＜Current Position＞
・Member of House of Representatives（7th times）
・Minister for Digital Transformation
・Minister in Charge of Digital Administrative and Fiscal Reform
・Minister in charge of Administrative Reform
・Minister in charge of the National Civil Service System
・Minister in charge of Cybersecurity
・Minister of State for Regulatory Reform
・Minister of State for Cybersecurity
・Chairperson, Policy Research Council, Federation of Tokyo Prefecture LDP Party Branches

＜Career History＞
・Graduated from Waseda University Faculty of Law
・3rd generation middle wholesaler at Ota Fruit and Vegetable Market
・President, Tokyo Junior Chamber
・Lecturer at Keio University Graduate School
・Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
・State Minister of Cabinet Office (in charge of disaster prevention, administrative reform, IT policy, space policy, Promotion of Science and Technology and Innovation, Cool Japan Strategy, local development, National Strategic Special Zones, etc.)
・Head, Project Team on the web3, LDP
・Head, Project Team on the Evolution and Implementation of AI, LDP
・Head, Fusion Energy Project Team, LDP
・Secretary General, New Capitalism Implementation Headquarters, LDP

・Education
1985 Graduated from CSE of ENA(France)
1982 Graduated from the Faculty of Law, The
University of Tokyo
・Career
2023- Acting Chairperson (senior) Policy Research
Council
2022- Deputy Secretary-General, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
Chairperson, Research Commission on the Finance and Banking Systems
2019- Acting Chairperson, General Council, LDP
Chairperson, Special Committee on Foreign Workers, LDP
2018-2019
Minister of State for Regional Revitalization
Minister of State for Regulatory Reform
Minister of State for Gender Equality
Minister in charge of Women's Empowerment Minister in charge of Regional
Revitalization
2016 Acting chairman, Policy Research Council, LDP
2015 Vice-chairman, General Council, LDP
2014 Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, House of Councillors (HC)
2013 Director, Environment Division, LDP
2012 Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications
2010 Elected to the member of the House of Councillors
2005 Elected for the first time as a member of the 44th House of Representatives
(Shizuoka 7th District)
Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
2004 Budget Examiner, Budget Bureau, Ministry of Finance
2003 Director for Legal Affairs, Budget Bureau, Ministry of Finance
1989 Director, Kaita Regional Tax Office

Bill to ensure a safe and secure environment for women in women’s space
１．Background and Objectives
 In October 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the provision that requires "the absence of
gonads or a permanent lack of gonad function" in the law that stipulates the conditions for
gender change in Japan is unconstitutional.
 In response to this, concerns have been raised that "men who identify themselves as
women may enter women's restrooms and commit crimes," and that "women's safety and
security may be at risk."
 In response to these concerns, we are considering submitting the bill to ensure a safe and
secure environment for women.
２．Outline of the bill
 For public baths and changing rooms etc., which are used by many people without wearing
clothes, measures will be taken by the relevant ministries and managers of such facilities,
regarding the separate use of facilities by men and women, based on the premise that men
and women are distinguished by physical characteristics.
 In facilities that are normally used by men and women separately, such as restrooms,
managers of such facilities will be required to make efforts to take necessary measures,
such as providing necessary equipments and patrols, to ensure a safe and secure
environment for women to use the facilities.

Yoshitaka Kitao is the President and CEO of SBI Holdings Inc. He earned degrees from both Keio University (1974) and Cambridge University (1978). Prior to his role at SBI, he has held multiple positions within Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. (1974-1995) as well as Softbank Corporation (1995-1999). Kitao became the Representative Director, President of SOFTBANK INVESTMENT CORPORATION, currently SBI Holdings Inc., in 1999, and has led the company to become one of the biggest financial conglomerate in Japan.

Aya Miyaguchi
President, Ethereum Foundation
Aya was originally drawn to the blockchain space for its potential to advance financial inclusion in emerging economies. In 2013, she joined Kraken and helped educate the public, regulators, investors, and media as Managing Director of Japan. Driven by a passion for creating lasting impact, she joined the Ethereum Foundation as Executive Director in 2018. There, she led efforts to support the Ethereum ecosystem through core research and development activities, funding and guidance, and cross-sector education. In 2025, Aya became President of the Ethereum Foundation, where she focuses on cultivating institutional relationships and continues to help Ethereum maintain its soul as an Infinite Garden — a decentralized creative space that is open-source, inclusive, and permissionless.

Arthur Hayes is the CIO of Maelstrom, a family office that invests across the crypto ecosystem. He is also the co-founder of BitMEX – the first crypto unicorn. Prior to entering the crypto industry, he worked as a trader in the capital markets divisions of Deutsche Bank and Citibank. Arthur holds a Bachelors of Economics from the Wharton School of Business. He has appeared on major business news networks including Bloomberg and CNBC. He is active on X (@cryptohayes) and releases a monthly newsletter (Crypto Trader Digest) read by thousands of investors globally.

The Honorable Caroline D. Pham is the acting Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and has been a
CFTC Commissioner since her nomination by the President and unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate in 2022.
Pham is an internationally recognized leader in strategy and innovation, with deep expertise in capital markets and
regulatory policy. Her commissionership has focused on promoting access to markets, competition, and market liquidity and efficiency. Pham has worked in law and finance for 24 years, including over 10 years of experience in crypto and digital assets. She is the sponsor of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee.

Pham’s experience spans prudential regulation, financial markets, fintech, and emerging issues. Her international
engagement is across all regions, both multilateral and with senior policymakers and business leaders. Previously, Pham
was a managing director at Citi with group-level senior executive roles in the chief administrative office, institutional
clients group (banking and markets), legal, and compliance. As head of market structure for strategic initiatives, she
worked on investments and new opportunities. Pham has a B.A. from UCLA and a J.D. from the George Washington
University Law School.

Haseeb is Managing Partner at Dragonfly, a multibillion dollar leading crypto VC firm, and is a longtime technology-focused crypto investor. Haseeb was previously a General Partner at Metastable Capital (now acquired by Dragonfly). Prior, Haseeb founded a stablecoin startup, was a blockchain engineer at Earn.com (acquired by Coinbase), an anti-fraud engineer at Airbnb, and was previously a top 10 globally ranked professional poker player. He has taught a class on web3 Entrepreneurship at UC Berkeley and is widely followed for his technical expertise in crypto.

Hayden Adams is the Founder and CEO of Uniswap Labs and inventor of the Uniswap Protocol, the largest decentralized exchange protocol. He began building in crypto in 2017. As his first project, he set out to build an application that fully embodied the unique properties of Ethereum: decentralized, trustless, permissionless, and secure. This project eventually became Uniswap. As of 2025, the Uniswap Protocol has processed over $3 trillion in lifetime trading volume. It competes head-on with centralized exchanges, offering 2x more liquidity than both Binance and Coinbase (two of the largest centralized exchanges) for popular pairs like Ethereum to stablecoin trades.Today, Uniswap Labs contributes to the development of the Uniswap Protocol and builds products for users to safely and securely access DeFi — including the Uniswap Interface and the Uniswap Wallet, which collectively have served millions of users.

Michael Novogratz is the Founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital, a diversified financial services firm dedicated to the digital asset, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology industry. He was formerly a Partner and the President of Fortress Investment Group LLC and ran the Fortress Macro fund from 2002 – 2016. Prior to Fortress, Mr. Novogratz spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs, where he was elected Partner in 1998. He served on the New York Federal Reserve’s Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets from 2012 – 2015.

In recent years, Mr. Novogratz has made criminal justice reform the primary focus of his family’s foundation, Galaxy Gives. He served as the Chairman of The Bail Project and is a Founding Partner of REFORM Foundation. He has held roles as a Leadership Council Member at Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership and on the boards of Hudson River Park Friends, Jazz Foundation of America, NYU Langone Medical Center, Princeton Varsity Club and USA Wrestling. Mr. Novogratz received an AB in Economics from Princeton University and served as a helicopter pilot in the US Army.

Heath Tarbert is President at Circle (NYSE: CRCL), a global financial technology firm that enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of stablecoins and public blockchains for payments and commerce.

Heath joined Circle after serving as Chief Legal Officer for Citadel Securities, where he was responsible for the firm’s global legal, compliance, surveillance, regulatory affairs, and corporate governance functions.

Earlier, he was the 14th Chairman and Chief Executive of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Vice Chairman of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). He was previously Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets, concurrently serving as G-7/G-20 Deputy Finance Minister, a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), and U.S. executive director of the World Bank Group.

Heath has served as a Supreme Court law clerk, associate White House counsel, special counsel to the Senate Banking Committee, and a partner at two international law firms.

Heath is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Law Institute. He is also a life member of the National Eagle Scout Association and Council on Foreign Relations. He earned his BS from Mount St. Mary’s University, his JD and SJD from the University of Pennsylvania, and his DPhil from Oxford University.

Nikhil heads growth globally for Kinexys Digital Assets, J.P. Morgan's digital assets platform that enables clients to develop innovative solutions using tokenized traditional assets. As a Senior Product Manager, he led the development of two solutions on the platform from concept to market launch. A tokenization enthusiast, Nikhil has authored papers on tokenization applications in capital markets and alternative investment funds. He actively participates in industry working groups shaping standards and operating models to increase velocity, efficiency, and effectiveness of cross-asset settlements through tokenization. Nikhil joined J.P. Morgan in 2019 as part of the pioneering blockchain product and strategy team that launched Kinexys, the firm's dedicated blockchain business unit. Prior to J.P. Morgan, he was with SinoPac Securities Asia Ltd., structuring lifecycle solutions for alternative investment funds. Nikhil combines over a decade of traditional finance expertise with deep blockchain knowledge to reimagine financial models.

An Electronics and Telecommunications engineer by training, he holds an MBA from the University of Hong Kong and London Business School.

H.E. Justin Sun is the Ambassador and former Permanent Representative of Grenada to the WTO, Founder of TRON, one of the world's largest blockchain DAO ecosystems, and Advisor to HTX, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. A protege of Alibaba's Jack Ma, Sun has been named Forbes' 30 under 30 in the Consumer Technology category several times, among other global recognitions. Sun is an avid art collector, gamer, investor, philanthropist, and space enthusiast.

Co-founder and CEO of Blockstream, Dr. Adam Back, invented Hashcash, the proof-of-work algorithm cited by Satoshi Nakamoto in the Bitcoin whitepaper, as the future basis for its mining function. Throughout his two-decade-long vocation as an applied cryptographer and security architect, he has held senior roles with a number of technology companies, including Microsoft, EMC, PI, VMware, and Zero-Knowledge Systems, as well as advised many more companies on cryptography and peer-to-peer finance. Dr. Adam Back holds a computer science Ph.D. in distributed systems from the University of Exeter.

Katherine Dowling is on the Executive Management team and is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Bitwise Asset Management. She previously served in General Counsel, CCO, and COO roles at several financial and private equity firms, and was a co-founder, Managing Director and COO of Luminate Capital Partners, a software private equity firm in San Francisco. A Harvard Law School graduate, Ms. Dowling spent over a decade as a federal prosecutor, most recently in the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, where she worked with the FBI, SEC, IRS and other agencies to prosecute insider trading, fraud, and money laundering cases, among others. She serves on the boards of two non-profit organizations.

Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s 1st Digital Minister (2016-2024), is celebrated for her pioneering efforts in digital democracy. Named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in AI” in 2023, Tang was instrumental in shaping Taiwan’s internationally acclaimed COVID-19 response and in safeguarding the 2024 presidential and legislative elections from foreign cyber interference. Tang is now focused on broadening her vision of Plurality — technology for collaborative diversity — to inspire global audiences.

2021年7月に長島・大野・常松法律事務所のパートナー（共同経営者）を辞し、愛媛一区より第48回衆議院総選挙に立候補し当選。現在2期目。
政界転身前は長島・大野・常松法律事務所のパートナー弁護士として国内外で活躍。専門誌が選ぶアジアの年間最優秀弁護士（2017年、コンプライアンス部門）受賞、日経弁護士ランキング2位（2020年）。元内閣官房長官秘書官（2006-2007）。ペンシルバニア大学ウォートン校に留学し、日本人として初めて欧米の主要MBA校で学生自治会長に選出。
国会においては「こども基本法」「ゲノム医療法」「休眠預金活用法案」の議員立法に参画。自民党内では、デジタル社会推進本部において、web3PT及びAIの進化と実装に関するPTの事務局長として、ＮＦＴ、web３、ＡＩホワイトペーパーを起草。党改革実行本部内に設けられたワーキングチームの事務局次長として党ガバナンスコード策定に携わる。2024年12月より、科学技術・イノベーション戦略調査会事務局長及び司法制度調査会事務局長。
2024年2月には厚生労働省内にヘルスケア分野のスタートアップの振興・支援策を検討するための「ヘルスケアスタートアップ等の振興・支援策検討プロジェクトチーム（PT）」を立ち上げ、６月に最終報告をまとめる。

1972年10月29日、福岡県生まれ。実業家。SNS media&consulting株式会社ファウンダー。
現在はロケット開発や、アプリのプロデュース、また予防医療普及協会として予防医療を啓蒙する等 様々な分野で活動する。
会員制オンラインサロン『堀江貴文イノベーション大学校（HIU）』では、500名近い会員とともに多彩なプロジェクトを展開している。
著書『いつまで英語から逃げてるの？』『弱者の兵法』『ニッポン社会のほんとの正体 投資とお金と未来』など

1980年東京大学法学部卒。旧日本輸出入銀行に入り、ワシントン駐在員、資源ファイナンス部長、経営企画部長、執行役員（インフラ・環境ファイナンス部門長）、代表取締役専務、代表取締役副総裁　CEO、代表取締役総裁を経て、2022年6月より現職。2010年6月～2012年12月及び2022年9月～2024年9月まで内閣官房参与として、総理に助言を行う。2011年10月～2013年10月まで原子力損害賠償支援機構運営委員、2014年より2017年まで英国国際戦略研究所（IISS）評議委員を務めた。現在、インドORF（Observer Research Foundation）のグローバル・アドヴァイザリー・ボードを務めている。

Hayden Adams is the Founder and CEO of Uniswap Labs and inventor of the Uniswap Protocol, the largest decentralized exchange protocol.He began building in crypto in 2017. As his first project, he set out to build an application that fully embodied the unique properties of Ethereum: decentralized, trustless, permissionless, and secure.This project eventually became Uniswap.As of April 2024, the Uniswap Protocol has processed over $2 trillion in lifetime volume. It competes head-on with centralized exchanges, offering 2x more liquidity than both Binance and Coinbase (two of the largest centralized exchanges) for popular pairs like Ethereum to stablecoin trades.Today, Uniswap Labs contributes to the development of the Uniswap Protocol and builds products for users to safely and securely access DeFi — including the Uniswap Interface and the Uniswap Wallet, which collectively have served millions of users.

Thomas J. Lee (Tom Lee) is one of the most widely recognized and followed macro strategists on Wall Street, with nearly 30 years of experience in macro strategy and equity research. Known for his evidence-based, data-driven approach, he has made numerous timely and contrarian market calls—often going against consensus with accuracy—and was one of the first strategists to introduce institutional investors to Bitcoin. He is widely regarded as a trusted voice among top asset managers, advisors, and allocators.

In September 2014, he co-founded Fundstrat and serves as its Head of Research. Fundstrat is a research advisory firm that has grown to over 30 full-time employees and now serves hedge funds, mutual funds, and family offices in more than 26 countries.

Tom Lee founded Fundstrat Capital in Spring 2024 and serves as its Chief Investment Officer while continuing in his role as Head of Research at Fundstrat. He is the lead Portfolio Manager for the Fundstrat Granny Shots ETF suite (NYSE: GRNY, GRNJ, GRNI). The flagship large-cap portfolio, GRNY, is recognized as one of the most successful equity ETF launches of the past two decades, with over $4.6 billion in assets under management as of January 31, 2026.

In June 2025, Lee was appointed Chairman of the Board of Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR). He serves this role while also maintaining his roles as Head of Research at Fundstrat and CIO of Fundstrat Capital. At Bitmine, a $10 billion market-cap company, he helps guide the company’s strategic vision as an Ethereum-focused treasury model with broader blockchain initiatives.

Before founding Fundstrat, Lee was Chief Equity Strategist at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., where he worked from 1999 through 2014. Earlier in his career, he was a highly regarded telecommunications equity research analyst and small-cap equity/bankruptcy/reorg strategist, holding roles at firms including Kidder, Peabody and Salomon Smith Barney.

Over the course of his career, he has been ranked consistently by Institutional Investor for the past 30 years, earning #1, #2, and #3 positions for 15 consecutive years from 1998 to 2013. He is known for his data-driven approach (“analysis not opinions”), and clients view his work as both contrarian and highly differentiated.

Lee earned a BSE in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, with dual concentrations in Finance and Accounting. He is also a CFA Charterholder.

Bilal Bin Saqib, MBE, is the Chairperson of PVARA (Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority), State Minister for Crypto and Blockchain and the CEO of Pakistan Crypto Council. He is also the Chief Advisor to the Finance Minister of Pakistan.

Katherine Dowling is the President and Board Director of Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (BSTR). Prior to BSTR she was a member of the Executive Committee at Bitwise Asset Management as well the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. She currently is a Senior Strategic Advisor for Bitwise. She also previously served in General Counsel, CCO, and COO roles at several financial and private equity firms, and was a co-founder, Managing Director and COO of Luminate Capital Partners, a software private equity firm in San Francisco. A Harvard Law School graduate, Ms. Dowling spent over a decade as a federal prosecutor, most recently in the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, where she worked with the FBI, SEC, IRS and other agencies to prosecute insider trading, fraud, and money laundering cases, among others. She serves on the boards of two non-profit organizations.

A veteran technology entrepreneur/investor based in Hong Kong, Yat Siu is the co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, a global leader in Web3 with the mission to deliver digital property rights to the world's Internet users, thereby creating a new asset class, play-and-earn economies, and a more equitable digital framework contributing to the building of the open metaverse.

Yat began his career at Atari Germany in 1990. In 1995 he moved to Hong Kong to establish 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. In 2009, he sold Outblaze’s messaging unit to IBM and pivoted Outblaze to become an incubator of projects and companies to develop digital entertainment services and products. One of those incubated companies is Animoca Brands, which was created in 2014.

In 2017 he set up the Dalton Learning Lab, an afterschool digital lab for skills not emphasized by most education systems, including divergent thinking and design thinking. He is the founder of ThinkBlaze, the research arm of Outblaze investigating socially meaningful issues in technology.

Since 2018, Yat has been an early advocate for the use of blockchain, including fungible tokens and NFTs, which enable users to enjoy true ownership of their own virtual assets, data, and, consequently, equity. With a clear vision of the potential of decentralized apps and assets, Yat quickly steered Animoca Brands to a leadership position in blockchain, gaming, tokenization, and the open metaverse. Today Animoca Brands is an industry leader that operates a series of Web3-focused subsidiaries and products, and that has invested in over 570 Web3-focused companies to build one of the largest blockchain portfolios in the world.

Yat has earned 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 the Cointelegraph 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.

Alex is CEO at Nansen. He has a background in AI, with 10+ years experience as data scientist and management consultant before co-founding Nansen in 2019. Alex is one of the initial DAO members of Lido Finance and PleasrDAO, and he is an advisor to Pudgy Penguins.

Giselle Lai is a Digital Assets Strategist at Fidelity International, where she has been
instrumental in shaping and executing the firm’s digital assets strategy since 2022, spanning
crypto investment solutions to tokenisation initiatives. She leads client engagement across
digital assets and supports the distribution of Fidelity’s digital asset capabilities. She also
contributes to thought leadership, educational initiatives, and research in related to digital
assets development.
Giselle has been actively involved in the digital assets ecosystem since 2018, driven by a
strong interest in emerging technologies and their implications for capital markets. She holds a
Master of Science in Blockchain and Digital Currency from the University of Nicosia and is an
active member of the Web3 Women association. In addition, she has served as a guest
lecturer for digital assets courses at universities in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Prior to her current role, Giselle was an Associate Investment Director, specialising in Asian
fixed income and China bonds markets. She was responsible for product strategy and
franchise management for the Asian fixed income strategies, leading investor communications,
client engagement, and portfolio manager support across institutional and intermediary
channels.
Giselle joined Fidelity as a graduate associate and gained experience across various areas,
including Multi Asset Investment Directing, Institutional Business & Consultant Relations,
Digital Solutions, and Intermediary Sales in both Hong Kong and Singapore.
She holds a BSc degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Hong Kong and is a
CFA and CAIA charterholder.

Current Position and Responsibilities
Nischint is the head of Digital Currencies in Asia Pacific for Visa. Based in Singapore, he oversees Visa’s digital currency business performance in Asia Pacific, including partnership strategies and developing new crypto business streams for Visa’s crypto offerings.

Other Information
Nischint is the subject matter expert on digital currency and web 3.0 engagements with key stakeholders such as banks, fintechs, regulators and blockchain infrastructure companies.

As part of his portfolio, he is also responsible for emerging stablecoin, CBDC and tokenized deposit products, leading Visa’s go-to-market efforts in the region.

Other Information
Nischint joined Visa in 2022, bringing over 20 years of experience in financial services having worked across multiple streams through the years. Before Visa, Nischint was managing fintech partnerships at Singtel and has worked with multiple digital currency business prior to that.

Nischint holds a Masters in Business Administration from Boston University School of Management and is also a Certified Chartered Accountant.

Christian Rau is Senior Vice President Blockchain and Digital Assets within Mastercard’s global digital commercialization organization.

In this role Christian establishes and coordinates global partnerships with Digital Asset and Fintech customers, and executes impactful initiatives in collaboration with Mastercard’s relationship management and product teams to deploy innovative digital payment propositions globally.
Previously heading up Mastercard’s Central European Product team between 2015 and 2019, Christian was responsible for the introduction of Debit Mastercard. Subsequently Christian led the Mastercard Vienna office as General Manager for the Austrian Market. Christian joined Mastercard in 2012 after having held positions in the telecommunication, internet service provider and banking sector.

Carole House is a strategic technology executive who has spent her career focusing on leveraging innovative technologies to combat national security threats. She is the founder and CEO of a strategic technology and national security advisory practice, Penumbra Strategies, and serves as a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center and Georgetown University CyberSMART Center. Carole recently departed the White House National Security Council (NSC) as Special Advisor for Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure. She previously served as the NSC Director for Cybersecurity and Secure Digital Innovation. During her time at the White House, Carole architected two Executive Orders driving critical steps to promote innovation in cybersecurity, digital identity, artificial intelligence, and digital assets. Carole has held positions in the private sector as an Executive in Residence at Terranet Ventures, Inc., co-founder and interim COO for a stealth fintech startup, and served on advisory boards for three financial regulatory agencies and three non-profits. She also has been recognized for her leadership in cyber and emerging tech initiatives, to include the prestigious "Fed100" award and AFFIRM's "Leadership in Crisis" award, in addition to various publications across the Atlantic Council, Bloomberg, the Small Wars Journal, and the Military Review. Carole’s prior government experience includes service as a U.S. Army Captain as well as positions leading emerging tech, cybersecurity, and national security initiatives across the White House, Senate Homeland Security Committee, and the U.S. Treasury.

Sota Watanabe is a pioneering force in the global Web3 ecosystem and one of Japan’s most influential tech entrepreneurs. As the Founder and CEO of Startale Group, Watanabe leads visionary efforts to build the foundational infrastructure for a decentralized internet with the overarching mission of bringing the world onchain.
Watanabe first gained prominence through his leadership of Astar Network, Japan’s largest public blockchain, which has become a cornerstone of the country’s Web3 infrastructure.
A notable milestone in Watanabe’s career is the co‑development of Soneium, an Ethereum Layer‑2 blockchain created in partnership with Sony Block Solutions Labs and supported by broader Sony Group collaborations. This initiative positions Japanese blockchain technology at the intersection of consumer entertainment, AI and mass adoption.
In the realm of tokenized digital assets and real‑world finance, Watanabe has steered strategic partnerships with SBI Holdings to advance innovative infrastructure including a fully compliant Japanese yen‑denominated stablecoin and development of a blockchain optimized for tokenized stocks and real‑world assets.

Ju-Chun (JC) Ko currently serves as a Legislator-at-Large in the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan and is an adjunct assistant professor at the Graduate Institute of Networking and Multimedia, National Taiwan University. In 2012, he obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science from National Taiwan University. He then went to Keio University in Japan to serve as a postdoctoral researcher at the Graduate School of Media Design (KMD), followed by becoming the first Taiwanese participant at Singularity University. He has held the position of Taiwan AI/Web3 Growth Partner at the Dentsu Group in Japan and is also the founder of the well-known technology podcast which he continues to run tirelessly.

1987 Hitotsubashi University - Department of Law Graduated, then joined Arthur Andersen (currently Accenture). Later worked at a foreign venture firm, then joined Salomon Brothers Securities (currently Citigroup Global Markets Japan Inc.) in 1991. Established Simplex Risk Management, the predecessor to Simplex in 1997, then appointed to his current position as CEO in 2000. Upon a sole share transfer in 2016, Simplex Holdings was established as a holding company, where Kaneko was appointed to his current position as CEO.

After completing graduate studies, joined Simplex in 2010 as a new graduate. Has led FX and crypto asset dealing solutions, supporting a wide range of financial institutions across areas from system development to revenue optimization through data-driven analysis.
Later spearheaded R&D initiatives in emerging technology domains, and currently focuses on the application of blockchain technologies across crypto assets, security tokens (STs), and stablecoins, while also driving web3 adoption in entertainment sectors such as gaming. Oversees web3-related business initiatives from a solutions perspective.
Alongside serving as a product manager for the SaaS deployment of dealing systems, is an active contributor to industry media and a frequent speaker and lecturer at conferences and academic institutions. Key projects include a stablecoin issuance and redemption system (JPYC Inc.), the wallet service A Wallet (Amuse Inc.), the PlayMining platform (Digital Entertainment Asset Pte. Ltd.), dealing systems for Mercoin, Inc. and others, and the delivery of ST systems to securities firms.

Angelina Kwan, CPA, CA ANZ
Angelina Kwan is a Hong Kong–based financial services executive, a former regulator, and the Chief Executive Officer of Stratford Finance, a boutique consulting firm specialising in regulatory, operational, licensing and technology advisory services for financial institutions and digital asset businesses. Stratford Finance supports clients in navigating complex regulatory environments, strengthening governance frameworks, and building resilient operating models across traditional finance and the Web3 sectors.

A seasoned finance professional, Angelina has held senior leadership roles at leading global institutions, including Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC), Cantor Fitzgerald, and IMC Asia Pacific. She has also held senior executive and advisory positions in the digital assets sector, including Senior Advisor, Group Chief Operating Officer, and Group Chief Risk Officer roles at organisations such as the HashKey Group and BitMEX, as well as leadership roles at major digital asset exchanges.

In addition to her executive career, Angelina serves on a number of public and non profit leadership roles. She is the Chair of The Women’s Foundation and a member of various Hong Kong Government boards and committees, including the New Business Committee of the Financial Services Development Council. She also serves on the boards of the Ebenezer School for the Blind, University of Wollongong Hong Kong, Web3Harbour, Chevalier Hong Kong, and Zurich Life Insurance.

Angelina is a Certified Public Accountant in the United States, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand. She holds degrees in finance, accounting, business, and law from the University of Southern California, Pepperdine University, the University of Hong Kong / Manchester Metropolitan University, and Harvard Law School.

Debbie Soon is the Head of Marketing at Privy, a Stripe company building the infrastructure redefining digital asset ownership and programmable money. She is also the author of Digital Mavericks, a guide to crypto told through the stories of pioneering innovators. A two-time founder, she previously co-founded HUG (acquired by .ART), led business expansion at ONE Championship, and managed a $1B equity portfolio at GIC. Recognized by nft now as a top crypto founder to watch, she has appeared on platforms like FINTECH.TV and CoinDesk Live.

Omkar Godbole is a Co-Managing Editor and analyst on CoinDesk's Markets team. He has been covering crypto options and futures, as well as macro and cross-asset activity, since 2019, leveraging his prior experience in directional and non-directional derivative strategies at brokerage firms. His extensive background also encompasses the FX markets, having served as a fundamental analyst at currency and commodities desks for Mumbai-based brokerages and FXStreet. Omkar holds small amounts of bitcoin, ether, BitTorrent, tron and dot.

Omkar holds a Master's degree in Finance and a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation.

Alice French is a Tokyo-based reporter for Bloomberg covering Japanese financial markets. Her work focuses on equities with a particular interest in the technology and entertainment sectors. She also reports on crypto and has tracked the rise of digital asset treasuries in Japan and across Asia.
Beyond her markets coverage, Alice has led reporting on social and gender issues in Japan and is a regular contributor to Bloomberg TV and podcasts.
Before joining Bloomberg in 2024, Alice was a reporter and editor at Nikkei Asia, where she covered major global events including the G7 Hiroshima Summit. She previously worked for the Yamagata Prefectural Government through the JET Programme. Alice is from the UK and holds a BA in Japanese from the University of Cambridge.

Iñaki Moreno leads Strategic Accounts for AI and Digital Natives at Google in APAC, where he helps high-growth SaaS, FinTech, and Web3 startups build their frontier AI roadmaps. With over a decade of global tech experience, he has spearheaded landmark industry partnerships and spoken to audiences of over 1,000 at premier events like Mobile World Congress and SmartCon.

Passionate about democratization and community impact, Iñaki volunteers as a Master Trainer with AI Singapore, mentoring individuals and enterprises on practical AI adoption. He is also an active angel investor, regularly advising early-stage founders on go-to-market strategies and fundraising.

When he’s not bridging the gap between infrastructure and intelligence, you can find him practicing Muay Thai or playing semi-professional football for Tiong Bahru FC in Singapore’s second division.

I am a retired Senior Commissioner of National Police Agency (NPA) of Japan. I joined the NPA in 1986 and retired in 2021 after 35 challenging and rewarding years of service. During the period, I held a number of senior positions, including Director General of NPA’s Tohoku Regional Police Bureau, NPA’s Director of Second Investigative Division (Fraud/Scams, White-Collar Crime and Public Corruption) and Director of Fourth Investigative Division (Japanese Organized Crimes) of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, where he supervised numerous criminal investigations and international operations. After leaving the NPA, I was invited to Waseda Institute of the Policy of Social Safety, Waseda University as Research Fellow, where he has been doing research, focusing primarily on countermeasures against fraud/scams and transnational organized crimes. I am a graduate of Faculty of Law, the University of Tokyo ’86 (LL.B.) and John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University ’92 (Master in Public Administration).

Kazutaka Matsuda is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist with over 25 years of experience in tech-investment and blockchain implementation. As a co-founder of Soramitsu, he played a key role in the launch of "Bakong," the world’s first central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the National Bank of Cambodia. Currently, as CEO of Digital Platformer, he leads the development of next-generation financial infrastructure for banks and municipalities using decentralized ID (DID/VC) and stablecoin technologies. He has also served as an advisor and committee member for government entities such as NEDO and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). By integrating expertise in technology, capital markets, and public policy, he is driving the real-world adoption of Web3. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Keio University, an MBA from INSEAD, and a Ph.D. in Medicine from Hokkaido University.

Arda is a Senior Crypto Threat Analyst at Elliptic and an Assistant Professor of Crypto & Future Crimes at City University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on crimes enabled by cryptoassets and emerging technologies, including fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing and illicit activity on the dark web. He has advised numerous international organizations, public and private sector entities on emerging crime trends and prevention measures.

Yusuke Osoegawa

Born in 1999, Founder & CEO of Napier Labs. With a background in physics and structural engineering, I began my career in blockchain in 2019 and previously worked at Fracton Ventures and multiple tech companies.

I lead Napier, a programmable yield infrastructure for fintechs and developers, enabling them to build and operate their own applications with full ownership. We are focused on helping developers turn complex financial systems into everyday, usable products.

Napier has reached ~$50M TVL, raised $3M+ from leading DeFi investors and VCs, and is supported by the Uniswap Foundation, with growing expectations as a competitor to Pendle Finance.

Alex is an entrepreneur, investor and advisor.

He has collaborated with and advised some of the most important foundations in our industry: Solana, AVAX, Sui, Uniswap, MakerDAO and more.

Alex previously served as cofounder/CBO at Hashed and prior to that, launched Blind -- world's largest work-place anonymous social app.

He's advised SamsungNEXT on their web3 initiatives and also Arrington Capital (founder of TechCrunch) in the past before creating Shinlabs in 2022.

Alex has a background working at Google, DocuSign and other tech firms in San Francisco Bay Area and today is passionate about keeping east Asia relevant and competitive in web3.

Michael started two unicorn companies. He runs 0G Labs (0g.ai), the largest AI Layer 1 powered by the first decentralized AI Operating System. He’s previously generated over $200 million in revenue and raised more than $0.5B in capital. His strategic leadership guided over 650 employees through volatile markets and achieved remarkable customer satisfaction. He previously worked at Microsoft, SAP Labs, Bain, and Bridgewater Associates. He’s been named a top technologist, top YCombinator company, and top entrepreneur, and he has been featured in esteemed media outlets such as Entrepreneur, Bloomberg, Forbes, Inc, Techcrunch, Business Insider, and Coin Telegraph. Educated at Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley.

Studied Physics at University of Melbourne. Former E-sports player. Founded a lifestyle and travel brand. Entered crypto industry in 2020. Heavy DeFi user. Served as the official Chainlink Advocate in for Japan before joining Ava Labs.