BLOCKFESTA 2026
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Onchain Finance

FROM ENTRY TO EXECUTION
Institutions Go On-Chain
October 1 (THU), 2026 · 10:00~17:00 · IFC The Forum, Yeouido · Powered by Blockmedia

BLOCKFESTA

BLOCKFESTA is one of Korea's longest-running blockchain and digital-asset events, held around Korea Blockchain Week for eight consecutive years. It convenes financial institutions, fintech and digital-asset firms, investors, policymakers, and leading global projects backed by Blockmedia's network across Korea and partners.

8th
Consecutive year
170+
Speakers
100+
Partners of former events
National Assembly
Legislative participation

Attending organisations

28%
Financial institutions & banks
26%
Fintech & digital-asset firms
20%
Investors & funds
14%
Policymakers & regulators
12%
Global blockchain projects

Onchain Finance

From Entry to Execution: Institutions Go On-Chain

Institutions are no longer just exploring blockchain.
2026 is the inflection point where digital finance moves from pilots to real execution.

BLOCKFESTA 2026 brings together the institutions and projects turning this from entry to execution.

BLOCKFESTA 2026

Min Byung-duk
National Assembly Member
Sam Seo
Chairman
Kaia DLT Foundation
Uno Lee
CEO
Kaia Investment Partners
Kim Se-hee
Senior Research Analyst
Eugene Investment & Securities
Leo Wong
Head of APAC
Access Protocol
Arthur Hayes
CIO
Maelstrom
Steve Chung
CEO
The Block
Vladimir Novakovski
CEO
Lighter
John D'Agostino
Head of Strategy
Coinbase Institutional
Jong-wan Kim
Team Leader
Digital Asset Team, Mirae Asset Securities
Sam Sim
Head
Digital Assets, Strategic Planning Team, Meritz Securities
Byung-hwa Lim
Professor
Sungkyunkwan University
Je-seok Hong
Senior Associate
Digital Asset Department, Shinhan Securities
Paul Kim
Chairman
New Frontier Partners (Fypher)
Thomas Chen
Chief Business Officer
BNB Chain
Sang-hyun Sung
Executive Director
ABP Asset Management
Kwangho An
Researcher
Tiger Research
Leo Li
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
AEON Protocol
Frederick Tan
Associate Director of Revenue
The Block

Program Schedule

Thursday, October 1, 2026 · 10:00–17:00

  1. 10:00–10:05 5 min
    OPENING

    Opening Remarks

  2. 10:05–10:15 10 min
    REMARKS

    Congratulatory Remarks

    Member of the National Assembly
SESSION 1

Reshaping Finance: Breaking Asset Boundaries, Unlocking New Opportunities

  1. 10:15–10:30 15 min
    TALK
    Arthur Hayes CIO · Maelstrom
  2. 10:30–10:50 20 min
    TALK
    Kim Se-hee Senior Research Analyst · Eugene Investment & Securities
  3. 10:50–11:30 40 min
    PANEL DISCUSSION

    Panel Discussion 1

    Kim Se-hee Senior Research Analyst · Eugene Investment & Securities
    Jong-wan Kim Team Leader · Digital Asset Team, Mirae Asset Securities
    Paul Kim Chairman · New Frontier Partners (Fypher)
  4. 11:30–11:50 20 min
    TALK
    Je-seok Hong Senior Associate · Digital Asset Department, Shinhan Securities
  5. 11:50–12:10 20 min
    TALK
    Sang-hyun Sung Executive Director · ABP Asset Management
  6. 12:10–12:55 45 min
    BREAK

    Lunch Break

SESSION 2

Asia's Onchain Finance: Infrastructure Race Begins

  1. 12:55–13:25 30 min
    KEYNOTE

    Kaia Session Keynote

    Sam Seo Chairman · Kaia DLT Foundation
  2. 13:25–13:40 15 min
    TALK
    Steve Chung CEO · The Block
  3. 13:40–14:00 20 min
    TALK
    Sam Sim Head · Digital Assets, Strategic Planning Team, Meritz Securities
  4. 14:00–14:35 35 min
    PANEL DISCUSSION

    Panel Discussion 2

    Uno Lee CEO · Kaia Investment Partners
    Byung-hwa Lim Professor · Sungkyunkwan University
  5. 14:35–15:00 25 min
    TALK
    Leo Li Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer · AEON Protocol
  6. 15:00–15:20 20 min
    FIRESIDE CHAT

    Fireside Chat 1

    Thomas Chen Chief Business Officer · BNB Chain
    Frederick Tan Associate Director of Revenue · The Block
  7. 15:20–15:40 20 min
    FIRESIDE CHAT

    Fireside Chat 2

    John D'Agostino Head of Strategy · Coinbase Institutional
    Tony Chung Head of BD · Blockmedia
  8. 15:40–16:30 50 min
    FIRESIDE CHAT

    Fireside Chat 3

    Rails
    Access Protocol
    Tiger Research
    Blockmedia
  9. 16:30–16:50 20 min
    FIRESIDE CHAT

    Fireside Chat 4

    Kelvin Koh Co-Founder & Partner · Spartan Group
    Ryan Kim Co-Founder & Partner · Hashed
  10. 16:50–17:00 10 min
    CLOSING

    Closing Remarks

Partners of BLOCKFESTA

Korea's best institutional Web3 conference.

Title
Kaia
Gold
KB Financial Group
Rayls
AEON Protocol
Silver
Access Protocol
Fypher
RN2 Technologies
Binance
Tiger Research
Partners
BPMG
Eugene Investment & Securities
Mirae Asset Securities
더불어민주당
Meritz Securities
Shinhan Securities
Media Partner
The Block

Former Speakers of BLOCKFESTA

Byung-Duk Min
Democratic Party · Congressman
Arthur Hayes
Maelstrom · CIO
Yong-Beom Park
Korea Blockchain Association · President
Justin Kim
Avalanche · Head of Asia
Muneeb Ali
Stacks · Founder
Jae-Sub Kim
People Power Party · Congressman
Dongki Lee
Deloitte · Partner
Gap-Rae Kim
VerifyVASP · Head of Capital Markets
Kyungup Kim
OPEN(ASSET) · Founder
Ik-Hyun Kim
Yulchon · Partner Lawyer
Sirgoo Lee
Upbit · Former CEO
Anatoly Yakovenko
Solana · Founder
Jae-Jin Kim
DAXA · Vice President
Yong-Beom Kim
Presidential Office · Chief Presidential Secretary for Policy
Chi Zhang
Kite AI · Founder
Young-Sun Park
Government of Korea · Former Minister of SMEs and Startups
Yong-Jae Lee
Mirae Asset · Head of Digital Assets
Yoo-Seok Seo
Korea Financial Investment Association · Former President
Ryeon-Ho Kang
Shin & Kim · Partner Lawyer
Sung-Hwan Joo
Lee & Ko · Lawyer
Byung-Duk Min
Democratic Party · Congressman
Anatoly Yakovenko
Solana · Founder
Justin Kim
Avalanche · Head of Asia
Chi Zhang
Kite AI · Founder
Dongki Lee
Deloitte · Partner
Yoo-Seok Seo
Korea Financial Investment Association · Former President
Ik-Hyun Kim
Yulchon · Partner Lawyer
Sirgoo Lee
Upbit · Former CEO
Yong-Beom Park
Korea Blockchain Association · President
Yong-Beom Kim
Presidential Office · Chief Presidential Secretary for Policy
Jae-Sub Kim
People Power Party · Congressman
Yong-Jae Lee
Mirae Asset · Head of Digital Assets
Kyungup Kim
OPEN(ASSET) · Founder
Sung-Hwan Joo
Lee & Ko · Lawyer
Arthur Hayes
Maelstrom · CIO
Jae-Jin Kim
DAXA · Vice President
Muneeb Ali
Stacks · Founder
Young-Sun Park
Government of Korea · Former Minister of SMEs and Startups
Gap-Rae Kim
VerifyVASP · Head of Capital Markets
Ryeon-Ho Kang
Shin & Kim · Partner Lawyer

Previous partners

Register to attend

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Optional: organisation, job title, area of interest, referrer — you can leave these blank

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Receiving your BLOCKFESTA 2026 registration and verifying attendees, event announcements and changes, and urgent contact on the day

The automatically collected items are used only to prevent fraudulent and automated registrations.

Retention period

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You may decline, but registration cannot be completed without this consent.

BLOCKFESTA 2026 Privacy Policy

Blockmedia (the "Company") establishes and discloses this Privacy Policy under Article 30 of the Personal Information Protection Act, in order to protect the personal information of data subjects and to handle related grievances promptly and effectively.

This Policy applies to the registration function of the BLOCKFESTA 2026 event website (blockfesta.com).

1. Personal information collected

We collect the following when you register.

Required
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Optional — you can leave these blank
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Receiving registrations and verifying attendees
Name, email, contact number
Event announcements, changes, and urgent contact on the day
Name, email, contact number
Understanding the audience and on-site registration
Organisation, job title, area of interest
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Referrer
Preventing fraudulent registration
Access records

The Company does not use personal information for any purpose other than those stated above. Where the purpose changes, it will take the necessary measures, including obtaining separate consent, under Article 18 of the Act.

3. Retention and use period

The Company retains and uses the personal information collected until one year after the end of the event, and destroys it without delay once that period has elapsed.

Where retention is required under applicable law, the information is kept for the period prescribed by that law.

If a data subject requests deletion before the retention period expires, the Company destroys the information without delay unless there is a statutory obligation to retain it.

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The Company does not outsource the processing of personal information collected through registration.

Registrations are written directly to a web server operated by the Company, without passing through any external form service or customer-management tool.

Should outsourcing arise in future, the processor and the scope of the work will be disclosed in advance through this Policy.

6. Transfer overseas

The Company does not transfer personal information collected through registration overseas; it is stored and processed only on servers located in Korea.

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Data subjects may exercise the following rights against the Company at any time.

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Where correction is requested, the Company will neither use nor provide the information concerned until the correction is complete.

Rights may be exercised through a legal representative or an authorised agent, who must submit a power of attorney in the form prescribed by the Notice on Methods of Processing Personal Information (Annex 11).

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The Company destroys personal information without delay once it is no longer needed, whether because the retention period has elapsed or the purpose has been achieved.

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10. Automatic collection devices and how to refuse them

The Company sets no cookies on this website and installs no analytics or advertising trackers.

11. Personal Information Protection Officer

Department
Management Team
Email
contact@blockmedia.co.kr
Phone
02-6964-6262

Data subjects may direct any enquiry, complaint or request for remedy concerning personal information to the Officer, and the Company will respond without delay.

12. Remedies for infringement of rights

Data subjects may apply to the following bodies for dispute resolution or advice.

  • Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee: 1833-6972 / www.kopico.go.kr
  • Privacy Infringement Report Centre: 118 / privacy.kisa.or.kr
  • Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Cyber Investigation: 1301 / www.spo.go.kr
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13. Changes to this Policy

This Privacy Policy takes effect on 7 September 2026.

Where additions, deletions or amendments are made in response to changes in law, policy or security technology, the reasons and content will be announced on the website at least seven days before they take effect.

The Forum

The Forum, International Finance Centre Seoul (IFC), Yeouido

BLOCKFESTA is held at a premium venue in Yeouido, the heart of Korean finance.

The Forum, International Finance Centre Seoul (IFC), Yeouido
Address 10, Gukjegeumyung-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Two IFC, 3F

Onchain Finance

October 1 (Thu), 2026 · 10:00~17:00 · IFC The Forum, Yeouido
Min Byung-duk
National Assembly Member
Profile

Min Byung-duk is a Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea with the Democratic Party of Korea. He is engaged in discussions on financial policy, digital-asset regulation, and the development of a trusted market framework.

Sam Seo
Chairman
Kaia DLT Foundation
Profile

Sam Seo is Chairman of the Kaia DLT Foundation. He holds a Ph.D. in parallel computing and conducted exascale systems research at Argonne National Laboratory before leading the development of on-device AI inference frameworks and neural network compilers at Samsung Electronics. He designed and built the public blockchain Klaytn at Ground X in 2018, later serving as CTO, CPO, and CEO of the Klaytn Foundation; he now leads Kaia, formed through the 2024 merger of Klaytn and Finschia.

Uno Lee
CEO
Kaia Investment Partners
Profile

Uno Lee is the CEO of Kaia Investment Partners (KIP) and Chief Business Development Officer of the Kaia DLT Foundation. He began his career as an analyst at Samsung Securities, followed by roles at Lindeman Asia Investment and Huobi Korea, and has led business development for major Korean public blockchain platforms—including Ground X, Klaytn’s parent company Krust, and the Klaytn Foundation—since 2019. At KIP, he manages Yield8, an on-chain private credit fund focused on Asia, as well as a stablecoin infrastructure venture fund, with a focus on bringing institutional capital on-chain.

Kim Se-hee
Senior Research Analyst
Eugene Investment & Securities
Profile

Kim Se-hee is a Senior Research Analyst in Digital Assets & Fintech at Eugene Investment & Securities, covering digital asset markets and blockchain-based finance and fintech. Previously, she served as a Strategy Manager at blockchain infrastructure company DSRV, where she worked on industry strategy and business development.

Leo Wong
Head of APAC
Access Protocol
Profile

Leo Wong leads Asia-Pacific operations at Access Protocol. He focuses on growing regional adoption of token-based access models for content, creators, and communities.

Arthur Hayes
CIO
Maelstrom
Profile

Arthur Hayes is Chief Investment Officer of Maelstrom, where he leads investment strategy at the intersection of digital assets and macroeconomics. He is widely known for his views on crypto market structure and global liquidity.

Steve Chung
CEO
The Block
Profile

Steve Chung is CEO of The Block, a news, research, and data platform for digital assets and blockchain. He previously served as Chief Growth Officer at FOX Corporation and CEO of the Americas at CJ ENM, after beginning his career at Goldman Sachs.

John D'Agostino
Head of Strategy
Coinbase Institutional
Profile

John D’Agostino is Head of Strategy for Coinbase Institutional. A former Head of Strategy at the New York Mercantile Exchange, he lectures on fintech at Oxford, MIT, and Columbia University.

Jong-wan Kim
Team Leader
Digital Asset Team, Mirae Asset Securities
Profile

Jong-wan Kim is a Team Leader in the Digital Asset Team at Mirae Asset Securities. He works on digital-asset business and strategy, with a focus on the intersection of capital markets and digital assets.

Sam Sim
Head
Digital Assets, Strategic Planning Team, Meritz Securities
Profile

Sam Sim leads the global digital asset business at Meritz Securities. Previously, he served as Korea Lead for BNB Chain at Binance, co-founded a Web3 venture, and graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Byung-hwa Lim
Professor
Sungkyunkwan University
Profile

Byung-hwa Lim is a professor at Sungkyunkwan University, where he researches and teaches blockchain and digital transformation. His work examines how technological, industrial, and regulatory change shapes finance and society.

Je-seok Hong
Senior Associate
Digital Asset Department, Shinhan Securities
Profile

Je-seok Hong is a Senior Associate in the Digital Asset Department at Shinhan Securities. He works on digital-asset initiatives including real-world asset tokenization and stablecoins, as well as global regulatory analysis and overseas partnerships.

Paul Kim
Chairman
New Frontier Partners (Fypher)
Profile

Paul Kim is the Founder of New Frontier Partners Group, which focuses on building institutional-grade financial infrastructure bridging digital assets and traditional finance, and the Founder of Fypher, a stablecoin infrastructure platform. He also serves as CEO of RN2 Technologies, a publicly listed company in Korea. Paul began his career in traditional finance as a fixed-income fund manager at Franklin Templeton. He later served as a board director of BTHMB Holdings, the Singapore-based parent company of Bithumb Korea, and founded Ragnar Capital Management, a Singapore-based asset management firm. Today, he is leading initiatives in stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, and cross-border capital markets, with a focus on Asia.

Thomas Chen
Chief Business Officer
BNB Chain
Profile

Thomas Chen is the Chief Business Officer at BNB Chain, where he focuses on revenue strategy, institutional partnerships, and long-term value creation for the BNB Chain ecosystem. His remit spans institutional and capital markets, stablecoins and settlement, trading and liquidity, and ecosystem distribution—connecting banks, asset managers, and RWA issuers to one of crypto’s largest distribution networks. He previously served as CEO of Bitcoin yield protocol Function and as Managing Director and Global Head of Sales at BitGo, where he grew assets under custody to more than US$100 billion; he has spent over seven years of his 15-year career building commercial teams across digital asset infrastructure for institutions in traditional finance and DeFi.

Sang-hyun Sung
Executive Director
ABP Asset Management
Profile

Sang-hyun Sung is an investment professional with experience in fixed income, global asset allocation, and overseas equity management across securities firms and institutional investment organizations. He leads equity investment management at ABP Asset Management and teaches corporate finance as an adjunct professor at Hanyang University. He is the author of Fed Insight and The U.S. Investment Mega Cycle, and researches investment strategies that connect macroeconomic shifts with capital flows, growth industries, and market leaders.

Kwangho An
Researcher
Tiger Research
Profile

Kwangho An is a Researcher at Tiger Research, covering Asia’s Web3 and cryptocurrency markets. His research focuses on AI agents, DeFi, stablecoins, market structure, and regulation. He previously worked across crypto business development and AML/KYC operations, and currently focuses on analyzing industry developments through market data, policy, and business models.

Leo Li
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
AEON Protocol
Profile

Leo Yiyang Li is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of AEON Protocol, which builds payment and settlement infrastructure for the agentic economy. Previously a technical lead for Google Ads recommendation systems, he now leads the development of technology that connects AI agents with real-world commerce through stablecoins and protocols including x402.

Frederick Tan
Associate Director of Revenue
The Block
Profile

Frederick Tan is Associate Director of Revenue at The Block, leading strategic partnerships and growth across the Asia-Pacific region. With leadership experience at The Block, Messari, and Cointelegraph, he has spent the past decade at the intersection of Web3, AI, and emerging technologies. He is also an entrepreneur and venture builder developing AI-powered platforms for thought leadership and startup acceleration, and is a frequent speaker and moderator on the role of AI and blockchain in digital innovation.