European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: On the eve of Pontes: What changes, Is Europe doing it right and who gets in Speakers: - Saumitra Dubey | Fiat republic - Bert Staufenbiel | KfW - Christoph Hock | Union Investment - Martin Müller | RL1 - Thilo Derenbach | Clearstream 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: How to Build an Investment Team That Eliminates Bias Entirely Speakers: - Laeeq Shabbir | HT Digital - Andrea Böhmert | SBI Ventures Europe - Vineet Budki | Sigma Capital 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

The Great Repricing — Value Capture in the Onchain Economy Speakers: - Bernard Nicolay | ULB - Christopher Heymann | 1k(x) - Mathieu Chanson | Very Early Venture 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

ANNA fireside chat: From Traditional to Tokenized: The Standards Powering Tomorrow's Markets Speakers: - Heinz Konzett | Liechtensteinische Landesverwaltung - Rowan Varrall | DTI Foundation - Karin de Ridder | ANNA 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: Family Offices and Allocators: Moving From Observation to Allocation Speakers: - Peter Lane | Bitcoin Life - Filippo Bondurri | SGMC Capital - Bijan Foroodian | Family Office - Sascha Fuchs | Kaiser Partner Private Bank - Victor Teixeira | General Tensor 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: MiCA 2: Lessons from the First Year of Enforcement and What Comes Next Speakers: - Tommaso Astazi | Blockchain For Europe - Viktor Maier | Baader Bank - Stephan Mogelin | BaFin - Christian Moor | European Banking Authority - Keisuke Kimura | JCBA 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: Prediction Markets: Gambling or Financial Instruments? Speakers: - Ariel Navarro | Whale Capital - Marina Villalonga | Asensi Abogados, Partner - Iskandar Vanblarcum | crypto.com - Christopher Siedentopf | Qapture Investment & CRS-Advisory 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: Macro Decoded: Interest Rates, Liquidity and Digital Asset Allocation Speakers: - Otto Jacobsson | YAP - Vladimir Gorshkov | State Street - Anna Dinescu | Hilbert Capital - Radoslav Poljasevic | LO:TECH 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 7, 2026

Panel: What institutional capital looks for before it allocates to a crypto VC Speakers: - Dani Rodriguez Miguel | House of Web3 - Tom Filip Lesche | Speedinvest - Adarsh Giri | Fifth Era 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 6, 2026

Panel: Is the Yield Worth the Risk? Speakers: - Mikel Ayala | Backpack - Adam Bilko | RockawayX - Dr. Nick Almond | Jito Network - Odran Thomazo | CowDAO 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 6, 2026

Round 2 brought another six startups to the EBC12 stage, each pitching for a place in the final. Founders presented their companies to a panel of investors, with feedback focused on product, market opportunity, scalability and execution. Startups: Lympid — Joao Lages Orion Finance — Matteo Manzi SatsBridge GmbH — Ilya Evdokimov Toto Finance — Steven Gaertner Treesury — Jovan Paunović VANT Network — Will Martin Jury: Mathieu Chanson — Very Early Ventures Michael van Baelen — Softstack Tariq Khan — Outrun Ventures Yana Makhnyk — Generis Watch the full session to discover the companies competing in Round 2 and hear the jury feedback. 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 6, 2026

Panel: How Ceuta Built a Gambling Hub, and Why Digital Assets Could Be Next Speakers: - Felipe Masa Sanchez-Ocaña | Government of Ceuta - Alberto Eljarrat | Sportium - Marina Villalonga | Asensi Abogados, Partner 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 6, 2026

Panel: Cyber, Fraud and the Future of Financial Resilience Speakers: - Otilia Pețu | NOA Group - Ilya Brovin | Sumsub - Harry Donnelly | Circuit - Mitchell Amador | Immunefi 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 6, 2026

Panel: From T+2 to New Money Rails: How Stablecoins, CBDCs and Tokenised Deposits Are Reshaping Settlement Speakers: - Lory Kehoe | Aave Labs - Pavel Chichkanov | Bank of England - Patrick Hennes | Luxembourg House of Web3 - Monika Schöning | ING 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov, Rector of the University of National and World Economy (UNWE), officially opens ETHSofia 2026. Founded in 1920, UNWE is one of Bulgaria's largest universities: it enrolled more than 5,400 new students this year across some 40 bachelor's and 80 master's programmes, and it launched Bulgaria's first bachelor's and master's programmes in cryptoeconomics. He describes how hard it is for a classical, conservative university to open new specialities such as crypto economics, blockchain technologies and cybersecurity, and welcomes the bachelor's and master's students in the room. Calling ETHSofia the perfect place for education to meet business, he proposes a joint business academy with the university and wishes the forum success. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Prof. Dr. Dimitar Panayotov Dimitrov, Rector, UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov is a Bulgarian economist specialising in defence and security economics. He has been the rector of the University of National and World Economy since December 2019 and was re-elected in 2023. His research interests include defence economics, critical infrastructure protection, and nuclear security, with over 100 publications he leads projects for modernising higher education and co-founded the global master's program in Nuclear Security. Chapters 00:00 UNWE: 106 years of history 01:15 Blockchain and crypto economics programmes 01:47 Where universities meet business 02:24 Opening new specialities in a classical university 03:12 Proposal: a business academy with UNWE 03:35 Closing wishes for the forum 05:03 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Viktor Uzunov, co-founder and CEO of UEB3 Ventures and a former trading-floor banker, argues that blockchain is upgrading traditional finance rather than replacing it. He walks through how tokenisation lowers entry barriers through fractional ownership, simplifies legal claims and transfers, and how on-chain markets, Nasdaq's planned move to 23-hour trading and Hyperliquid's daily volumes point to 24/7 finance. He describes banks moving into stablecoins and DeFi, then shows how AI saves him time on morning briefs and revealed that his weekend trades had a much lower win rate. The talk ends with audience questions on stock tokenisation and on-chain mortgages. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Viktor Uzunov, CEO, UEB3 Ventures Viktor Uzunov is the co-founder of digital asset fund UEB3 and UAE-based real estate firm Arreat Capital, which specialises in tokenised real estate. Over the past decade he has focused on building institutional-grade infrastructure at the intersection of capital markets, real assets, and digital finance. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktor-uzunov-ueb3 X: https://x.com/viktortrades Chapters 00:00 Opening and thanks 01:36 From Wall Street to blockchain 03:00 Easier, cheaper and more transparent access 04:12 US markets now drive crypto 04:45 Legacy settlement vs on-chain finance 06:13 Nasdaq moves towards 23-hour trading 07:23 Tokenisation and fractional access 09:17 Legal claims and transferability 11:09 On-chain stocks and Hyperliquid 13:26 Users want simpler access 14:27 DeFi as part of institutional finance 16:11 Risk management and knowledge 16:39 How AI changes the investor's day 20:42 Know what you own 22:19 Closing thoughts 22:58 Q&A: Is stock tokenisation a layer two? 23:47 Q&A: On-chain mortgages and RWA lending Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Todor Karaivanov of Chainlink Labs, who has spent six years across Chainlink products including VRF and now leads blockchain integrations, explains why moving assets between chains is far less simple than it looks. He frames security as an economic question, compares committee verifiers with light clients and zero-knowledge approaches, and shows how operators sharing the same RPC endpoints or failover providers create a single point of attack. He covers contagion from a compromised chain, the hub-and-spoke model with intents for convenience, and transfer limits to cap damage, noting that most losses now come from compromised infrastructure and keys. A short Q&A covers why operators should run their own RPCs. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Todor Karaivanov, Blockchain Integrations & Product Partnerships, Chainlink Labs Todor Karaivanov has spent the past eight years in the blockchain industry, including over five years at Chainlink Labs. His earlier work in web hosting and game development shaped his expertise in information security, systems design, and economic systems, which he now applies to building decentralized infrastructure. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todor-karaivanov-325468 X: https://x.com/tkaraivanov Chapters 00:00 About Todor and Chainlink Labs 01:29 Why cross-chain looks simple but is not 02:41 Security is an economic concept 04:34 Committees, light clients and ZK verification 06:30 Independent observation and shared RPCs 08:12 Failover as an attack vector 09:05 Compromised chains and contagion 10:37 Hub and spoke, with intents for convenience 11:28 Plan for the unpredictable: transfer limits 12:56 From contract bugs to compromised keys 14:49 Q&A: Should operators run their own RPCs? 16:22 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Krum Pashov, founder and CEO of Pashov Audit Group, on how AI has reshaped Web3 security in 2026. With audit contests drying up, he argues that bug bounties are now the best permissionless path into the field, makes the case for specialising in a niche such as Bitcoin and BTCFi security, and shows how Pashov's free, open-source Solidity Auditor skill found 11 of the 13 high-severity bugs from a 2025 audit contest in under an hour. The talk closes with audience questions on what AI will and will not automate, and how the security researcher's job is changing. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Krum Pashov, CEO, Pashov Audit Group Krum or "pashov", is Founder & CEO of Pashov Audit Group, protected over $100B of funds with 400+ security audits. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pashov X: https://x.com/pashov Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:11 Web3 security in 2026: what changed 02:11 Why bug bounties are the place to be 06:26 Freelance, full-time or your own firm 07:23 Go niche: the Bitcoin and BTCFi opportunity 10:46 Build your own AI auditing agent 12:17 Solidity Auditor V4: 11 of 13 high-severity bugs in an hour 16:01 Fork the open-source skills and build on them 18:12 Will AI replace security researchers? 20:15 Q&A: What AI will and will not automate 21:52 Q&A: How the daily job is changing 24:07 Q&A: Why Krum started Pashov Audit Group 25:38 Q&A: How an audit firm makes money 26:46 Q&A: Should we worry about AI-driven threats? 28:07 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Klara Kovacevic (ChainSecurity, moderator), Krum Pashov (Pashov Audit Group), Jonathan Riss (CertiK) and Josef Gattermayer (ack3). Moderated by Klara Kovacevic of ChainSecurity, this panel asks what AI is actually changing in smart contract security. Josef Gattermayer says ack3's analysis found that 97% of hacks on audited protocols happened outside the audited scope, in infrastructure and off-chain components, and that black hats adopted AI faster than white hats. Krum Pashov and Josef discuss continuous monitoring as a business, how to benchmark AI auditing tools against a plain frontier-model prompt, and why recall, token spend and false positives must be balanced. Jonathan Riss of CertiK covers AI-assisted data aggregation and physical security risks, and audience questions address formal verification, zero-days versus social engineering, and auditor accountability. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Klara Kovacevic, Ecosystem Lead, ChainSecurity (moderator) Klara is with ChainSecurity, the team auditing major protocols like Circle, Sky, Aave, and Curve. With experience in both big tech and Web3, she’s here to ask the right questions and keep things interesting. She’s also a board member at Alice in Blockchains, a crypto education nonprofit. X: https://x.com/klarakova ▸ Krum Pashov, CEO, Pashov Audit Group Krum or "pashov", is Founder & CEO of Pashov Audit Group, protected over $100B of funds with 400+ security audits. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pashov X: https://x.com/pashov ▸ Jonathan Riss, Blockchain Intelligence Analyst, CertiK As an Blockchain Intelligence Analyst at CertiK, Jonathan specializes in tracking illicit flows and de-anonymizing malicious actors. He documents complex fraud operations to produce the actionable intelligence necessary to protect the web3 landscape. His mission is to decode the latest threat vectors to help builders and users navigate a safer decentralized future. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanriss X: https://x.com/Jonathan_Riss_ ▸ Josef Gattermayer, Founder, ack3 Josef Gattermayer is the founder of ack3 (prev. Ackee Blockchain) - team securing $180B+ in TVL for Lido, Aave, and Safe. The auditors who created the open-source Wake framework. Ph.D. and Assistant Professor teaching blockchain security at Czech Technical University in Prague. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josefgattermayer X: https://x.com/jgattermayer Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:02 Day-to-day roles and how AI changed them 06:18 Has AI made the industry more or less secure? 07:45 97% of hacks happened outside the audited scope 09:38 Continuous monitoring as a business 12:27 Audit firms become product companies 15:16 Building a great AI auditing harness 17:06 Recall, token spend and false positives 19:45 AI, data leaks and physical security 23:09 Training the next generation of auditors 25:27 What makes an exceptional auditor 30:33 Q&A: Will formal verification replace audits? 33:23 Q&A: Will AI exploit zero-days or humans? 36:07 Q&A: Holding auditors accountable 38:45 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Galin Dimitrov, cybersecurity engineer and founding member of Superteam Ireland, traces four eras of crypto theft: scams such as OneCoin and BitConnect, smart contract exploits like The DAO and Wormhole, attacks on people as in Ronin and Bybit, and now AI coding agents. He walks through the Drift Protocol hack, which began with a fake trading firm approaching the team at a conference and ended six months later with $285 million drained in minutes. He then shows how malicious skills, poisoned npm packages and hijacked agent CLIs reach builders' keys, citing Anthropic's figure that users approve 93% of permission prompts, and closes with three rules: keep keys out of reach, treat every add-on as a stranger, and use a sandbox. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Galin Dimitrov, Cybersecurity Engineer & Web3 Growth Lead, Founding Member, Superteam Ireland Galin Dimitrov is a cybersecurity engineer with a BSc in Cyber Security and Digital Forensics from TU Dublin and six years at Fidelity Investments, where he secured and monitored 800+ production database servers and led Splunk-based incident response. He has also spent over a decade leading Web3 growth across agencies, Master Ventures and HYPE Partners, and is a founding member of Superteam Ireland. Today he builds AI and onchain products as a solo founder and has won several hackathons, including the Solana Privacy Hackathon. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/galindimitrovvv Chapters 00:00 The new insider, hidden in plain sight 01:30 Four eras of getting robbed in crypto 02:52 Era one: the scam is the product 04:20 Era two: attacking the code 05:32 Era three: targeting people (Ronin, Bybit) 06:43 Case study: the Drift Protocol hack 09:47 Era four: AI agents on your machine 11:23 Why 93% of prompts get approved 12:36 Three doors in: skills, npm and your agent CLI 14:14 Already happening: real losses 15:20 Three OPSEC rules for builders 17:10 Closing: read before you approve 17:44 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Marc Zeller (ACI) and Token Brice (Polaris / Pharos). In this fireside chat, Marc Zeller, joining remotely from Tokyo, and TokenBrice reflect on how DeFi has changed since about 2018. After the Aave governance disputes, they ask who owns a protocol's intellectual property, what a token holder actually owns, and why the market now rewards tokens with a claim on revenue and punishes combined equity and token structures. Zeller says his new lending protocol, ACI, will be token only, with its IP in a foundation and revenue controlled by holders, while TokenBrice describes how Polaris issues new tokens only when users burn the collateral token behind its stablecoin. Both criticise DeFi for giving up privacy to court institutions, which Zeller says hold only about $4 billion of Morpho's $12 billion. Fireside Chat at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Marc Zeller, Co-founder, ACI Marc Zeller is co-founder of ACI, a new DeFi lending product launching this year. He co-founded Ethereum France and helped organise the first EthCC in Paris in 2015, then went on to roles at Consensys and Coinhouse, the first French-regulated CASP. In 2019 he joined EthLend to prepare the launch of Aave V1, and in 2022 founded the Aave Chan Initiative, which drove strategy and growth for the Aave DAO for more than three years. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marczelleraci X: https://x.com/Marczeller ▸ Token Brice, Founder, Polaris / Pharos Liquidity engineer, protocol analyst, and co-founder of The DeFi Collective. TokenBrice has been building in Ethereum DeFi since the early days and now leads Polaris, tackling stablecoin centralisation head-on. X: https://x.com/tokenbrice Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:18 Setting the scene: two DeFi veterans 02:00 Governance after the death of DAOs 04:37 What does a token holder actually own? 06:26 Equity or token: you cannot play both games 08:29 Marc's next project: token only, no equity 10:46 Polaris: a new token emission mechanism 12:56 Why now: crossing over to the builder side 17:11 Did the institutions deliver? 20:35 Losing the war on privacy 23:13 Audience comment and close 25:01 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Kiril Kalchev, system architect at BRAIN++ AI Factory, presents polymorphic crypto chains, a design aimed at people who build and maintain chain clients. Each block carries a meta field naming the hash and signature suite that protects it, so cryptographic primitives, including post-quantum and hybrid schemes, can be replaced without a hard fork or re-signing history. He explains the algorithm-suite interface, the four checks a verifier performs, how suites are retired through on-chain governance, and how the approach combines with per-account keys. He closes with practical advice on canonical encodings, sizing chains for much larger post-quantum keys, and constant-time comparisons, and points to the GPL reference implementation in Python with C++ and Rust ports. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Kiril Kalchev, System Architect Data Lake, BRAIN++ AI Factory Kiril is a software developer at heart and System Architect at BRAIN++ AI factory. He builds things that solve real-world problems, bridging code and intelligence to shape the future of AI-driven systems. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirilkkalchev Chapters 00:00 What is a polymorphic crypto chain? 01:03 The proof of concept and repository 03:17 One extra field: the block meta section 04:49 Defining an algorithm suite 06:01 How the validator works 07:32 What is new compared to existing chains 08:50 Three security properties 10:18 Signed pre-image and hybrid suites 12:09 Retiring a suite securely 13:43 Per-account keys on polymorphic blocks 14:26 Implementation tips: encodings and suite names 15:32 The cost of post-quantum signatures 16:23 Failure behaviour and monotonic policy 17:13 Implementations, licence and wrap-up 18:25 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Georgi Kirov (Crisp Labs, moderator), Kiril Kalchev (BRAIN++ AI Factory), Angel Marchev (UNWE) and Petar Nikolov (Equisect). A panel on what trust means for federated AI systems as quantum computing approaches. Kiril Kalchev explains why CHAIN++, an EU and Bulgarian government funded data-sharing chain for BRAIN++ AI Factory, is built for cryptographic agility, and why picking one post-quantum algorithm is never the end of the job. Petar Nikolov, who holds a PhD in quantum computing, points out that post-quantum cryptography runs on classical computers and that NIST-approved algorithms cannot yet be tested on real quantum hardware, and warns about harvest-now-decrypt-later attacks. Angel Marchev frames security as a permanent arms race, reviews education and research trends, and argues that post-quantum migration is an adaptability problem rather than a prediction problem. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Georgi Kirov, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Crisp Labs (moderator) Over the last 15 years, Georgi has led over 20 applied AI projects with tangible results across buy-side / sell-side finance, manufacturing and various heavily regulated industries. He studied and conducted research at Paris Dauphine, ULB and UC Berkeley. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/georgikirov ▸ Kiril Kalchev, System Architect Data Lake, BRAIN++ AI Factory Kiril is a software developer at heart and System Architect at BRAIN++ AI factory. He builds things that solve real-world problems, bridging code and intelligence to shape the future of AI-driven systems. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirilkkalchev ▸ Angel Marchev, Professor on Financial Modeling and AI, UNWE and Sofia-Uni Prof. Angel Marchev Jr., PhD, is a Bulgarian academic and consultant specialising in AI, simulation, cybernetics, finance, and decision-making. With 20+ years of teaching and 50+ publications, he connects scientific methods with practical business challenges. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/angelmarchev ▸ Petar Nikolov, Co-Founder, Equisect Technology professional with proven track record in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Quantitative Research, Quantum Computing, Financial Engineering. Co-founder of Equisect where he builds a platform for pricing of real private equity funds. Ph.D. in Quantum Algorithms from Tehcnical University of Sofia. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/p-nikolov Chapters 00:00 Framing the panel: where does trust come from? 01:41 Introductions: the biggest post-quantum misconception 05:28 CHAIN++ in a post-quantum world 07:38 Quantum computing vs post-quantum cryptography 09:22 Harvest now, decrypt later 10:22 Beyond Shor: what could change in 15 years 11:42 Security as an arms race 15:05 Research directions: lattices and physical leakage 17:20 AI shortens the half-life of implementation 17:40 What to do now: catalogue, assess, go hybrid 20:11 Will AI go quantum first? 23:24 Can LLMs learn from quantum cryptography? 24:23 Economic value: adaptability, not prediction 27:28 Wrap-up 27:51 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Candice Teo (Espoir Communications, moderator), Alvaro Garrido Mesa (LegalNode) and Krzysztof Paruch (Token Engineering Labs). What does the law require, and what does the system design require, before institutions put real-world assets on Ethereum at scale? Moderator Candice Teo opens with the state of the market, including Ethereum's roughly $17 billion in tokenised RWAs, then works through failure points with lawyer Alvaro Garrido Mesa and token engineer Krzysztof Paruch. They cover redemption mismatches when a token trades 24/7 but its underlying asset does not, why SPVs sit behind most tokenisation projects, why the legal contract should override the code when the two disagree, and how ERC-3643 handles investor identity, forced transfers and asset recovery without solving liability. In closing, Paruch names explicit governance and accountability as his non-negotiable and Garrido Mesa names jurisdiction, while stablecoins, commodities such as gold and bonds are called production ready. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Candice Teo, Founder of Espoir Communications (moderator) Candice is an executive PR and communications strategist with 20 years of experience building brands, shaping narratives, and driving thought leadership globally. Since 2017, she has been at the forefront of web3 communications, helming leadership roles for projects spanning DeFi, infrastructure, institutional adoption, and more. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candicekteo X: https://x.com/candicekteo ▸ Alvaro Garrido Mesa, Partner, LegalNode Recognised as a leading tokenisation legal expert in the EU, Alvaro is the founding partner of Legal Node, a law firm specialised in capital markets and digital assets. He has participated in pivotal legislative initiatives to facilitate the adoption of digital assets. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvarogarridomesa ▸ Krzysztof Paruch, CEO, Cryptoeconomist, and Token Engineer Krzysztof “Kris” Paruch is a mathematician, cryptoeconomist, and CEO of Token Engineering Labs. He designs and evaluates tokenised systems, specialising in mechanism design, DeFi, prediction markets, and capital-efficient on-chain finance. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kris-paruch X: https://x.com/paruch1 Chapters 00:00 Why RWA tokenisation matters 02:15 The RWA market in numbers 05:14 Quickfire: is Ethereum ready for a $10 billion fund? 06:20 The last unresolved problem: redemption and governance 08:22 The most common structural mistake 10:12 SPVs and choosing a jurisdiction 12:07 Who should hold the kill switch? 15:29 Contract over code, and accountable auditors 19:43 ERC-3643 and the liability question 22:07 Satisfying regulators without a single responsible party 24:52 Does regulation contradict DeFi principles? 27:36 Non-negotiables for tokenising a fund 28:33 Production-ready asset classes and closing Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Daniel Vasilev (moderator), Zdravko Pirinliev (BenchMark), Viktor Uzunov (UEB3 Ventures) and Pascal Tallarida (Jarvis Network). Moderated by economist Daniel Vasilev, this panel asks how to invest and trade as tokenised assets blur the line with traditional finance. Pascal Tallarida argues that tokenisation turns every asset into a yield engine, Viktor Uzunov favours multi-use assets such as Hyperliquid over simply holding Bitcoin, and Zdravko Pirinliev sees treasury companies like Strategy as a source of asymmetric exposure while weighing global liquidity against project fundamentals. Uzunov says ignoring stop losses and chasing late moves are what separate losers from winners, while Tallarida relies mostly on experience and pairs the double stochastic oscillator with the MACD. The panel closes on oil prices, the US midterm elections and whether the bull market is confirmed, with Tallarida and Uzunov arguing that crypto no longer moves in clean bull and bear cycles. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Daniel Vasilev, Economist and Market Analyst (moderator) Daniel is an economist and financial markets analyst with 13 years of experience. Former Chief Economist at Tavex SEE and Head Market Analyst at Admirals Bulgaria, he has authored hundreds of analyses, edited Forbes Bulgaria, and created Econtalks, a popular economics and finance education series. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-vasilev-29455586 ▸ Zdravko Pirinliev, Senior Investment Analyst, BenchMark Zdravko Pirinliev is Chief Investment Analyst and lecturer at BenchMark Finance with 10+ years of trading and investing experience. He hosts the BenchMark Podcast and focuses on market analysis, investor education, and practical financial strategies. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zdravko-pirinliev-1570481a7 ▸ Viktor Uzunov, CEO, UEB3 Ventures Viktor Uzunov is the co-founder of digital asset fund UEB3 and UAE-based real estate firm Arreat Capital, which specialises in tokenised real estate. Over the past decade he has focused on building institutional-grade infrastructure at the intersection of capital markets, real assets, and digital finance. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktor-uzunov-ueb3 X: https://x.com/viktortrades ▸ Pascal Tallarida, Founder, Jarvis Network Pascal Tallarida is a Forex trader, entrepreneur and DeFi expert, founder of Jarvis Network and Managing Partner at 73 Capital. He is also a teacher at Alyra, specializing in DeFi, stablecoins and on-chain finance. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/pascal-tallarida X: https://x.com/pscltllrd Chapters 00:00 Tokenised assets and portfolio construction 02:17 Holding the asset vs treasury company exposure 08:02 Liquidity or fundamentals? 09:56 What separates winners from losers 11:32 Common psychological mistakes in trading 13:21 Reading the market: experience over indicators 16:09 Indicators for newcomers: DSS and MACD 17:51 Long-term conviction vs short-term trading 20:23 Your own money vs other people's money 21:33 Risks ahead: oil, consumers and the US midterms 25:47 Q&A: Is the bull market confirmed? 29:24 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Maximilian Roszko, business development lead at Curve Finance, traces how crypto set out to create a new form of money but found its strongest use case in bringing existing currencies on-chain, with stablecoins now above $300 billion in circulating supply. He argues that a DeFi built almost entirely on dollars leaves users elsewhere exposed to FX risk, and that the many euro, Swiss franc and Brazilian real stablecoins struggle because on-chain liquidity is expensive. Using examples from Gnosis with Monerium and from Frankencoin, he sets out practical ways issuers can bootstrap FX liquidity: tying pools to real conversion demand, yield-bearing assets, CDPs and stable pools alongside established tokens. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Maximilian Roszko, Business Development Lead, Curve Finance Maximilian leads business development at Curve Finance. He works with stablecoin issuers, blockchain networks and other DeFi protocols to build liquidity, develop lending markets and make assets useful across DeFi. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxroszko X: https://x.com/MaxRoszko Chapters 00:00 About Curve Finance 00:54 Crypto's original goal: a new form of money 01:56 The rise of stablecoins: from Tether to $300 billion 03:26 Traditional finance copies the model 05:06 A dollar-dominated stablecoin market 05:48 FX risk for users outside the dollar 06:38 Non-dollar stablecoins and the cost of liquidity 09:16 Tying FX liquidity to real demand 10:23 Lending with yield-bearing FX assets 11:24 CDPs as a shortcut to lending use cases 12:57 Piggybacking on existing liquidity with stable pools 13:37 Why FX will be a big part of DeFi 14:24 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Vyara Savova (European Ethereum Institute, moderator), Mike McCabe (0xbow), Sofia Sukhinina (Ethereum Foundation) and Sajida Zouarhi (Optimum). In March 2026 the Ethereum Foundation published a mandate committing to censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security (CROPS). Moderated by Vyara Savova, this panel asks what that means in practice. Sofia Sukhinina explains the walk-away test and why the Foundation aims to shrink its own role, Mike McCabe describes how 0xbow screens deposits by source of funds while keeping user transactions private, and Sajida Zouarhi discusses patents, open source and Optimum's MIT-backed technology. The panel also covers verifying open-weights AI, the EU Cyber Resilience Act, and the censorship risk from block building, where roughly three quarters of blocks come from two builders. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Vyara Savova, Senior Policy Lead, European Ethereum Institute (moderator) Vyara is a web3 & human rights lawyer based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Senior Policy Expert at the European Ethereum Institute, shaping EU regulation for open, permissionless, decentralised blockchain applications. PhD candidate researching legal automation through smart contracts. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vyarasavova ▸ Mike McCabe, Product Lead, 0xbow Mike McCabe is Product Lead at 0xbow. After building blockchain enterprise applications for the energy industry for several years, he realised onchain privacy is an essential missing building block in the tech stack. Since then, Mike has been putting all his effort into making privacy normal again. X: https://x.com/0xmikemcc ▸ Sofia Sukhinina, Funding Coordination, OSPO Researcher, Ethereum Foundation Sofia is an OSPO researcher working on understanding open source funding infrastructure and ways to improve it. She explores whether dependency-graph-aware funding on Ethereum rails could reduce frictions in current financial mechanisms, making the funder-to-beneficiary path more direct. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sofia-sukhinina X: https://x.com/sonkiski ▸ Sajida Zouarhi, Chief Product Officer, Optimum Sajida Zouarhi is Chief Product Officer at Optimum, building the universal data acceleration network for blockchains using RLNC. With 10 years in Web3, she previously led product at Blocknative and on the Ethereum client Besu at ConsenSys through the Merge. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sajidazouarhi Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:10 What is the CROPS mandate? 01:10 The walk-away test: a Foundation that steps back 06:02 Does CROPS apply beyond Ethereum? 07:34 Censorship resistance and privacy at the protocol level 10:47 Privacy versus compliance 12:49 Open source, patents and protecting inventions 16:58 Verifying open-weights AI with Ethereum 19:11 The Cyber Resilience Act and open source 22:00 Where censorship happens today 23:44 Block builders, relays and OFAC compliance 25:46 What the panelists will not compromise on 28:05 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Matěj Husák of Trezor argues that self-custody has solved the keys but not the data, such as transaction labels that usually end up in a local file or someone else's cloud. He explains the local-first approach, named in a 2019 Ink and Switch essay, where the device is the source of truth and a relay only syncs encrypted copies, and why it is not the same as offline mode. He then walks through Trezor's use of the Evolu library: deriving the owner ID, write key and encryption key from the wallet seed using SLIP-21, resolving conflicts with hybrid clocks in CRDT message envelopes, limiting relay abuse with a quota manager that checks the hardware wallet, and padding data so the relay sees little beyond owner ID hashes and timestamps. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Matěj Husák, Tech Lead, Networks Team, Trezor Self-taught full-stack engineer, TypeScript/React/Node, built across several startups and web3 projects, interested in P2P protocols Chapters 00:00 Not your keys, not your data 01:06 Security versus privacy 02:38 What local-first means 04:11 Local-first is not offline mode 05:43 Three problems: encryption, sync and abuse 07:46 Choosing the Evolu library 08:44 Deriving keys from the seed with SLIP-21 10:02 Conflict-free sync with hybrid clocks 11:16 Default relays and device-authorised quotas 12:06 Threat model: what the relay can see 12:43 UX without passwords 13:50 Q&A: Real-world applications 14:54 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Steffen Kux (Corpuscore.tech, moderator), Nikita Eriashev (Tangem), Skas (Trezor) and Nicolas Bacca (ZKNOX). Self-custody promises full control, yet every wallet still asks users to trust something. Moderated by Steffen Kux, hardware wallet builders from Tangem, Trezor and ZKNOX discuss what the recent Coldcard incident teaches, why open source is a means to verification rather than an end in itself, and why entropy is so hard to check. Nicolas Bacca argues the biggest competition to self-custody is now ETFs and banks and makes the case for multisig setups that grow with the user, Nikita Eriashev argues that simplicity is security for mass adoption, and Skas focuses on clear signing and showing actual balance changes. The panel closes on the future of self-custody and audience questions on Bitcoin multisig and hardware wallets. Panel at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Steffen Kux, Co-CEO & Co-Founder, Corpuscore.tech (moderator) Steffen is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of corpus.core, building trustless blockchain infrastructure. With 25+ years in software and distributed systems, he leads the development of Colibri, an open-source stateless client for trustless blockchain verification and pragmative adaptive privacy. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steffen-kux X: https://x.com/steffenkux ▸ Nikita Eriashev, DACH Growth Lead, Tangem Nikita Eriashev has been with Tangem for more than three years, driving self-custody adoption and expanding the product's reach across Europe, America, and the Middle East. He believes Tangem Wallet is uniquely positioned to build a bridge between blockchain and everyday users worldwide, and he's extremely proud to have been part of that endeavor. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nik-eri-755726271 ▸ Skas, Software Engineer, Trezor Fin-tech raised neo-cypherpunk worked for several software wallets, researcher, hackathon enthusiast, CROPS builder, EIP-nerd X: https://x.com/0xskas ▸ Nicolas Bacca, Chef at ZKNOX Nicolas is a co-founder of Ledger and researcher at ZKnox - interested in making hardware security open, understandable and affordable to all, currently accelerating this with AI LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nbasim X: https://x.com/BTChip Chapters 00:00 The panelists and their work 01:52 From Mt. Gox to today: the state of self-custody 04:20 Lessons from the Coldcard incident 07:04 How far can we trust our wallets? 09:08 Don't be evil vs can't be evil 10:14 Software wallets vs hardware wallets 12:09 Screens, clear signing and knowing what you sign 17:00 Does Web3 complexity hold back self-custody? 19:18 CROPS and self-custody for everyone 22:16 The future of self-custody 25:45 Closing thoughts 27:56 Q&A: Multisig on Bitcoin 29:03 Q&A: Why still use a hardware wallet? 30:22 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

Mark Richardson

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Dr. Mark Richardson of Bancor argues that the familiar bonding curve is one of the least helpful ways to describe a decentralised exchange. Starting from a simple discrete order book, he shows how an arithmetic distribution of liquidity lets the realised price be computed as a two-point mean, and how the x times y equals k model is the geometric-mean case of the same idea. Taking the limit to a continuous density function reveals an infinite family of bonding curves, from arithmetic to harmonic, described by a single exponent. He explains how defining DEXes by their exchange rate rather than an invariant removes the domain limits of current concentrated liquidity designs, including access to the arithmetic microstructure common on order book markets. Keynote at ETHSofia 2026, 24 September 2026, Sofia Tech Park, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Dr. Mark Richardson, Project Lead, Bancor Mark Bentley Richardson, holding a PhD from the University of Melbourne, redirected his career from research science to DeFi in 2021, now serving as Bancor's Project Lead. Under his guidance, Bancor launched Carbon DeFi, a system that enhances user customization in decentralized exchanges by enabling strategy-specific liquidity utilization. Richardson's leadership emphasizes consistent innovation while maintaining the key principles of decentralization, user safety, and operational simplicity. X: https://x.com/MBRichardson87 Chapters 00:00 Two families of invariant-curve DEXes 01:47 Starting from a discrete order book 04:03 There is no single price of a token 05:01 The two-point arithmetic mean shortcut 07:34 Geometric mean clearing and x times y equals k 09:49 Why AMM bid liquidity sits far from the price 10:49 From order books to continuous density functions 12:10 An infinite family of bonding curves 14:19 Formalising the curves 16:06 Describing a curve purely in prices 17:37 How this fixes concentrated liquidity 19:37 Density functions over curve invariants 20:36 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Ivan Goychev of Sofia Municipality recalls his start as a software engineer in fintech, from portfolio management software for private equity, with one project for Goldman Sachs, to an algorithmic trading start-up that traded on news sentiment. He cites FinAnalytica, LimeChain, Nexo and Robinhood founder Vlad Tenev as proof of Bulgarian talent on the global stage. He presents the city as a platform for builders, offering open data, real use cases, marketing and 1.3 million residents as potential clients, while leaving laws and regulation to the national government and the European Parliament. He floats tokenising city assets and paying citizens in real time for micro-jobs that improve their neighbourhoods, and invites companies to partner with the municipality. Official Opening at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Ivan Goychev, Deputy Mayor for Digitalisation and Information Systems Ivan Goychev, Deputy Mayor for Digitalisation of Sofia, has 25 years of leadership experience, including managing global teams at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and serving as CTO of FinTech, TravelTech and ConstructionTech startups. He also supports open-source initiatives like Podkrepi.bg. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/igoychev Chapters 00:00 From fintech engineer to deputy mayor 01:47 Bulgarian fintech and blockchain talent 03:12 The city as a platform: open data and 1.3 million clients 04:02 Tokenising city assets and micro-jobs 05:06 An invitation to partner with Sofia Municipality 06:20 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Martin Leinweber of MarketVector Indexes draws on index data back to 2015 and more than 2,300 tokens to argue that crypto rewards size, not speculation. The top ten coins hold roughly 90% of market cap, there is no small-cap premium, and a liquid micro-cap basket lost about 19% a year. He shows which coins held up in both bull and bear markets, why privacy is a strong theme, and why DeFi, at 2% of market cap but 65% of on-chain fees, looks mispriced. He expects stablecoins, tokenisation and AI agents to drive a fundamentals-led altcoin cycle, and explains the fees-and-users methodology behind his Token Terminal index. Keynote at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Martin Leinweber, CFA, Head of Digital Asset Research and Strategy, MarketVector Indexes Martin Leinweber leads digital asset research at MarketVector Indexes, developing index products and institutional research, and serving as the firm's primary voice on crypto markets globally. He brings nearly two decades of portfolio management experience across equities, fixed income, and alternatives. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-leinweber-cfa-7758b012b Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:19 Twelve years of data on 2,300 tokens 01:03 Crypto is concentrated: the top 10 hold 90% 02:13 No size premium in crypto 03:21 Micro caps: the pump and dump that works on paper 04:26 The most consistent coins in bull and bear markets 06:54 Screening for relative strength: the privacy theme 09:01 What the leaders share: revenue and users 10:02 On-chain fundamentals: DeFi is 2% of cap, 65% of fees 11:19 Stablecoins, tokenisation and AI agents 13:49 The Token Terminal top 10 index 15:45 Prediction: a fundamentals-driven altcoin cycle 17:30 Q&A: The index methodology 19:46 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Damyan Leshev (Eversheds Sutherland, moderator), Ivan Takev (Alaric Securities), Vyara Savova (European Ethereum Institute) and Dimitar Stoyanov (Financial Supervision Commission). With Bulgaria's MiCA transitional period over and five crypto-asset service providers now licensed by the Financial Supervision Commission, this panel looks at what the first licences actually took. Ivan Takev explains how Alaric Securities fitted crypto into an existing investment firm, and Dimitar Stoyanov names the two most common weaknesses in applications: flawed policies and key staff who do not meet the requirements. Vyara Savova argues the MiCA review should fix the white paper notification period and make the DLT Pilot Regime permanent. The panel also covers tokenised stocks under MiCA or MiFID, the dual licensing of e-money tokens, ESMA supervision of significant CASPs, and whether Bulgaria is crypto-friendly. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Damyan Leshev, Partner and Co-Head of Financial Services (Bulgaria), Eversheds Sutherland (moderator) Damyan Leshev is a partner at Eversheds Sutherland Bulgaria, heading the crypto practice. With 20+ years in banking & capital markets law, he is one of Bulgaria's first crypto lawyers. He bridges traditional finance with digital assets regulation. Recognised by Chambers Europe, IFLR 1000 & Legal 500. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damyan-leshev ▸ Ivan Takev, Head of Capital Markets and Investments, Alaric Securities Ivan Takev is Head of Capital Markets & Investments at Alaric Securities, where he also leads the crypto division. A former CEO of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, he brings 25+ years of expertise in institutional finance, regulation, market infrastructure, and trading, bridging traditional and digital assets. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivantakev ▸ Vyara Savova, Senior Policy Lead, European Ethereum Institute Vyara is a web3 & human rights lawyer based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Senior Policy Expert at the European Ethereum Institute, shaping EU regulation for open, permissionless, decentralised blockchain applications. PhD candidate researching legal automation through smart contracts. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vyarasavova ▸ Dimitar Stoyanov, Chief Expert, Regulatory Regimes of Investment Activity, Financial Supervision Commission Dimitar’s interest in financial markets dates back to his tenure as a Member of the European Parliament (2007–2014). Dimitar returned to the FSC’s authorisations team in December 2025, where the entry into application of MiCAR presented a unique opportunity to contribute directly to the authorisation of the first crypto- asset service providers (CASPs). Chapters 00:00 Bulgaria's first MiCA licences and the MiCA review 01:31 Adding crypto to an existing investment firm 04:16 Challenges on the way to the first licence 05:30 The regulator's view: why applications fall short 09:18 What the MiCA review must fix: white paper notification 12:56 Tokenised stocks: MiCA or MiFID? 16:21 The DLT Pilot Regime and the market integration package 20:11 E-money tokens: a MiCA gray area 22:37 Do EMT services also need a payment licence? 24:27 ESMA supervision of significant CASPs 29:17 Is Bulgaria a crypto-friendly jurisdiction? 33:21 Closing 34:14 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Rostislav Totev, founder and CEO of Altcoins.bg, argues that the question is no longer whether digital assets join traditional finance but who builds regulated, reliable infrastructure that can scale. Behind a simple buy button sit identity checks, sanctions and wallet screening, the travel rule, custody and reconciliation, and he says trust and operational experience are the parts that cannot be copied. He tells how the company grew from one man and a laptop in 2017 to a MiCA licence in July, rebuilding most of its infrastructure in the final month because partners could not get licensed. A licence, he says, only gives the right to compete; the future is specialised regulated firms working together. Keynote at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Rostislav Totev, Founder and CEO, Altcoins.bg Rostislav Totev is the Founder & CEO of Altcoins.bg, a Bulgarian crypto exchange licensed under MiCA. He is focused on bridging traditional finance and the digital asset economy and making crypto more accessible, secure and integrated into everyday financial services. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rostislav-totev Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:16 The buy button and the system behind it 02:46 What cannot be copied: trust and experience 04:14 From buying Bitcoin to working inside finance 05:24 Altcoins.bg: from one man and a laptop 07:46 The MiCA licence: repairing the engine while driving 09:50 The licence is not the business 12:26 Build, partner or acquire crypto infrastructure 14:02 Passporting the licence into the EU 15:07 Make crypto infrastructure boring 16:41 Specialised regulated firms working together 19:53 Q&A: Why use a regulated exchange instead of Uniswap? 21:43 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Sam Mudie, CEO of Savea, draws on more than a decade in fine wine investment to explain how luxury assets can be tokenised at scale. He argues that real adoption comes from boring efficiencies and user experience rather than ICOs, NFTs or meme coins, and that selling wine as NFTs to people with MetaMask wallets does not work. Savea's answer borrows from ETFs: physical wine held by a custodian is tokenised and wrapped into an index product for qualified investors, with access from 1,000 dollars, half the annual fees, under a quarter of the exit fees and liquidity within three to four months. He closes on a single app holding every asset, where tokenisation stays behind the scenes. Keynote at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Sam Mudie, CEO, Savea Sam is the Founder & CEO of Savea, a FinTech company building infrastructure to tokenise real-world assets and issue institutional-grade investment products. Savea is pioneering index-style, on-chain exposure to tangible assets, starting with fine wine. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-mudie-03034030 Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:16 Why fine wine investment is inefficient 01:47 Three blockchain cycles: ICOs, NFTs and meme coins 04:47 Bringing wine and blockchain together 05:48 Adoption comes from the boring stuff 06:46 All assets are moving on chain 08:44 Scale through index products: lessons from ETFs 09:47 How the tokenised wine index works 11:51 A B2B infrastructure provider 12:52 Products native to the next generation 15:11 All assets, for anyone, from a single app 16:56 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Assoc. Prof. Manyu Moravenov, CEO of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, asks what the capital market infrastructure of the future will look like, and whether it can become Europe's next growth engine. He argues that blockchain is moving from experiment to infrastructure inside regulated markets, pointing to the Eurosystem's new Pontes service for settling tokenised assets in central bank money and the European Commission's plan to broaden the DLT Pilot Regime. He sets three conditions for scale: trust, which exchanges and depositories already provide; a digital cash leg, so securities and money move together; and interoperability, so tokenisation does not create new fragmentation. For a smaller market like Bulgaria, he concludes, the goal is not a separate digital market but to make the capital market itself digital. Keynote at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Assoc. Prof. Manyu Moravenov, Ph.D., MRICS, Member of the Board and CEO of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange Assoc. Prof. Manyu Moravenov, Ph.D., MRICS, is CEO and Board Member of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. With 25+ years of experience in finance and capital markets, he has led the BSE's transformation, driving market growth and the successful launch of the BEAM SME market. He is also a European Climate Pact Ambassador. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manyumoravenov Chapters 00:00 The capital market infrastructure of the future 00:55 From experiments to scale: Pontes and the DLT Pilot Regime 03:41 Born-digital instruments and technology neutrality 05:35 Trust and the role of exchanges 07:00 Digitising the cash side of the transaction 08:28 Interoperability as Europe's growth engine 12:30 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Diana Ilieva (FinDaS, moderator) and Markus Dorner (Bitpanda Group). In this fireside chat Diana Ilieva of FinDaS asks Markus Dorner, CTO of Bitpanda Group, how a platform built for retail serves institutional clients and what changes once tokenised assets reach mainnet. Dorner says security is the gatekeeper because a token that leaves your control cannot be recovered, that around 300 engineers cannot foresee every edge case of millions of customers, and that keeping the blockchain and traditional ledgers in sync depends on product design. He sees the technology as ready, with product design, market fit and timing as the open questions, as a Bitpanda metals token that drew curiosity but no lasting demand showed. He favours partnering with traditional finance for liquidity, letting the market rather than a central standard decide, and keeping humans in control of AI-assisted coding. Fireside Chat at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Diana Ilieva, Tokenomics Consultant, FinDaS (moderator) Diana is a tokenomics consultant at FinDaS Ltd with over 4 years of experience in creating data-driven tokenomics models for RWA, stablecoins, DeFi protocols, and P2E projects. Diana has a background in software development and holds an MSc degree in Finance and Banking from the University of York. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dillie66 ▸ Markus Dorner, CTO, Bitpanda Group Markus Dorner is CTO of Bitpanda, leading its technology, engineering, product, data, and infrastructure teams. Since joining in 2022, he has scaled the platform and shaped its engineering culture. He previously held senior roles at bank99 and Amazon and holds an MSc from TU Vienna. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dornermarkus Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:20 What Bitpanda offers retail and B2B clients 01:55 Serving institutional clients 02:46 From sandbox to production 04:53 Security as the gatekeeper 06:45 Who wants tokenised assets: retail or institutions? 08:43 Settlement times and the source of truth 10:22 Which asset classes are ready for tokenisation 12:13 Regulation as a barrier 13:47 Partnering with traditional finance for liquidity 17:09 Should tokenisation be standardised? 19:13 One dominant chain for real-world assets? 20:45 Q&A: How much of Bitpanda's code is written by AI? 23:02 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

Vasil Golemanski, Chairman of Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission, speaking at Blockchain Week Bulgaria for the second time, sets out how the country moves from MiCA transition to a mature regulated market. He calls MiCA a single rulebook under which a licence issued in Bulgaria works across Europe, notes that the transition period ended on 1 July and that the Commission has issued Bulgaria's first MiCA licences, and stresses that licensing is only the start of ongoing supervision. "MiCA is not just an administrative task," he says, "it is a task of business maturity." He outlines four priorities (strong licensed firms, data-driven supervision, European cooperation and trust) and applies the principle of same risk, same rules. Keynote at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speaker ▸ Vasil Golemanski, Chairman, Financial Supervision Commission Vasil Golemanski is Chairman of Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission, elected by the National Assembly in March 2025 for a six-year term. He was previously Executive Director of Central Depository from 2012, and his career includes key positions at the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. He graduated in electronics and automation engineering from the Technical University (Plovdiv branch) in 1991 and holds a master's degree in International Business from South-West University "Neofit Rilski" in Blagoevgrad. His priorities include transparency, active dialogue with supervised firms, digitalisation, strict supervision of the capital, insurance and pension markets, a smooth transition to the eurozone, and cybersecurity. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:49 MiCA: one rulebook for European crypto markets 03:28 Transition period ends and the first licences 05:59 Four priorities: licensing and supervision 07:23 European cooperation and trust 08:25 What will you build with your licence? 10:37 From MiCA compliant to MiCA ready 13:04 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Bozhena Bozhilova (Bulgarian Fintech Association, moderator), Andrey Sirakov (Commerzbank AG), Bernie Niebsch (BVNK) and Eduardo Morrison (Schuman Financial). Moderated by Bozhena Bozhilova, the panel asks where euro stablecoins are finding real business use. Eduardo Morrison says Schuman Financial grew through B2B flows for fintechs in Africa and Latin America, reaching 150 million euros of payment volume in August, and is testing atomic settlement against tokenised money market funds with banks in Spain. Andrey Sirakov describes corporate demand as pragmatic, expects banks to combine permissioned networks and tokenised deposits, which Commerzbank AG is exploring, with public stablecoins, and lists the custody, audit and wallet-level compliance controls a bank needs first, while Bernie Niebsch argues that SEPA Instant works well and that SWIFT is where the pain lies. Looking five years ahead, the speakers expect stablecoins to run invisibly in the background. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Bozhena Bozhilova, Director, Bulgarian Fintech Association (moderator) Bozhena Bozhilova is Director of the Bulgarian Fintech Association, where she has spent three years advancing Bulgaria's fintech ecosystem across 15 verticals, including crypto, payments, and lending. She led an EU-wide digital bond platform project for SMEs and drives regulatory engagement between industry, institutions, and regulators. ▸ Andrey Sirakov, Senior Business Analyst, Commerzbank AG Andrey Sirakov is a Senior Business Analyst at Commerzbank AG, where he contributes to the development of institutional‑grade crypto custody solutions and supports the secure integration of blockchain technology into established banking infrastructure. He brings more than a decade of hands‑on experience in Web3 technologies. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrey-sirakov ▸ Bernie Niebsch, Enterprise Product Specialist, BVNK Bernie has 20 years in IT, with 14 in payments product management. Now based in Sofia, he has lived in Germany, Canada, Australia, and the UK. His extensive payments background spans consumer/business products, operations, risk, mobile, and APIs. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/bernhard-niebsch ▸ Eduardo Morrison, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, Schuman Financial Eduardo Morrison is Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer at Schuman Financial, where he leads strategic partnerships and the ecosystem around EURØP. Active in digital assets since 2017, he was an early team member at IntoTheBlock and previously led institutional clients for Europe and Latin America at Binance. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eduardomorrison Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:52 Where the demand for euro stablecoins is 03:08 How corporate clients view stablecoins 06:07 SEPA, SWIFT and the pain points of switching rails 08:36 Private and public rails: the role of banks 11:44 Use case: paying contractors across borders 13:05 Use case: stablecoins and tokenised money market funds 14:47 Security and compliance standards for banks 17:34 Safeguarding reserves, minting and redemption 19:21 Security as culture 20:56 B2B payments five years from now 24:44 Q&A: Is SWIFT being weaponised? Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Vladimir Stratiev (DSK Bank, moderator), Tamara Schmidt (Digital Euro Association), Valentin Marinov, MD (Crédit Agricole CIB) and Bojidar Ibrishimov (WISER). Moderated by Vladimir Stratiev, the panel separates the consumer case for a digital euro, where Tamara Schmidt notes that cards and instant payments already work well, from the systemic case of sovereignty, monetary policy and access to public money. Valentin Marinov says the ECB mainly wants to defend sovereignty against foreign stablecoins, while Bojidar Ibrishimov notes that Visa, Mastercard and PayPal handle 61% of European payments. The speakers contrast online and offline models and explain holding limits as a guard against bank runs, with Schmidt arguing the digital euro would offer more privacy than cards but never cash-level anonymity. Closing pros and cons include Ibrishimov's estimate of 4 to 5 billion in implementation costs for banks and Marinov's worry that it could crowd out private payment providers. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Vladimir Stratiev, Engineering Manager, DSK Bank (moderator) Vladimir is a transformational engineering leader, who scales high-performing teams across fintech, aviation, and leading companies in the agri-tech and gaming markets. He specialises in regulated technology delivery, engineering excellence, and bridging technical execution with business impact. ▸ Tamara Schmidt, Executive Director, Digital Euro Association Tamara Ferreira Schmidt is Executive Director of the Digital Euro Association, with 15+ years in financial engineering and capital markets. She focuses on digital finance, CBDCs, and innovation, and speaks at leading international fintech and blockchain conferences. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-schmidt ▸ Valentin Marinov, MD, Head of G10 FX research, Crédit Agricole CIB Dr. Valentin Marinov heads G10 FX Research and UK Economics at Crédit Agricole CIB. Previously at Citi, Société Générale, and Dresdner Kleinwort, he is a leading FX strategist with a PhD in Finance and Economics from Goethe University and a Master’s degree in Economics from CEU/State University of New York. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/valentin-marinov-b9a6b38 ▸ Bojidar Ibrishimov, VP Growth & Innovation, WISER Commercial strategist and transformation leader with deep expertise in AI, finance, and regulated markets. Trusted by business leaders across Europe and the GCC, he combines strategy, technology, and executive leadership to create opportunities, secure strategic partnerships, and move key initiatives from ambition to execution. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bojidar-ibrishimov-cfa-9223721a Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:14 Opening: how money and payments are changing 02:04 What problem does the digital euro solve? 03:32 Who benefits: consumers, merchants and banks 05:27 Sovereignty and monetary policy 08:05 Europe's dependence on foreign payment networks 09:59 The biggest challenge: coordination 11:49 Can the digital euro offer cash-like privacy? 14:28 How it reaches users: wallets and holding limits 17:19 Anonymity versus privacy 20:07 Political decision or real problem? 22:43 One argument for and one against 27:06 Q&A: Is cash disappearing, and what about privacy? Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Yordan Barzakov (ReVizia, moderator), Alexander Sverdlov (Atlant Security), Daniel Babbev (Bitcoin Suisse) and Dr Boyan Torosov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). Moderated by Yordan Barzakov, the panel moves from today's hacks to tomorrow's quantum threat. Alexander Sverdlov dissects a 351 million dollar exchange breach from the day before and argues that cryptography rarely fails, while implementations, transaction monitoring and threat modelling do. Dr Boyan Torosov explains qubits and error correction, says Google's estimate of under 500,000 physical qubits depends on its assumptions, and expects a fault-tolerant machine able to run Shor's algorithm at scale within the next decade or so, while Daniel Babbev calls harvest now, decrypt later far-fetched, points to public keys already exposed on chain and warns that migrating Bitcoin to post-quantum signatures is a governance problem rather than a technical one. Sverdlov closes by urging institutions to deploy unconstrained AI for defence now. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Yordan Barzakov, Author and Host of "ReVizia" (moderator) Yordan Barzakov is a journalist with over 10 years of professional experience in economics, finance, and energy, as well as prior experience in international relations. He is the author and host of "ReVizia" on Nova News – a show dedicated to economic and geopolitical processes, business, and financial markets. ▸ Alexander Sverdlov, Founder and Lead Expert, Atlant Security Alexander Sverdlov is a global cybersecurity expert, former Microsoft consultant, and UN Cybersecurity Panelist. After advising major financial and government organisations across the Middle East and ENEC, he founded Atlant Security, helping companies of all sizes strengthen their security across four continents. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsverdl ▸ Daniel Babbev, Senior Software Engineer, Bitcoin Suisse Daniel Babbev brings over 10 years of experience in the crypto sector. He currently serves as Senior Custody Engineer at Bitcoin Suisse, Switzerland's first crypto company. Previously, as a Risk Engineer at Brevan Howard, one of Europe's leading hedge funds, he built and led the firm's crypto risk systems. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielbabbev ▸ Dr Boyan Torosov, Associate Professor at Atomic Physics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences / Center for Quantum Technologies Dr. Boyan Torosov is a quantum physicist specialising in quantum computing and control. He is the Quantum Control Lead at 1QBit, an Associate Professor at Institute of Solid State Physics – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (ISSP-BAS), and a research group leader at the Center for Quantum Technologies at Sofia University. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:07 Anatomy of a 351 million dollar exchange hack 03:49 Cryptography holds, implementations fail 05:21 What is a quantum computer? 08:38 How many qubits does it take to break cryptography? 09:56 Quantum progress: real or PR? 12:07 When will quantum computers break cryptography? 12:50 Harvest now, decrypt later: how real is the risk? 15:21 Is a five to seven year migration realistic? 16:47 The biggest vulnerability today: AI-powered attackers 18:47 Post-quantum signatures and Bitcoin governance 21:05 Advice for a bank's first digital assets 22:04 Threat modelling and why so little has changed 26:12 One thing to remember Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Alexandra Overgaag (Thrlld Labs, moderator), Hasan Surtiwala (Penning Group) and Stefan Seferović (Fireblocks). Moderated by Alexandra Overgaag, the panel looks at what changes for a crypto business once it holds a MiCA licence. Hasan Surtiwala says Penning Group, licensed in Denmark in January, saw its competition shrink from over 3,000 crypto firms to around 360, gained access to paid marketing and passported to every EU and EEA country, where local languages and currencies still create friction, while its compliance team grew by about 300%. Stefan Seferović of Fireblocks, which counts around 100 MiCA-licensed customers, expects consolidation within national markets first and advises firms to build their core product and outsource the rest, citing DAC8 reporting. They also cover custody as a service, what crypto-native firms offer that banks do not, and whether MiCA leaves Europe better off. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Alexandra Overgaag, Founder & CEO, Thrlld Labs (moderator) Alex is the founder and CEO of Thrilld Labs, which builds Web3 networking and event solutions. Their flagship product, Thrilld, is an app used by industry professionals and conferences. Together with the team, she is also building Thrilld Events, an event management and ticketing dApp, and she’s also a conference host. Involved with the space since 2017, Alex’s background is in law, political science, and the hospitality sector. ▸ Hasan Surtiwala, Chairman, Penning Group Hasan comes from over a decade of startup experience founding numerous tech startups, and raising capital for +100 ventures. He was part of building one of the largest online communities for investing in the financial markets, and later part of building what became the largest angel investment network in Denmark. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsurtiwala ▸ Stefan Seferović, Sales Director CEE at Fireblocks Stefan Seferović is a father, a Bitcoiner and Sales Director CEE at Fireblocks, the leading digital asset infrastructure business, which enables organisations of all sizes, from startups to institutions, to build, scale and run their operations as complexity grows and regulations evolve. Chapters 00:00 Setting the scene: life after the MiCA licence 02:31 Panellist introductions 03:58 What changed after getting licensed 06:34 Passporting and national friction 08:20 One European market or many? 11:17 Build or buy: what to outsource 13:49 Keeping compliance in house 15:24 Custody as a service: winning institutional clients 17:59 What crypto-native firms offer that banks cannot 19:39 Is MiCA worth it for Europe? 22:03 Closing titles Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Preslav Nakov (MBZUAI, moderator), Hristo Todorov (DiscreteStack), Prof. Simeon Stoyanov (Brains++ / Discoverer) and Milan de Reede (NanoGPT). Moderated by Preslav Nakov, the panel asks what it means for business data to be local and how anyone can prove it. Hristo Todorov defines sovereign AI by transparency, control and cost predictability and argues that 95% of businesses need no smarter models than today's, while Milan de Reede sees local as running on devices you control and urges Europe to prioritise compute and data centres over frontier models, though he worries how far it lags the US and China. Disagreeing with de Reede, Prof. Simeon Stoyanov warns that idle data centres still draw 40 to 50% of peak power, so infrastructure should follow demand. Nakov raises agentic systems, and audience questions cover an AI bubble and regulation. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Preslav Nakov, Professor at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) (moderator) Professor for NLP at MBZUAI and Chair at European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/preslavnakov ▸ Hristo Todorov, CEO at DiscreteStack Hristo Todorov, founder of DiscreteStack, is a software engineer and entrepreneur with experience across telecom, fintech and aviation. He co-founded Upnetix and CleverPine, and founded DiscreteStack in 2025 to help organisations use advanced AI while retaining control over their data and infrastructure. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hristotodorov ▸ Prof. Simeon Stoyanov, Business Development Director, Brains++ / Discoverer Prof. Simeon Stoyanov manages Bulgaria's first AI factory, BRAIN++, and has over 20 years of R&D leadership. He helps organisations leverage AI, high-performance computing and data science to accelerate innovation, optimise decision-making and turn advanced research into business value. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simeon-stoyanov-4834b544 ▸ Milan de Reede, Co-Founder and CEO, NanoGPT Milan co-founded and runs NanoGPT, offering privacy-friendly access to all AI models and tools. Milan has a long history in crypto, having been in Bitcoin since 2012 and having been crypto lead at the Dutch Central Bank. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milandereede Chapters 00:00 Introduction: what does local mean? 03:04 How do you prove data stays local? 04:50 Storage, processing or access? 06:59 Does Europe need its own AI models? 11:18 Is it a risk to only consume foreign models? 15:30 US innovates, Europe regulates? 19:13 How much does a smarter model matter? 23:12 Agentic systems and local data 26:56 Where should compute investment go? 31:28 Q&A: Are we in an AI bubble? 33:09 Q&A: AI replacing humans and the case for control Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

ETHSofia · Oct 6, 2026

With Sally Meouche - Ghrawi (4PTO Labs, moderator), Jordan Duclos (Truflation) and Dragomir Dikov (Jungle Trade). The last session of the day follows the chain from raw market data to a trading decision. Jordan Duclos explains how Truflation turns around 100 million daily data points into some 500 live indexes, arguing that monthly government inflation figures are too slow and that in finance latency is death. Dragomir Dikov of Jungle Trade argues that market noise is worth analysing rather than discarding, that every signal should carry an explicit confidence level, and that full trading automation is inevitable but premature today. Moderated by Sally Meouche - Ghrawi, the panel debates where the edge lies and whether shared AI models lead to correlated strategies, with Dikov naming trust as the scarce resource in three years and Duclos betting on real-time data as markets move to 24/7 trading. Panel at Future Finance Forum 2026, 25 September 2026, Sofia. Part of Blockchain Week Bulgaria 2026. Speakers ▸ Sally Meouche - Ghrawi, Founder and CEO, 4PTO Labs (moderator) Sally Meouche-Ghrawi is Founder & CEO of 4 Point O (4PTO) Labs, building across AI, fintech and Web3, and Co-Founder of Buildrooms, Bulgaria’s first Web3 hub. She works with startups, protocols and enterprises on emerging tech, product development and market strategy. LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sallymg ▸ Jordan Duclos, Head of Growth, Truflation Jordan is Head of Growth at Truflation. After starting his career in SaaS, helping banks and public institutions improve customer engagement, he moved into blockchain, working across the Ethereum and Bitcoin ecosystems. At Truflation, he focuses on making inflation and economic data more accessible through clear, impactful storytelling. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-duclos-b48b72153 ▸ Dragomir Dikov, CEO, Jungle Trade Dragomir Dikov is Co-founder and CEO of JLabs, the team behind Jungle Trade, building trading technology and market-analysis tools. He holds a master's degree in Structural Engineering and has 15+ years of experience in geotechnical modelling and structural design. He is a Python programmer and quantitative data scientist focused on probability and stochastic modelling. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dragomir-dikov Chapters 00:00 Introduction: from data to decision 00:57 What has been missing in market data? 02:43 Is market noise useful? 03:57 Real-time inflation data 07:16 Regime shifts 08:45 Signals and confidence 09:54 Where is the edge? 14:43 From analysis to autonomous trading 16:25 Prediction markets as a signal 20:16 What if everyone uses the same models? 21:41 Three years out: where will the scarcity be? 25:54 Q&A: Can human traders compete with machines? 28:35 Q&A: Buy data and signals or build your own? Blockchain Week Bulgaria: https://www.blockchainweek.bg ETHSofia: https://www.ethsofia.com Future Finance Forum: https://www.blockchainweek.bg/f3 Follow Blockchain Week Bulgaria X: https://x.com/BWBulgaria LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blockchain-week-bulgaria Follow ETHSofia X: https://x.com/EthSofiaBG LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ethsofia Telegram: https://t.me/+b-33LJUpAB5iODNk Nothing in this video is financial advice. About the organiser Blockchain Week Bulgaria, ETHSofia and the Future Finance Forum are organised by the Bithope Foundation, founded in 2014 by Vladislav Dramaliev. Inspired by Andreas Antonopoulos, it is Europe's first non-profit operating exclusively with bitcoin donations. Over more than ten years, it has supported 50+ charitable campaigns, and in January 2016 it co-founded the Sofia Crypto Meetup, now the region's longest-running monthly crypto event. https://bithope.org

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 4, 2026

Keynote: Bitcoin as Capital Speakers: - Richard Byworth | BYZ Partners 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: What Makes a Financial Institution Say Yes to Tokenization? Speakers: - Adriana Ennab | GDF - Lloyd Nelson | Howden Group - Mattia Calvosa | VISA - Sandro Knöpfel | Cardano Foundation - Nadia Filali | Caisse des Depots - Sabina Liu | Kucoin EU 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: The End-to-End Journey of a Tokenised Asset Speakers: - Stuart Petersen | Wyden - Kathleen Wrynn | Invesco - Miguel Vaz | Hauck Aufhäuser Digital Custody - Nico Braun | DZ Bank - Jonathan Koenig | SWIAT 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Fireside chat: Digital Assets: The Risk of Staying on the Sidelines Speakers: - Victoria Gago | EBC & DAF - Joseph Saliba | CACEIS 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Building the Secondary Market for Institutional RWAs Speakers: - Ilona Limonta-Volkova | Armada - Previn Singh | Fidelity International - Friederike Sofie Burckhardt | LBBW - Yalini Isweran | DTCC 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: The Convergence of Money: Building the Infrastructure Between Traditional and On-Chain Finance Speakers: Adriana Torres Vergara | ADAN Mattia Calvosa | VISA Sabina Liu | Kucoin EU 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Vaults as the Next Infrastructure for Onchain Asset Management Speakers: - Tommy Doyle | Stealth Mode - Andrew O'Neill | S&P Global - Stanislas de Maistre | Belem Capital - Yannick Socolov | Bitwise - Artem Tolkachev | Falcon Finance - Laeeq Shabbir | HT Digital 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Tokenized Funds and The Custody Question: Who Actually Holds The Asset? Speakers: - Maria Eneva-Olms | Trever - David Calabaza | BNP Paribas - Laurent Marjchrzak | CACEIS - Philipp Wagner | dwpbank - Artem Stopnevich | The Vault 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Money is Becoming Software and Corporate Treasury is Moving Onchain Speakers: - Sascha Dobratz | Danske Bank - Mark Zalan | Gomining - Jevgenijs Kazanins | Tempo - Océane Codjia | Coinbase - Angel Gomez | Utila 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: How Asset Managers Are Redesigning Their Business Model For an Onchain World Speakers: - Jakob Mikkel Hansen | Nordic Blockchain - Kevin Riou | SwissQuote - Jean Malo Dupart | Stifel - Jerald David | Arca Funds & Lynq - Patrik Björklund | Janus Henderson 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Permissioned vs permissionless: which rails win for institutional adoption? Speakers: - Sam Patel | Glacis Lab - Jascha Samadi | Greenfield Capital - Martin Mueller | RL1 - David Walsh | Ethereum Institutional - Georg Schneider | Digital Asset 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: EU, UK, US and UAE: multiple regulatory paths and one global digital asset market Speakers: - Stephane Blemus | White & Case - Richard B. Levin | Taft - Colin Payne | FCA - Patrick Hansen | Circle - David Bequette | AML Incubator 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: How Stablecoins Will Supercharge Treasury Speakers: - Gernot Prettenthaler | RBI - Poonam Ahuja | Commerzbank - Luca Colombo | UniCredit - Pajaro Castellon Ramon | Santander - Gayle Raeside | Midchains 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: AIFI: How Robot Money is Rewriting Payments and Capital Markets Speakers: - Stuart MacDonald | Bride Valley Partners - Patrick Martin | European Media Finance - Robby Yung | Animoca Brands - Paul Infante Moñozca | Moñozca Family Office - Woldemar Häring | White & Case 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: From Skepticism to Allocation: How Institutional Investors Are Building Crypto into Their Portfolios Speakers: - Carl Szantyr | Blockstone Capital - André Dragosch | Bitwise - Karl Naïm | XBTO - Tommaso Mancuso | 3iQ - Rani Jabban | Arab Bank Switzerland - Stefan Klauser | Aisot Technology 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/

European Blockchain Convention · Oct 3, 2026

Panel: Can Stablecoins, CBDCs and Tokenised Deposits Coexist Speakers: - Johannes Kern | Frankencoin - Myles Wright | Fnality - Stefano Arvati | Intesa Sanpaolo - Artur Callau Berenguer | Caixabank - Elias Kokaly | TRM Labs 🚀 Next stop: DAFNY – Digital Assets Forum New York - November 13th, 2026 https://eblockchainconvention.com/digital-assets-forum-new-york/ Connect with us: European Blockchain Convention - X (Twitter): https://x.com/EBlockchainCon - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-blockchain-convention - Telegram: https://t.me/EuropeanBlockchainConvention/1 Digital Assets Forum - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DAF_Global - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-assets-forum/