Dr. Paolo Tasca is a Professor at University College London and a digital economist with a specialisation in distributed systems. He is also the founder of the award-winning UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies, ranked seventh best university globally for blockchain and largest academic research centres in the blockchain field. In addition to his academic achievements, Dr. Tasca is a seasoned blockchain entrepreneur with several successful exits and has served as a special advisor on blockchain technologies for a variety of government and industry stakeholders worldwide, including the United Nations, and several central banks.

Nikhil Vadgama serves as the Programme Director of the award-winning Master in Financial Technology at University College London and as the Deputy Director of the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies. With extensive experience working with global stakeholders from government, industry, and central banks, Nikhil's background spans a variety of roles in the fintech, real estate, and education sectors including launching a challenger Bank in the UK, Europe and the US.

Multilingual communications leader and innovation strategist with over 15 years of experience at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and global affairs. Proven record in building cross-sector alliances, managing international media platforms, and designing high-impact narratives in tech, energy, and climate innovation."

"Ahmet Buğday's career in payment systems began at the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, where he started as a software developer on the internally developed RTGS system. He subsequently transitioned to the FAST team, the Türkiye’s instant payment system, serving as both a team leader and software developer. As Director of the Payment Systems Application Development Department, he skillfully modernized the RTGS system, ensuring a seamless transition. Later, as Deputy Executive Director responsible for software development management, he spearheaded a critical architectural modernization project. He also lends his strategic expertise to the Interbank Card Center (BKM) as a board member. Balancing his professional commitments with academic pursuits, Ahmet Buğday completed his doctoral thesis on a deep learning-based approach to scaling public blockchain networks. Building on years of diverse experience within the payment services field, progressing from developer to management roles, he currently serves as Executive Director of the Payment Systems and Financial Technologies Department. In this capacity, he leads the Bank’s initiatives in the rapidly evolving digital asset ecosystem, including Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) research and development, alongside the department’s responsibilities for developing, regulating, and overseeing the payment services."

Odun Olowookere is Research Director, Digital Economy at CIGI, where he focuses on digital trade, digital assets, and monetary systems. His work examines how emerging financial technologies are reshaping regulatory frameworks, monetary sovereignty, and global financial governance. He has published in the IMF’s Finance & Development and received the IEEE ICBC 2024 Best Paper Award.

Mariana de la Roche Wills is an international lawyer and founder of BlackVogel and DAAvern, advising institutions, regulators, and Web3 companies on digital assets, DAOs, and trusted data infrastructure. She translates policy into implementation, designing technology-ethical and compliance frameworks, compliance-by-design roadmaps, and cross-border adoption plans. Mariana convenes expert roundtables globally, bringing together industry leaders and authorities to advance regulatory clarity and institutional adoption. Her focus spans MiCA, AML/CFT, DAO governance, digital identity, and AI×Web3 convergence across Europe and Latin America.

Pavlina Pavlova is the Co-Founder and CEO of ChainComply, a company helping financial institutions understand and manage their exposure to crypto. With a strong background in tech and the crypto industry, she works closely with banks to address the compliance and financial crime risks associated with digital assets. Through ChainComply, Pavlina focuses on bridging the gap between traditional finance and the rapidly evolving crypto ecosystem, enabling compliance teams to strengthen anti-money laundering controls through practical approaches to enhanced due diligence (EDD) and source-of-wealth (SoW) verification for crypto-related funds.

Ahmet Faruk Aysan is a Professor and Associate Dean for Research at Hamad Bin Khalifa University and a full member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA). He previously served as a Board Member and as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye. He has also consulted for leading institutions, including the World Bank, Oxford Analytica, and the Central Bank of Türkiye. His research has been recognized with multiple awards, such as the Islamic Economics Research Award (IKAM) and the Arab Fintech Forum’s Fintech Researcher of the Year Award. He also received HBKU’s Research Excellence Award, along with Boğaziçi University Foundation Publication and Academic Promotion Awards, and the Ibn Khaldun Prize. Dr. Aysan has been listed among the top Islamic banking and finance influencers in an academic article published in the Pacific-Basin Journal. Dr. Aysan is a Research Associate at University College London’s Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT), a Research Fellow at the Economic Research Forum, the Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, Digital Euro Association (DEA), and at the Global Fintech Institute, Singapore. He also chairs the MENA Chapter of the Academy of Sustainable Finance, Accounting, Accountability & Governance (ASFAAG).