Inside Hack Seasons Conference Cannes: What To Expect From The Most Institutional Crypto Agenda Of 2026?

The Hack Seasons Conference, taking place in Cannes on April 1st, is set to bring together the most influential voices in cryptocurrency, institutional finance, and digital infrastructure for a landmark day of high-level dialogue.

The event will convene institutional leaders, digital asset executives, builders, and policymakers from across the globe for a full program of panel discussions, fireside chats, and keynote addresses. Among the distinguished participants are some of the most consequential organizations shaping the future of finance – senior figures from S&P Global, Circle, Coinbase, EY, the Ethereum Foundation, Offchain Labs, 21Shares, Grayscale Investments, Franklin Templeton, Baillie Gifford, and many more.

Conversations will span the defining themes of the moment: capital allocation strategies, the evolution of trading venues and liquidity infrastructure, the institutional adoption of digital assets, real-world asset tokenization, stablecoins as financial rails, and the emerging PayFi landscape.

A closer look at the agenda offers a clear preview of the depth and breadth of what participants can expect throughout the day.

Where Smart Capital Is Moving in Web3: Infrastructure, AI, and Real-World Assets

This panel will examine the shifting flows of institutional and venture capital across Web3’s most compelling sectors, with a focus on infrastructure development, AI integration, and the tokenization of RWAs. The discussion is set to feature Harry Grant, DeFi Manager at Re7; Rafael Mastroberardino, Digital Assets Partnership Development & Strategy at Franklin Templeton; Lionel Pek, Director at The Spartan Group; Mykolas Majauskas, Global Head of Policy at Bybit; and Arthur Katz, CIO at OneAsset. Together, they will explore where sophisticated capital allocators are directing resources and why selectivity has become the defining feature of the current investment cycle.

Testnet Lies: Why Everything Changes on Mainnet

Promises made in testing environments have a habit of colliding with reality on mainnet — and this session will take that tension head on. Moderated by Seung Hyun Lee, Founder of CoinEasy, the panel will feature Matthew Felice Pace, CEO of Spectrum; Clarisse Hagege, Founder of Dfns; Sebastian Borget, Co-Founder and Ambassador of The Sandbox; Gwen Martin, DevRel Lead at BNB Chain; and Leo Fan, Founder and CEO of Cysic. Together, they will dissect the technical, economic, and governance surprises that separate projects that thrive under live conditions from those that quietly unravel once real stakes are introduced.

The Future of Trading Venues: Hybrid Markets, Liquidity Fragmentation, and Institutional Flow

As institutional players demand more from the venues they trade on, the architecture of crypto markets is being forced to evolve. Nenter Chow, Global CEO of Bitmart; Côme Prost-Boucle, Listings International Expansion Lead at Coinbase; Charles Guillemet, CTO of Ledger; Fernando Lillo, Marketing Director at Zoomex; Tika Lum, Head of Global Business Development at KuCoin; and Dorian Vincileoni, Head of Regional Growth at Kraken will take the stage to address how hybrid market structures are emerging in response to fragmented liquidity and rising institutional expectations. Execution quality, venue design, and the infrastructure required to serve the most demanding market participants will all be on the table.

Institutional Adoption of Digital Assets: From ETFs to Tokenized Markets

The journey from spot ETF approvals to fully tokenized capital markets represents one of the most significant structural shifts in modern finance — and this panel will chart that trajectory in detail. Moderated by Maryna Barysheva, CEO of LKI Consulting, the session will feature Ophelia Snyder, Co-Founder of 21Shares; Paul Brody, Author of Ethereum for Business; Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale Investments; and Marina Markezic, Executive Director and Co-Founder of EUCI. Panelists will assess the regulatory milestones, product innovations, and custody standards that are steadily drawing traditional finance into deeper engagement with the digital asset ecosystem.

Tokenizing the Real World: From Infrastructure to Global Capital Markets

Tokenization has moved well beyond proof-of-concept — but the distance between early pilots and globally accessible capital markets remains substantial. Moderated by Alena Shmalko, Web3 and RWA Advisor and former Director of Ecosystem at TON, this discussion will bring together Theo Golden, Investment Manager and Tokenisation Lead at Baillie Gifford; Anya Nova, Director EMEA at GK8 by Galaxy; Matthew Dawson, Enterprise Lead at the Ethereum Foundation; Pauline Shangett, CSO at ChangeNOW; and Liam Karwan, Head of Tokenization Business at Chainlink Labs. The session will get into the infrastructure layers, legal frameworks, and liquidity mechanisms that will determine whether tokenized assets can genuinely reach institutional scale.

Stablecoins as the New Financial Rail: Payments, Settlement, and Global Liquidity Layer

Once regarded as a niche instrument, stablecoins are increasingly being positioned as the connective tissue of global financial infrastructure. This panel will convene Aleksandra Fetisova, Head of BD at 1inch; Patrick Hansen, Senior Director of EU Strategy and Policy at Circle; Konstantins Vasilenko, Co-Founder and CBDO of Paybis; David Durouchoux, Deputy CEO of SG-Forge; and Martin Bruncko, Founder and CEO of Schuman Financial — to take stock of how far stablecoins have come and how much further they need to go. Regulatory developments, adoption barriers, and the precise conditions under which stablecoins can function as a credible settlement layer will all be up for examination.

Institutional Risk, Data, and Ratings in the Age of Digital Assets

For institutional capital to flow freely into digital assets, the risk and ratings infrastructure that traditional finance depends on must be rebuilt for a new asset class. Moderated by Francesco Andreoli, Director of DevRel at MetaMask, this session will feature Andrew O’Neill, Managing Director and Digital Assets Analytical Lead at S&P Global Ratings; Darius Moukhtarzade, Venture and Research at 21Shares; Ashna Vaghela, CCO at Mercuryo; and Melvis Langyintuo, Executive Director at Canton Foundation. From ratings methodologies to data standards and compliance frameworks, the conversation will tackle what it actually takes to assess risk credibly in digital markets.

Infrastructure Is Ready — Why Web3 Still Struggles to Reach Mass Adoption

The technology is there. The users, largely, are not. This panel will take a hard look at why Web3 continues to fall short of mainstream penetration despite years of infrastructure investment and protocol maturation. Moderated by Keith Hutchison, Business Development Director at Addressable, the session will feature Axel Mitbauer, Western Europe Lead at Base; Andrej Bencic, Co-Founder and CEO of Tenderly; Steve McPherson, Business Development at Sonic Labs; Shady El Damaty, CEO and Co-Founder of human.tech; and Ed Felten, Co-Founder of Offchain Labs. Onboarding friction, user experience failures, and the product design principles that could finally close the gap between technical readiness and real-world adoption will all be addressed.

The Post-Banking Economy: What Happens When Money, Credit, and Assets Move Onchain?

This closing panel confronts the deeper structural implications of a financial system in which core functions — money issuance, credit provision, and asset ownership — migrate to public blockchains. Moderated by Craig Dyer, Head of Capital Markets at Hecto, the discussion features Arthur Breitman, Co-Founder of Tezos; Eunice Giarta, Co-Founder of Monad; Martin Quensel, Co-Founder of Centrifuge; David Vatchev, Head of Tokenisation at Fasanara Capital; and Jason Lau, CIO of OKX. The panel will explore the systemic risks, regulatory responses, and emergent opportunities that arise when traditional intermediaries are progressively displaced by programmable financial infrastructure.

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