starting Investor Cosmos allowing regulated
tokenization of securities within the US legal framework.