Speakers

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.

Sergej Kunz is the co-founder of the 1inch Network, a distributed network of decentralized protocols that enable the fastest, most lucrative and protected operations in major blockchain ecosystems.From 2015 to 2019, Sergej worked for Mimacom consultancy, running projects for major customers, such as Bosch, Siemens and Porsche. After joining Porsche on a full-time basis, he gradually shifted towards cybersecurity.Sergej’s first introduction to the crypto space dates back to 2012. After mining Ethereum for years, he launched a YouTube show, CryptoManiacs, in which he did live security audits of smart contracts. Anton Bukov, the 1inch Network’s eventual co-founder, soon joined him as a co-host.At a May 2019 hackathon in New York City, over the course of 36 hours, Sergej and Anton developed a prototype crypto exchange aggregator that became the basis of the 1inch Network.

Heading up PSGs activities within Web3 and Metaverse. Broad and deep experience of Metaverse, Web3, Crypto Successfully listed a crypto exchange on the Nasdaq First North. Advising national, global law and military agencies on IT, crypto and blockchain Advising national banks and EU regulatory bodies on crypto currencies for sound legal framework (MiCA) Writing books about Web3, Metaverse as well as how Tesla and SpaceX is doing Agile at Scale.

I have 15+ years of strategy consulting experience across 20+ countries in Europe, Middle East and APAC. I’m currently leading a team of 120 consultants in 4 markets: Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Moldova. Throughout my consulting career, I’ve managed 120+ projects with primary focus on financial services; including growth strategy, loyalty, portfolio optimization, digital transformation, customer lifecycle management & analytics, organizational design.

Vineet has led over 100+ investments in the crypto and blockchain space, investing in blockchain startups including Casper Labs, Mysten Labs, Torus, KILT and many more. He has spoken on VC Investments at events like Token 2049 – Singapore, WEF – Davos, DCentral – Austin TX, Nearcon &Nearverse – Lisbon, AIBC- Malta, Future Blockchain Summit – Dubai, Global Blockchain Congress, Agora – Dubai, Blockchain Life – Moscow, among others and is a known opinion leader across publications in the Middle East and South Asia.

After completing his high school education, Şant Manukyan received his undergraduate degree in English Business Administration from Istanbul University, followed by completing his master’s program in the MBA field at Cornell University. He started his career in 2002 at İş Investment International Markets department. As a Global Strategist, Şant Manukyan has been serving as the Director of International Markets since June 2019. He is responsible for reflecting the global economic situation to investors, determining foreign equity and commodity strategies, and creating investor recommendations based on these strategies.

At Circle, Cem is working with a multidisciplinary team responsible for building awareness, affinity, and scale on the Circle platform, supporting existing and future developers and alliances, including exchanges and wallet partnerships, blockchain integrations, multi-chain programs, and fintech partnerships. Previously, Cem was the Ecosystem Lead at Stellar Development Foundation. At SDF, Cem was leading the relationships with key ecosystem stakeholders. He worked with entrepreneurs and enterprises of all sizes to support them to grow their business while increasing the network activity. Prior to SDF, Cem worked in strategy, operations, and compliance roles for companies like Coinsquare and HSBC, and also worked as consultant at PwC.

In 2017, frustrated by the lack of media coverage, he created and hosted CNBC CRYPTOTRADER, the world’s first televised crypto show. The show quickly became the highest viewed show on the network. He founded Crypto Banter in 2020 with a single minded objective of bringing 24/7, live, credible, crypto content to the community. He is also the founder of Banter Capital a $200m crypto fund. He is a Harvard Alumni , CFA and member of The Young Presidents Organization.

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.

Serial Entrepreneur of 10 years with businesses in Media, Production, and Blockchain. He was first introduced to Blockchain technology in 2016 and soon after made a decision to go full-time and provide his skill sets within the space. He was/is an advisor and consultant for various blockchain startups from 2016-2019 with a wide network of high net worth individuals stemming in the Blockchain space. With Mana Games, he has established a partnership network of high quality and branded web3 gaming studios and esports organizations.

Sinan Güler is a former professional basketball player turned entrepreneur and investor. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a passion for expanding his horizons and sharing his knowledge with younger generations. Güler is a co-founder of Guler Legacy and actively explores the potential of web3 and DAOs to shape the future of sports and create positive social impact.

Melissa Kurtcan a sustainable business strategy development consultant for tech companies, web3 advisor, co-founder & CEO of Satoshi Twenty One tech & marketing consultancy firm in Indonesia, advisor in humanitarian and innovative decentralised blockchain projects such as Decentralised Volunteering Protocol DeVo, Co-Founder of an international blockchain professionals community of 1.8k+ members, Founder Eurydice UK consultancy and Pollination Network, nature lover, free range philosopher and democratic socio-economic transformation activist.

He has a total of 5 years of experience in various roles in different financial companies. The first startup he founded was Nent, an e-bike company—he liquidated it in 2022. He has been working in crypto trading since 2017 and full-time in the blockchain and crypto spaces since 2020.

Ecehan Yıldırım’s story is one of relentless pursuit of technology and innovation. It begins with her undergraduate studies in Computer Engineering at Erciyes University, followed by a Master’s degree in the same field at Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, where she delved into the fascinating world of artificial intelligence and the metaverse. Throughout her university years, Ecehan wasn’t just a student. She actively worked on AI projects, adding another dimension to her skills by becoming a game software developer at a game company between 2020 and 2021. Her hunger for knowledge and experience led her to Liechtenstein in 2021, where she donned the dual hats of software developer and new technologies researcher at a blockchain company. Currently, as of 2023, she continues to blaze a trail at Türk Telekom, one of Turkey’s leading telecommunications and technology companies, where she serves as an Innovation Development Specialist. Ecehan’s impact extends beyond her career. She is a valued member of Crypto Female premium and WEB 3 Association, where she coordinates efforts in AI and the metaverse. Sharing her expertise generously, she also serves as an instructor at BTK Academy. Her passion for the future of technology is evident in her contribution to Turkey’s first Metaverse book, where she penned a chapter on “Metaverse and Ethics.” Furthermore, she has shared her insights on global and national platforms like New York, Paris, and TEDX. Ecehan Yıldırım is an embodiment of a woman who embraces technology, champions innovation, and readily shares her knowledge. Her accomplishments and dedication serve as an inspiration to aspiring women shaping the technologies of tomorrow.