DeFi and Crypto Assets are the Future of Investments for Institutional Capital and Family Wealth

As the wealth and investment management ecosystem matures in the era of technology, the latest trends including digital assets provide both opportunity and share of concerns. The rise of the crypto economy and other critical topics will be part of the agenda at The Wealth Today Summit scheduled for June 21, 2022, at the Address Dubai Mall Hotel.

The Summit will be an industry-driven event that will highlight critical emerging trends and unfold the nuances & top concerns over a day of interactive knowledge and networking sessions.

In 2021, a Goldman Sachs survey found that nearly half of over 150 family offices conduct business that wants to add digital currencies to their stable of investments.

In the run-up to the event, organizers have unveiled a list of distinguished speakers from top finance and digital asset management firms in the region, to be on the panel discussing these topics.

• The Wealth Today Summit agenda will holistically discuss the current investment climate and what the future of wealth and investment looks like.

With decentralized finance leveraging emerging technology for financial transactions without reliance on intermediaries, there will be a fireside chat on the topic – ‘DeFi for family offices - a good diversification play?’ The panel will be made up of:

• Wai-Lum Kwok, CFA, Senior Executive Director, Authorisation & Fintech, FSRA, ADGM;
• Benjamin Ampen, Managing Director MENA, Kraken Crypto Exchange, and
• Dr. Ryan Lemand, Co-Founder & CEO, Neovision Wealth Management.

‘The obvious route for the institutional capital in the next decade’ will be discussed by:

• Saqr Ereiqat, Co-Founder, Crypto Oasis
• Faisal Hasan, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, Al Mal Capital
• Basil Al Askari, Co-founder & CEO, MidChains
• Jeff Zhou, CEO, Lbank Labs
• Dr Ryan Lemand, Co-Founder & CEO, Neovision Wealth Management and
• Moderated by Robert Ansari, Head of Investments and Retirement, IMETA, Mercer.

 Cryptocurrencies are making their way into every investor’s playbook. On the panel discussing ‘Family offices investing in crypto: next steps’ will be:

• Phillip Gillespie, Co-CEO, B2C2,
• Stefan Kimmel, Chief Commercial and Operating Officer MENA, Kraken Crypto Exchange,
• Karim AbdelMawla, Research Associate, 21 Shares
• Bijan Alizadeh Fard, Co-Founder& Partner, Cypher Capital.
• Bhavin Shah, Partner and Head of MEA, Forensic Risk Alliance – Moderator

The Future of Digital assets. Trends, challenges and opportunities for investors topic will be covered by:

Zabella Demirchian, Head of FT NFT Marketplace, SoftConstruct

With the ecosystem buzzing with the news on the adoption of digital assets, the session on ’Tokenization of funds and virtual assets – the blueprint’ will include the following panelists:

• Gaurav Dubey, CEO, TDeFi – Crypto Incubator and Advisory
• Peter Coates, Head of Strategy, Peregrine Digital,
• Alexander Rapatz, Managing Partner, Black Manta Capital Partners,
• James Munce, CEO, Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners
• Gaurang Desai, Managing Director – Strategy, Equiti Group
• Bhaskar Dasgupta, Independent Board Director and Advisor – Moderator.

Speaking into the future, the panel discussing ‘Navigating to tomorrow: investing in alternative investments and hedge funds’ will be:

• Hashim Kudsi, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Liwa Capital Advisors
• Obediah Ayton, Managing General Partner, Synaptech Capital
• Talal Tabbaa, CEO and Co-Founder, CoinMENA
• Vinay Bharathwaj, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Stockal
• Sonali Goila, Head, Venture Capital & Private Equity, Panthera Capital Investments
• Dr. Ataf Ahmed, CEO, Graphene Investments - Moderator

Venture Funds are enjoying unprecedented returns aided by a robust economic ecosystem that is proving a perfect breeding ground for tech startups. Dialoguing on the topic ‘Family offices navigating the Venture Capital space: finding the right chemistry’ will be:

• Prashant Tandon, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Lighthouse Canton Capital,
• Chetan Mehta, CEO, Wami Capital
• Saeed Al Darmaki, Founder, Sheesha Finance
• Valerie Hawley, Affiliate Founding Partner, True Global Ventures 4 Plus, and
• Bhaskar Dasgupta, Independent Board Director and Advisor – Moderator.

Discussing ‘Investing in offshore jurisdictions: themes and considerations’ will be:

• Jyoti Keshavan, Chief Executive Officer, Xanara,
• Muhammed Yesilhark, Chief Investment Officer, NOIA Capital,
• Michael A. Blank, Managing Director Family Office, Patronus Wealth Prive DIFC
• Feroz Sanaulla, Partner, Roland Berger,
• Alex Gemici, Chairman and CEO, Greenstone Equity Partners, and
• Henzie Healley, Partner & Managing Director, Mezzle Middle East - Moderator

Ahead of the Summit, some of the speakers shared their thoughts, citing recent industry trends and changes.

“Crypto Economy is becoming integral to Dubai and UAE. Regulators are taking a proactive stance and providing a robust base for not only the biggest conglomerates but retail companies to integrate Crypto into their Business.

TDeFi is at the forefront of crypto innovation and has brought its incubated companies to this thriving ecosystem. This enables exposure of the latest technologies and solutions to the businesses that are planning to be crypto-enabled, as well as real-world adoption to our portfolio companies.

Our partnership with The Wealth Today is part of our bigger plans of being a positive contributor to the regional economy for now and tomorrow!” - Gaurav Dubey, CEO, TDeFi - Crypto Incubator and Advisory.

“It’s an honour to join The Wealth Today Summit. Though technically a startup, our knowledge and experience in the field take us far beyond that mark. There are a few hot topics we will discuss this time. And as the world faces major changes in the field of DeFi and crypto in general, talking about it is paramount. It’s all about what every single involved entity can bring to the common table, how they can challenge the industry and make a better future for the whole community. That’s what FasTToken aims to do with its vast scale of operations. During our speech we will discuss what the future holds for digital assets and what are the trends and opportunities for investors.” - Zabella Demirchian, Head of FT NFT Marketplace, SoftConstruct.