ZUG, SWITZERLAND (17 February 2018)
Following the success of last year’s event, SMART VALOR is pleased to announce the return of the ICO Summit being held in Zurich on the 28th of March. This year’s edition, called Crypto Summit will extend its scope to the two-track agenda dedicated to the headline topics in ICO and blockchain tech space.
Switzerland’s Economic Minister, Johann Schneider-Ammann, recently announced that he would like to see the notion of Crypto Valley move beyond Valley and refer to the entire country as a ‘Crypto Nation Switzerland’. This was a demonstration of commitment from the highest political level for the further build-up of the blockchain industry in Switzerland.
In the light of this announcement, the conference this year will focus on how Switzerland is best positioned to become a global leader in crypto space.
“I see a growing need for the establishment of specialized crypto hubs with a recognized regulatory environment and global exposure. Switzerland seems to be on its way to becoming such a hub and I am excited to contribute to it.” – said Vinny Lingham, who is joining Crypto Summit as a keynote speaker. Vinny is a visionary Silicon Valley entrepreneur and CEO of Civic, whose popularity rankings recently brought him to one of the top 5 people in the blockchain industry worldwide.
The Crypto Summit
The Crypto Summit will expand on the previous event’s colourful programme of keynotes, panel discussions and start-up battlefield, bringing together some of the biggest names of the crypto industry. Jon Matonis, Founding Director of the Bitcoin Foundation will talk about crypto currencies in the post-legal tender age, while Timothy Draper, a legendary investor with high exposure to crypto will provide an outlook of what to expect in the crypto investment space.
This conference, first held in September 2017, became the first international conference in Switzerland dedicated to blockchain crowdfunding. It became a global event, with 85% of speakers coming from outside of Switzerland, and over 30 countries represented among the 500 attendees. A further 2,000 attendees tuned into the event via live stream, which opened with a keynote from William Mougayar, one of the key thought leaders in the ICO space.
On the start-ups side, last year the ICO Summit presented about two dozen companies such as Aion, Science, YouNow, DomRaider and Streamr. These five companies alone subsequently raised over USD120m. This year the race for the best blockchain project to be continued with 30 start-ups pitching in front of investors and crypto gurus gathering in Zurich.
ICO Summit, 15 September 2017
This year the conference will double in size, expecting over one thousand delegates from around the world. It will be held in Switzerland’s newly built, high-tech conference centre “Samsung Hall”.
For investors and bankers, this will be also an opportunity to learn how the industry leaders invest in crypto. Tekin Salimi of the leading crypto hedge fund, Polychain, backed by Ben Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, will share his experience on how to select the most promising blockchain project.
The incredible story of one of the most influential blockchain projects Tezos, which was also largest ICO ever (USD230m), reads today like a thriller and will be shared with audience by Kathleen Breitman, CEO of Tezos. More women from the blockchain industry will share the power panel and make the Crypto Summit one of the most diverse and insightful places-to-be in the blockchain space.
“We are building on the incredible success of last year’s ICO Summit, which was credited as “TechCrunch of crypto” says Olga Feldmeier, CEO of SMART VALOR and producer of the ICO Summit. “What is special about Crypto Summit is that this event is held in the epicentre of blockchain industry happening – making this the best place for blockchain start-ups or investors to meet and to discuss where the industry is headed. We’re excited to see the progression and turnout of this year’s event.”
“Being one of the founders of Crypto Valley and active here since 2014, for me, it is a great pleasure to see it growing year-on-year. With support from influential figures like be Johann Schneider-Ammann, Switzerland is well on its way to becoming a global hub for crypto business.”
Early-bird tickets are still available on the www.cryptosummit.ch until the 15th of February.
