Jeremy Allaire

Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chairman, Circle

Jeremy is responsible for strategy, vision and operating execution at Circle. He brings more than two decades of experience building and leading global internet software platforms, including founder and CEO of Brightcove, technologist and entrepreneur in residence at General Catalyst, CTO of Macromedia, and co-founder and CTO of Allaire Corporation.

Joseph H. L. Chan, JP

Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury The Government of Hong Kong SAR

Mr Chan was appointed the Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury on 16 August 2017. Mr Chan has many years of senior executive experience in the banking industry. 

He was a Managing Director in the Global Markets Division of Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, and was a Managing Director in Financial Markets of Standard Chartered Bank. 

Prior to joining the Government, Mr Chan held multiple roles in a number of public and professional bodies, including Vice President of the Hong Kong Society of Financial Analysts, Director of Hong Kong Securities & Investment Institute, Advisor of the Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society, as well as a General Committee member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. Mr Chan was also a member of the Central & Western District Council. 

Mr Chan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics (Hon) and Psychology from the University of Michigan, USA. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

The Honourable Duncan Chiu

Legislative Council Member, Technology & Innovation Constituency

Duncan has been a driving force in Hong Kong’s innovation and technology (I&T) development since early 2000. He is an active advocate of I&T policies, an experienced entrepreneur and investor, and is often regarded as the leading figure in the local I&T industry.

Besides his role in LegCo, Duncan is President of Hong Kong Information Technology Joint Council, Chairman of Steering Committee of the Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme (RAISe+), Chairman of HKTDC Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Services Advisory Committee, Chairman of Hospital Authority’s Information Technology Services Committee, and Chairman of Squash Association of Hong Kong, China.

Elisabeth Carpenter

Chief Operating Officer, Circle

Elisabeth leads global Revenue and Marketing, overseeing the complete go-to-market experience, and runs global business operations, including Talent. She brings decades of experience leading companies revolutionizing industries ranging from financial services to nonprofit fundraising to media as COO of Evertrue, SVP at Brightcove, and SVP at News Corporation and BSkyB.

Jeremy Fox-Geen

Chief Financial Officer, Circle

Jeremy brings 25 years of experience in corporate finance and financial services, as a strategic advisor, operator and finance officer, with previously held senior leadership roles at iStar and Safehold, McKinsey, PwC and Citigroup, as CFO, management consultant and finance officer.

Sandra Persing

VP, Developer & Ecosystem Marketing, Circle

Sandra Persing is the VP of Developer and Ecosystem Marketing at Circle. Sandra's team inspires developers pioneering Web3 solutions that contribute to the new wave of innovations with USDC.

Yam Ki Chan

Head of APAC, Circle

Nearly two decades of experience translating between technology, and economic policies and business objectives in high-intensity roles at multinationals, investment bank, and government. Spearheads complex, high-stakes strategies through direct negotiations, external-ally building, and leadership across geographically-dispersed cross-functional teams.

Ian Lin

Director of Product Management, Circle

Product leader with entrepreneurial background, strong consumer focus, and 11+ years of industry experience. A proven track record of conceiving ground breaking ideas, delivering disruptive features in Search and AI.

Founded/cofounded 3 companies, with one acquisition in 2009.

Manage and supported Product and Design teams, effective collaboration with others, strong execution, great communication and extraordinary presentation skills, with the ability to quickly adapt new tasks and environments.

Experienced with product release cycles and demonstrated strong leadership in leading projects end to end, from ideation to release & growth collaborating across engineering, design, legal, marketing, PR, and research.

Michael Gao

Co-Founder & CEO, RedotPay

Michael Gao is the Co-founder and CEO of Redotpay, where he leads the company's vision and strategy in the fintech space. He has an extensive background in financial services, having previously served as CEO of Union Mobile Pay Ltd and CEO of Hao Tian International Financial Holdings Ltd. Michael's career spans over 10 years in major financial institutions, including DBS Bank, HSBC, and Maybank, which he leverages to push the boundaries of digital payments and financial technology. Michael holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Economics from Nanyang Technological University Singapore. 

Daren Guo

Co-Founder, Reap

Daren Guo is a co-founder at Reap, where he leads product development to create world-class financial solutions for enterprises in the Web2 and Web3 sectors. In 2018, alongside his childhood friend Kevin Kang, Daren established Reap with a firm belief in the transformative power of Reap's payments technology for driving success for businesses across various industries and sizes. With over 90 team members spread across offices in eight countries, Reap has rapidly expanded its global presence since its inception.

Prior to Reap, Daren played a pivotal role in Stripe's growth journey. Starting at their San Francisco headquarters, he helped set up their first APAC presence in Singapore and contributed to scaling the company.

Monita Leung

CEO, Digital Ventures, HKT

Ms Monita Leung was appointed as Chief Executive Officer, Digital Ventures of HKT in 2022, taking a leadership role to drive the company’s digital ventures business. She has over 15 years’ experience with the Group and has played an integral part in the success of high-speed fibre broadband modernisation in Hong Kong. With her diverse experience across different business areas, including marketing, product development, operations and customer service, she is committed to driving continuous innovation by actively participating in a range of new initiatives such as digital wallet, virtual bank, ecommerce, merchant O2O solutions as well as fintech and health services.

Before joining HKT, Ms Leung acquired well-rounded experience in the consumer credit and payment card business in Hong Kong. She holds an Executive Master of Science in City Transformation and Master Planning from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

René Michau

Global Head, Digital Assets, Standard Chartered Bank

René Michau is Global Head of Digital Assets and is responsible for coordinating the strategic approach across Standard Chartered and SC Ventures, aligning innovation and capability delivery to provide clients with safe access to digital asset solutions. René led the establishment of the Fintech Banking business at SC and has worked across Financial Markets, Transaction Banking, Risk and Technology for several banks including HSBC, ANZ and NAB. His early career was spent as an Army Officer in the Australian Defence Force.  

René also leads the development of crypto trading Standard Chartered and co-chairs the Global) Digital Finance Institutional Crypto Working Group and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Digital Assets Forum. René is also a member of the Digital Asset Markets sub-committee of the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)’s Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC)  

René is a strong advocate for fintech innovation and dedicates his time collaborating with fintechs on community building, podcasts, academic research and speaking engagements. René is passionate about the empowerment of the amazing women in crypto and fintech and advocates for the power of diversity.

Nischint Sanghavi

Head of Digital Currencies – Asia Pacific, VISA

Nischint is the Head of Digital Currencies in Asia Pacific. He is responsible for overseeing Visa’s digital currency business performance in AP including creating and growing new revenue streams and partnerships. Nischint also serves as the subject matter expert supporting client facing teams on digital currency/web 3.0 engagements with key stakeholders such as banks, fintech’s, regulators and blockchain infrastructure companies.

He also oversees emerging CBDC and tokenized deposit products and GTM efforts Nischint brings over 22 years of experience in financial services working across multiple different streams over the years.

Nischint holds an MBA from Boston University School of Management and is also a Chartered Accountant.

Eugene Cheung

Chief Institutional Business Officer, OSL

Eugene Cheung is the Chief Institutional Business Officer at OSL, where he oversees the development and growth of the company's institutional business. He transitioned into the crypto industry in 2021, joining Bybit as Vice President and Head of Institution. At Bybit, Eugene built and led a new department focused on addressing institutional trading requirements, playing a key role in establishing Bybit as one of the top three global crypto exchanges.

Prior to entering the crypto space, Eugene accumulated over 15 years of experience in traditional finance, specializing in exchange and OTC trading across spot, derivatives, and fixed income asset classes. He previously served as Managing Director and Head of China for Tradeweb, where he spearheaded initiatives such as Bond Connect and was responsible for driving the company’s growth strategy in China. Before his time at Tradeweb, Eugene spent nearly a decade at CME Group, leading China business development since 2012. In this role, he formed strategic partnerships with China’s four major futures exchanges and interbank markets, significantly expanding CME Group’s presence in the region.

Eugene is a frequent speaker at industry events, particularly in the crypto space, and previously in the financial markets. He has also provided advisory services to regulators and industry participants. Before his tenure at CME Group, he held roles at Cantor Fitzgerald and a Hong Kong-based private equity firm.

Eugene holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Hong Kong and a Master’s degree in Finance from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is also a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM).

Samuel Lok

Head of Compliance, HashKey

Samuel Lok, is the Head of Compliance at HashKey, where he leads the AML and Regulatory Compliance functions and oversees the Compliance programs. He transitioned into the crypto industry in 2022, joined OSL as Head of Compliance. 

Prior to joining crypto space, Samuel accumulated nearly two decades of experience in traditional finance, specialising in Compliance, AML and Technology with vigorous positions at investment banks, retail banks, Asset Management and Brokerage. 

He previously served as one of the founding members in ZA Bank who obtained the first virtual bank license and led the establishment of the Compliance functions, and he also worked across different roles for several financial institutions, such as JP Morgan Asset Management, BNP Paribas, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC and Yunfeng Financial.