Venture Leaders Fintech in Hong Kong Puts Swiss Fintech in the Spotlight

November 28, 2019

By Niccolò Schlueb, Junior Project Manager Innovation & Entrepreneurship

There was no better destination for the Swiss National Fintech Team than the heart of Asia’s Financial markets and the gateway to the most dynamic region in the world: Hong Kong. Led by swissnex China and Venturelab, ten selected top Swiss fintech startups arrived on Sunday November 3 in Hong Kong to kick-off their week-long program of meetings with potential investors and partners, workshops and discussions. The startups also partook in the Hong Kong Fintech Week 2019 including two days of participating at the Fintech conference and a day trip to Shenzhen. Because this was the first Venture Leaders Fintech to take place in Asia, both expectations and excitement were extremely high and we could not wait to get started the next day.

The 10 Swiss National Fintech Startups:

Day 1: Monday November 4

First up on the agenda was a company visit to the Swiss investment firm Silverhorn Group to attend two consecutive workshops. The delegation was warmly welcomed by Patrick Heuscher, Olympic bronze medallist in beach volleyball, who now creates a stir in Asia’s investment sectors at Silverhorn Group. Musheer Ahmed from the Fintech Association of Hong Kong then spoke about the Fintech ecosystems in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. Edward Webre and Isabella Wong from Deacons, Hong Kong’s oldest first-tier law firm, addressed important aspects in the local legal frameworks for foreign fintech companies that plan to set up an office in Hong Kong. A hot topic of discussion for the first, but certainly not for the last time, was the difference between the financial markets of Hong Kong and Singapore.

Subsequently, the Venture Leaders had the chance to pitch their startups at LGT in front of a high-ranking delegation and received valuable feedback from top experts within the banking industries.

Afterwards the delegation was welcomed by Howse Williams, a HK based law firm which made a brief introduction and answered questions regarding the judicial systems in Hong Kong finance. Representatives from CIGP investment advisors joined the meeting and gave helpful advice to the startups, which received another opportunity to present their exciting businesses.

The last meeting of the intense, but insightful day consisted of a meet-up with Standard Chartered Ventures, who specifically focus on the support of emerging fintech companies. The meeting included a pitch-session, which was also broadcasted to SC Venture’s office in Singapore.

Andrea Girasole from Billte about the investor meetings: “This is extremely important for us as Asia is a booming market in general, especially Hong Kong and China. We are looking to expand into this area as well. I delivered the pitch of our company to several investors and potential partners. Partners being banks and financial companies. It’s been a fantastic experience and I highly recommend it.”

Michael Waldner presenting Pexapark at LGT

Day 2: Tuesday November 5

In the early morning, the delegation visited Eureka Nova, an accelerator by the New World Group, who held a workshop about the Hong Kong startup ecosystem and answered the startups’ many questions. Then, Oriente, a successfully launched Fintech startup welcomed the Swiss Fintech champions to its office. Oriente provided insightful information about their progression as a startup and answered the various questions of the team.

A lunch meeting with Invest Hong Kong and GP Bullhound was scheduled next as they presented more details about their programs and the general investment environment in HK. Afterwards, the startups were able to present their ideas in an intensive pitch-session to invest HK and GP Bullhound.

Two important pitch-sessions followed: firstly, at HSBC and secondly, at the Swiss Bank UBS. With great enthusiasm, the Swiss National Fintech Team made a lasting impression with their exciting business strategies.

Andrea Girasole introducing Billte at HSBC

In the evening, the long-awaited first highlight of the week took place. The Venture Leaders and our other 50 high-profile guests boarded the beautiful Aqua Luna, which set sail in Victoria Harbour surrounded by the millions of lights of Hong Kong’s skyline. Of course, the purpose of the cruise was not only to admire the stunning scenery: We also challenged our entrepreneurs to pitch on the swaying boat! Nevertheless, it is safe to say that all startups did a great job and they made valuable connections with our guests.

Day 3: Wednesday November 6

The Hong Kong Fintech conference (HKFTW2019) opened its doors on Wednesday and the Swiss National Fintech Team was ready to showcase high quality in Swiss fintech. The delegation was represented through the Swiss Fintech Pavilion, in which every startup had its own booth with promotion material. During HKFTW2019, various meetings with Hong Kong government, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, interviews with South China Morning Post and Hong Kong Economic Times were scheduled.

Hong Kong Government delegation visiting the Swiss Fintech Pavilion

In the evening, the second main event was held, granting a somewhat different view of the skyline. On 100th floor of the ICC – Hong Kong’s tallest building - the startups engaged in a lively pitching competition in front of 100 guests and the critical eyes of our jury: Brian Ma from AngelVest, Veronica Fung from the Fintech Association of Hong Kong and Peter Luk from Hong Kong Science and Technology Park assessed the startups’ presentations and asked challenging question in the end of each pitch. Andi Burri from Loanboox topped the high quality of pitches throughout the evening and won the Venture Leaders Fintech Hong Kong Pitching Award for the best pitch of the evening.

Andi Burri about Venture Leaders Fintech: “So, for me personally, I had maybe around 100 contacts and personal interactions already, alongside the 20 pitches, and I learned so much about whether Loanboox has the potential to access the Asian market or whether we need to grow a little bit more in Europe first. For that, I am highly thankful. I thank for the whole organization and I think this is one of the best pitching event organization that I’ve seen in my life and I am very thankful. Also, I am looking forward to getting further feedback from the interviews I’ve had. I wish all the best to my colleagues with whom I’ve had the pleasure to be part of this journey and to Venturelab and swissnex China going forward.”

Day 4: Thursday November 7

The focus of Thursday’s program was the Hong Kong Fintech Week. The startups attracted a lot of attention and could deeply connect with interested visitors. A pitching session on the exhibition’s stage was organized and Mr. Rolf Frei, incoming Consul General of Switzerland to Hong Kong, visited during the day and took his time to talk to each startup. A stunning 8’000 people in total visited the expo. It is estimated that each startup held about 30-50 conversations during the HKFTW2019, with some being busy almost non-stop.

Consul General Rolf Frei visiting the Swiss Fintech Pavilion

Day 5: Friday November 8

On Friday, the final day, the ten entrepreneurs travelled to Shenzhen for company visits. The startups could select between four tours, which brought the representatives to either WeLab-Tencent, WeBank-ZhongAn, Gala Lunch-Tencent or ZhongAn-WeBank.

The intense 6-day Venture Leaders Fintech program concluded on Friday evening with a hearty farewell dinner. Despite the short time together, the team grew close and everyone was excited to find out which contacts and opportunities made in the past week would bear fruit and open the gateway to the Asian fintech markets. Everyone agreed that their paths would cross again in the future as there is no way on their professional roadmap that would go around Asia.

swissnex China looks back at a very successful first edition of the Venture Leaders Fintech program, linking our 10 Fintech startup champions with local multi-$B investors, mentors, experts and business partners. swissnex China also made sure to provide the startups countless opportunities to pitch, including the two highlights of the week: the pitching events on the 100th floor of the tallest building in Hong Kong and on the iconic red-sail Aqua Luna. Luckily, Daniel Schmidheiny didn’t lose count: “An exceptional week has come to a close here in Hong Kong. It was just as intense as fun, in short: vlot Ltd. pitched and presented a total of 16 times. I made countless interactions with interested parties and now have no business cards left. Furthermore, I got a a first taste of the actual market size (still struggling on this one) and received extremely helpful insights from local experts to the needs and expectations of the clients”

Daniel Schimdheiny pitching vlot at HK Fintech Week

Congratulations to our Swiss National Fintech Startups - we wish them every success with their follow-up discussions and meetings!

We would like to express our special thanks to our program partners, without whose generous support this incredible program would not have been possible: digitalswitzerland, EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), ETH Zürich, IMMOMIG V8.0, PostFinance Ltd, Redalpine, Presence Switzerland, Swiss Consulate General in HK, Walder Wyss Ltd., Volkswirtschaftsdirektion Kanton Zürich and Zühlke Group HK.

Venture Leaders Fintech 2019 is co-organized by Venturelab and swissnex China.

swissnex China Briefs IFZ Delegation on Chinese FinTech

August 13, 2018

On August 3, a delegation from Institut für Finanzdienstleistungen Zug (IFZ), organized by Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, together with the Swiss Private Equity & Corporate Finance Association (SECA), visited Shanghai on a study tour to explore and assess the prospect of further inclusion of Chinese banking and finance markets in the global markets. Dr. Felix Moesner, CEO of swissnex China and Science Consul, warmly welcomed the delegation and briefed the delegates on swissnex China’s FinTech activities and beyond.

Dr. Felix Moesner warmly welcomed the delegation and briefed them on the prospects of FinTech in China.

The 27 participants were headed by Prof. Maurice Richard H. Pedergnana, and are currently enrolled in a post-graduate program in Banking & Finance. The group of Swiss Bankers and Investors including Prof. Thomas Ankenbrand (who participated as panelist at swissnex China's 3rd edition of Future of Money: Blockchain in Finance in July 2018) were inspired by the tremendous importance of China in the world economy. The tour concluded with a relaxing networking session on the venue's rooftop bar.

The group was guided by Emmanuelle and Noémie from Swiss Centers China. Our heartfelt appreciation for the great collaboration!

Blockchain in FinTech: another Grand Success in the Future of Money series

July 30, 2018

By Sébastien Quadri, Junior Project Leader

swissnex China was proud to organize the third edition of the Future of Money series, “Blockchain in FinTech” at the Embassy of Switzerland, as part of the Swiss Innovation Week on July 6.

Blockchain, such a hot topic nowadays! This disruptive technology is often compared to the Internet revolution and trigger interests among both professionals and curious people. With a wealth of experts and the proliferation of blockchain startups across the FinTech space, Switzerland has quickly become a major blockchain hub of the world. A very supportive government, a dynamic environment and high motivation are important drivers of Swiss innovation. On the other hand, China’s investments in this technology are unmatched by any others. In 2017, more than half of the Blockchain patents in the world were published by Chinese organizations.

Under such circumstances, 250+ guests including executives, VCs & policymakers were welcomed by his Excellency Dr. Jean-Jacques de Dardel, Swiss Ambassador in China and our CEO Dr. Felix Moesner to attend the panel discussion.

*His Excellency Dr. Jean-Jacques de Dardel welcoming the audience.*

A fascinated audience: the venue was fully packed with 250+ people.

With a very impressive panel consisting of Mr. Liwei Wang, senior reporter at Caixin media, Prof. Elaine Shi, the very first Scientist to talk about and teach smart contract, Prof. Dr. Ben Shenglin, Founder and Dean of the Academy of Internet Finance of Zhejiang University, Mr. Daniel Haudenschild, CEO of Swisscom Blockchain and Dr. Thomas Ankenbrand, Researcher and Lecturer at the Luzern University of Applied Sciences and Arts and expert on the Swiss FinTech landscape, the bar was set very high.

The panelists discussed topics revolving the application of blockchain technology in Switzerland and in China.

The talk addressed diverse trendy subjects such as the applications of blockchain technology and endeavors in Switzerland and in China, the supportiveness of their governments and policies, the technical capabilities and challenges of the blockchain technology at this stage and moving forward as well as its tricky relationship to Cryptocurrency in the blockchain's development. Both the promise and pitfall from a longer-term perspective were mentioned and the panelists were delighted to shared their opinions.

“Blockchain or, more precisely, Distributed Ledger Technology offers new opportunities on three levels. First, on the technology or database level, secure, immutable applications without a central operator are made possible. Second, cryptocurrencies offer an efficient crowdfunding possibility for innovative projects. Third, token economies can be built for disruptive new business models. The current situation in the blockchain space reveals parallels to the internet space twenty years ago: There are great opportunities but also high risks.”

— Dr. Thomas Ankenbrand

Many participants were eager to ask questions to the panelists both during and after the event.

In the end, expectation were more than fulfilled and the only challenge consisted of the constant flow of astute questions from the audience, who were waited for the Grand Reception Opening.

In three words: A Grand Success!

Testimonials

“It was a successful event held last Friday. We are very glad that both Dean Shenglin and myself are involved.”

— Ruidong Zhang, Director of the Blockchain Labs at Academy of Internet Finance, Zhejiang University

“High quality discussion and diverse audience.”

— Mr. Lars Hoffmann, Community Standing Committee of Elastos Foundation

“Great event with insights from China and Switzerland on blockchain tech advances and outlook into the immediate future.”

— Mr. Fabian Knopf, Commercial manager of TMF Group

Thanks to our partners and sponsors

This third edition of the Future of Money series would not have been possible without the generous contribution of our sponsors. A big thanks to:

· ThunderCore™ is an EVM-compatible public blockchain developed by leading experts, characterized by:

o Compatibility: Ethereum smart contracts fully supported. Migrate DApps to ThunderCore and immediately increase their performance.

o Scalability: Process thousands of transactions in a second—nothing is left pending.

o Fastness: Get your transactions confirmed instantly in less than a second.

o Security: Enjoy mathematically grounded security guarantees. We are as secure as existing blockchains but with vastly improved speed and efficiency.

https://www.thundercore.com

A special thank you to our keynote speaker Mrs. Elaine Shi, Blockchain Scientist and Professor.

· TrustSquare With blockchain technology as the common denominator, TrustSquare brings together entrepreneurs, businesses, investors as well as academics and researchers in an open and diverse environment.

https://www.trustsquare.ch

· Swisscom Blockchain Swisscom Blockchain provides solutions to implement blockchain technology quickly and successfully for your company.

https://blockchain.swisscom.com

· Presence Switzerland: Presence Switzerland is competent for the image of Switzerland abroad and implements the strategy of the Federal Council on Switzerland’s communication abroad

https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/das_eda/organisation_deseda/generalsekretariat/praesenz_schweiz.html

· The Embassy of Switzerland in China

https://www.eda.admin.ch/beijing

Swiss Innovation a Hot Topic at Elite Zhejiang University Blockchain & FinTech Summit

July 13, 2018

On July 12, 2018, our CEO Dr. Felix Moesner was invited to deliver a talk to 250 top graduate students on "Switzerland's Practice in Blockchain and FinTech" at Zhejiang University, an elite higher education institution in China that is ranked 3rd nationally (ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, 2018). The warm reception to Dr. Moesner's speech was astounding: the spacious lecture room was fully-packed, with many in the audience even standing in the back for an opportunity to gain special insight into Switzerland's cutting-edge innovations in blockchain and FinTech. With a wealth of experts and the proliferation of blockchain startups across the FinTech space, Switzerland has quickly become a world-leading blockchain hub. A very supportive government, a dynamic ecosystem and high motivation are important drivers of Swiss innovation. The "Blockchain and Digital Economy" summit by the Academy of Internet Finance at the School of Management was organized by Dean Ben Shenglin and Prof. Zhang Ruidong.

swissnex China CEO Dr. Felix Moesner was warmly received at the "Blockchain and Digital Economy" summit at Zhejiang University.

Zhejiang University is one of the oldest, most selective and most prestigious institutions of higher education in China. The university's mission is to "seek truth and pursue innovation", backed up by a total research funding of $638.2 million in 2017 and being home to one of China's largest academic libraries. It is situated in Hangzhou, the city that is now synonymous with China's tech capital from where the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba also hails. The halo effect from the the city's flourishing e-commerce activities has transformed it into one of China's main FinTech hubs.

Dr. Moesner spoke at length about Switzerland's cutting-edge innovations in blockchain and FinTech.

The spacious lecture room was fully packed, with many amongst the audience standing in the back.

Zhejiang University is one of the oldest, most selective and most prestigious institutions of higher education in China.

Artificial Intelligence in WealthTech – Great success for the 2nd edition of the Future of Money Series by swissnex China

April 27, 2018

By Valentin Beuchat, Junior Project Leader

swissnex China launched the second edition of the “Future of Money” series in China.

【 Click to Play the Video 】

The disruptive force of new algorithms and big data seems to reach the financial world and is forcing the latter to innovate, primarily as a response to the 2008 global financial crisis. Switzerland is at the cutting edge of FinTech and has gained interest around the world, including China. Combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI), the potential is enormous, and swissnex China has set itself the goal to put the spotlight on the Swiss FinTech scene. So stay tuned to find out the swissnex China story about AI in WealthTech and how we connect the dots between Switzerland and China and continues to build an active community to discuss the future trends in FinTech.

AI is the power of a machine capable of replicating an intelligent human behavior and can then learn and make predictions based on data. This automation process is used to assess client risk profiles and allocate and rebalance portfolios. Not only can AI monitor the risks, but it can also mitigate them at an early stage. Moreover, AI technology allows a dynamic segmentation of clients based on parameters such as behavior or risk aversion, identifies product opportunities, provides portfolio decisions and personalized client dashboards with performance analysis, and delivers tailored reports, news, and alerts to mention few examples. This new core technology lowers fees, enables real-time portfolio rebalancing and portfolio transparency with easily understood products, and minimizes - and even possibly removes – human intervention. All these disruptive FinTech features is a way to serve and acquire investors of today and tomorrow, in other words, the millennial investors.

What does this imply for the traditional banking system? What are the scientific underpinnings of this innovation of “FinTech”? How is crowd and data intelligence going to change the relationship between financial institutions and customer? Are traditional portfolio management, decision making, and risk taking replaced by artificial intelligence?

These and many other key questions about the future of this innovation were the focus of a panel discussion of both Swiss and Chinese academics and opinion leaders in the framework of the second edition of the Future of Money series, which took place from April 9-11 in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong.

The Swiss expert panelists included Dr. Thomas Puschmann, Founder and Head of the Swiss FinTech Innovation Lab at the University of Zurich, and Alexandre Gaillard, CEO and Founder of InvestGlass and General Secretary of the Swiss Chinese Chamber of Commerce Geneva. Dr. Puschmann gave the audience a taste of the origin of both artificial intelligence and FinTech topics and where the research is standing nowadays with its leads for the future. On the other hand, Mr. Gaillard shared exciting insights and comparisons about the traditional wealth management industry, as he is a former private banker, and the new technology-driven bank services, as an entrepreneur with his startup. Having perspectives from the public and private sector were enriching, as opportunities and challenges are not the same, but overall both experts highlighted the Swiss FinTech landscape for its dynamism and innovation, and that Switzerland is perceived as a leading nation when talking about finance.

In addition to the two Swiss speakers who participated in the three megalopolis conferences in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong, several more experts and opinions leaders joined the panel in each city. In Shanghai, Frank Wang, Managing Director of CreditEase Wealth Management, and Dr. Ming Liao, Adjunct Professor of Business & Economics at NYU Shanghai, explained where China stands in the field and gave concrete examples based on their own working experience. The panel was moderated by Jerome Eger, Managing Director China of Ginmon, a financial service company providing automatically managed ETF portfolio.

The next day in Beijing, Tao Lei, CEO & Founder of BeagleData, and Ling Huang, Adjunct Professor in Tsinghua University and CEO & Founder of AHI Fintech Inc., joined the panel discussion. They shared and interacted with the audience about topics such as the dilemma between the quantity and quality of data gathered by AI machines and the data security for customers. The moderation was greatly done by our Swiss expert Alexandre Gaillard.

The last stage in Hong Kong welcomed Cat Rüst, Head of Innovation Technologies at UBS Wealth Management Greater China, Gerardo Salandra, CEO of Rocketbots and co-chair of the AI society of Hong Kong, and the moderator Desmond Marshall, country MD for The Floor in Asia. The panel discussion was oriented towards topics including, but were not limited to, the requirements of WealthTech developments in Switzerland and Asia, the significant differences and similarities, the decision-making power of machines, the integration process of AI for financial institutions and its challenges, and of course the customer needs and its role within the whole investing process.

Many interesting and sometimes challenging interrogations were raised during the three events from the 379 highly-focused audience: how will traditional portfolio management, decision making, and risk taking be replaced by AI? Does the customer need that much of AI to handle its wealth? Am I not the best person to make decisions on my own? Does this technology help me making a decision or does it make one for me? What will happen in 5 years? Is AI technology a game changer and will it be mass-adopted in the finance industry?

In the framework of these events, it is also an excellent opportunity for various institutions representatives to connect, exchange, and build some potential partnerships for the future. At least one company is seriously considering setting up its activities in Switzerland, the main reason being its attractive and stable regulatory system regarding the FinTech scene. This story would be a tangible example of how swissnex China contributes to the creation of value in Switzerland and abroad by connecting the right people at the right place when organizing these kinds of events.

Overall, AI in WealthTech is still at an early stage, but rapid improvements are transforming the financial services landscape, which implies opportunities but also challenges. Key players have already identified the emergence of the trend, and new business models are being developed to integrate this cutting-edge technology.

Testimonials

“It was a great honor to be invited by swissnex China, as a speaker on Artificial Intelligence in WealthTech. Great interest from a huge crowd from different countries.” Frank Wang, Managing Director of CreditEase Wealth Management

“Today I’m very excited actually to have the opportunity to learn a lot more about AI regarding Wealthtech in Switzerland and what is new there.” Jerome Eger, Managing Director China of Ginmon.

“Many thanks to swissnex to meet with Chinese investors, business owners, and bankers.” Alexandre Gaillard, CEO and Founder of InvestGlass and General Secretary of the Swiss Chinese Chamber of Commerce Geneva

“I’m excited to be here to discuss with some representatives from Shanghai and also from Switzerland and to draw comparisons and find similarities among two countries.” Dr. Thomas Puschmann, Founder and Head of the Swiss FinTech Innovation Lab at the University of Zurich

“Very excited to be able to be talking to other people from Switzerland and have participants from all types of nationalities to really address where the trend is going and what we could benefit from.” Cat Rüst, Head of Innovation Technologies at UBS Wealth Management Greater China

“Great to be around here because we’re talking about AI in WealthTech, which is definitely the next trend in terms of FinTech.” Desmond Marshall, country MD for The Floor in Asia

Sponsors

This second edition of the Future of Money series would not have been possible without the generous contribution of our sponsors. Many thanks to them and please find some more information below:

Presence Switzerland: Presence Switzerland is competent for the image of Switzerland abroad and implements the strategy of the Federal Council on Switzerland’s communication abroad >> website.

Greater Zurich Area: As the international contact partner for promotion and marketing of the Greater Zurich area economic region, Greater Zurich Area AG (GZA) acts as a liaison between international companies looking to settle in the area and local interests and requirements >> website.

SF Innovation Center: SF Innovation Center is an industrial transformation and upgrading demonstration base and international innovation enterprise center established by SF Group - one of China’s leading comprehensive service providers of express logistics. It integrates the Commercialization Center of Research Findings, Innovation Incubation Center, Brand & Hi-tech Experience Center, Supply-chain Finance Center, E-commerce Advanced Business Park HQ Base and Enterprise Innovation Service Platform. SF Innovation Center is dedicated to linking global industrial innovation Resources to promote industrial development >> website.

Synpulse: Synpulse is an established, globally active management consulting company and a valued partner to renowned international financial services companies >> website.

Squirro: Squirro is a modern cognitive insights engine that uses predictive analytics, machine learning and more to enable you to turn even unstructured data into actions >> website.

CryptoEasy: CryptoEasy is your personal crypto advisor to cover your entire investment journey as a due-diligent investor >> website.

Blockchain in Fintech, the successful launch of the Future of Money series in Hong Kong and Shanghai by swissnex China

November 29, 2017

By Martin Stürchler, Junior Project Leader

In case you have not heard of the blockchain technology, blockchain gives the internet user the possibility to transfer a piece of digital property to another internet user. The Blockchain guarantees the transfer to be safe and secure. Due to the fact that the blockchain is transparent everyone knows that the transfer has taken place and nobody can challenge the legitimacy of the transfer.

Switzerland as a leader in innovation and with crypto valley Zug on the rise in the Blockchain scene has gained curiosity around the world including China.

On November 20 & 21, swissnex China successfully launched its first “Future of Money” series’ event themed “Blockchain in Fintech” with a great exceptional panel of Swiss and Chinese Blockchain & Fintech experts. The topics that have been discussed are the revolutionizing technology of Blockchain in Fintech and the future outlook of how cryptocurrencies and distributed ledger have the potential to affect different industries and shape the world of tomorrow.

The panel was moderated by the FinTech expert Zennon Kapron, Director of Kapron ASIA. In the panel seven Blockchain experts joined: Da HongFei, Founder of NEO the largest Blockchain project in China, gave interesting insights how digital identity can digitalize assets, to automate the management of digital assets using smart contracts aiming to create a “smart economy”. Furthermore from Hong Kong we welcomed Arthur Hayes, CEO of BitMEX who explained the next generation of Bitcoin derivates. Ms. Qijun Wang a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of crypto asset management startup Queschain representing the voice for women in the industry. Last but not least we had Mr. Rong Chen, co-founder of Elastos Foundation who works on a smart-web powered by Blockchain, and Mr. Jason Inch who shared with us his most recent insights of his book “China 4.0” and his latest Blockchain project Genaro.

Switzerland was represented by Dr. Thomas Bocek, Head of P2P and distributed systems CSG of the University of Zurich and Manuel Stagars, movie maker of the documentary “Blockchain and Us”. Mr. Bocek gave the audience a taste of the technological background on peer-to-peer, distributed systems, including Bitcoins and Blockchain. On the other hand Mr. Stagars, due to his documentary movie and many interviews with key players in Switzerland, shared interesting insights of the Swiss Fintech landscape and its opportunities and challenges for the Blockchain technology.

Many interesting questions were discussed during the two events: Is Blockchain technology a game changer? Which industries will the Blockchain in particular influence? Is Switzerland going to play a key player in this Fintech industry? How long does it takes for mass adoption? What are the opportunities and threats of Blockchain technology?

The panelists actively replied to questions throughout the conference. The conclusion was that blockchain technology is still at the beginning of a revolution, which will have the power to change our everyday life.

Testimonials

“I have to say this has been one of the greatest events I have had and I appreciate the invite from swissnex and the opportunity to share the stage to learn from my fellow panelists so much.” Ms. QJ (Qijun) Wang - CEO and Founder, Queschain Capital

“swissnex Future of Money event, industry sharing is comprehensive, audience is great, Q&A communication is fantastic.” Johnson Zhao Chen - Head of Business Development and Operations at NEO

“The event was great. For the future, let us plan some Fintech events together, I think that would work great.” Johan Uddman - General Manager & Investor at JadeValue Fintech

“First of all thank you for this great event! It was impressed about the organization and the event itself. Keep going!” Celina Eisenring - Consulate General of Switzerland in Shanghai

“Many thanks for putting on a great event and fantastic to meet you all.” Manuel Stagars - Founder of Blockchain & Us

“Thanks for the superb organization!” Dr. Thomas Bocek - Head of P2P and distributed systems at the CSG of the University of Zurich

To get more information please find the detailed list of the panelist below:

Dr. Thomas Bocek, Head of P2P and distributed systems at the CSG of the University of Zurich, Dr. Thomas Bocek is mainly interested in communication systems and networks, especially focusing on peer-to-peer, distributed systems, including Bitcoins and blockchains. Thomas has published several papers on these topics and his PhD topic has a strong focus on Peer-to-Peer and distributed systems.

Manuel Stagars, Founder of Blockchain & Us, Manuel Stagars is an author, film director, economist, and serial entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in consulting and startups in Switzerland, the United States, Japan, and Singapore. His documentary films focus on technological innovations and their potential to improve the lives of people.

Qijun Wang, Founder and CEO of Queschain, Co-Founder of several blockchain startups, open-source blockchain projects such as MakerDAO, community education initiatives, and charity programs with a focus of connecting China and the rest of the world.

Da Hongfei, Founder of NEO & CEO of Onchain, Da Hongfei came across Bitcoin in 2011, and worked fulltime in the industry since 2013. In 2014, he founded NEO, a blockchain to register, transfer, and exchange digital assets, and led the startup to become the benchmark in the Chinese blockchain community.

Arthur Hayes, CEO of BitMEX, In January 2014, BitMEX – Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange was formed. BitMEX is a trading platform that gives retail investors access to the global financial markets using Bitcoin, the Blockchain, and financial derivatives. BitMEX through the use of Bitcoin as collateral, allows anyone anywhere to trade any type of financial asset.

Jason Inch, Serial Entrepreneur & Author of China 4.0, Jason is also an accomplished writer with several books about China’s economy. His most recent book is called China 4.0 and he is also the founder of the China Business Events meetup community.

Rong Chen, Co-Founder of Elastos Foundation, Rong believes that a smart-web powered by the blockchain technology is the future for Elastos to create the scarcity of digital contents. He established the Elastos Foundation with his partners in June of 2017.