Dunamu hosts forum on blockchain's potential

Song Chi-hyung, chairman of Dunamu, delivers an opening speech online at the Upbit D Conference at the Grand Walkerhill Seoul in eastern Seoul, Monday. (Dunamu)

The Upbit D Conference, a leading blockchain event hosted by Dunamu, operator of the country's largest crypto exchange Upbit, took place Monday, sharing ideas on how to expand the blockchain industry.

Under the slogan “All That Blockchain,” the event invited some 40 experts from 29 countries as speakers to discuss related trends, policies, finance and content involving blockchain.

“As the blockchain industry evolves, the UDC continues to grow,” Song Chi-hyung, chairman of Dunamu, said in his opening speech delivered online.

“As the impact of blockchain continues to expand across the economy, culture and society, the UDC has also evolved as a comprehensive conference covering everything about blockchain,” Song said.

Speakers including Matt Sorg, head of technology at Solana Foundation; Howard Fisher, former partner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission; Nizam Ismail, former department head at the Monetary Authority of Singapore; and Roger Ver, founder of Bitcoin.com, a cryptocurrency wallet developer, among others, participated in the event, sharing their thoughts on blockchain technology.

Jide Fashola, head of technical integrations at the Cardano Foundation, a blockchain and cryptocurrency organization based in Switzerland, gave a speech on blockchain and sustainability.

“I will define suitability as a balance between equity, economy and environment," said Fashola.

“For sustainability, we are working with the United Nations to ensure that we are supporting their goals," he said, introducing the foundation's various projects to raise funds for UN initiatives, such as supporting Ukraine.

Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO and co-founder of Chiliz, a sports token trading platform, introduced the “fan token.” On the platform, fans can trade tokens to show their support for professional sports teams.

“'Fan token' is (a symbol of) recognition and having (the fans') voices heard,” Dreyfus said. “We are trying to bring more innovation to the sports scene.”

Oh Se-hyeon, executive vice president at SK Telecom, Korea’s leading telecom carrier, said the Web3 market will meet a turnaround when related regulations are clarified and the restrictive monetary policy practiced by the US Federal Reserve is eased.

“We aim to transfer our 30 million users from the Web2 market to the Web3 market. But the transfer has to be smooth and subtle that even the users would not be aware of the change,” Oh said, introducing the firm’s Web 3 wallet service billed T Wallet, which can store and manage digital assets.

More than 3,700 participants joined the conference both online and in person, according to Dunamu. The firm has held the annual event since 2018 in a bid to strengthen the domestic blockchain ecosystem.

By Im Eun-byel(silverstar@heraldcorp.com)