CRYPTO FEST 2021

Rumble in the Crypto Jungle

Bitcoin Events’ 3rd annual Crypto Fest, Rumble in the Crypto Jungle, hosted virtually on 29 October 2021, focused on the emerging NFT ecosystem, Africa’s financial inclusion, and some of the industry’s leading projects.

The event included 1649 attendees from 79 countries, 43 speakers, 20 free sessions, panels, Q&A sessions, 2 workshops, a Crypto Battle and fireside chats.

The CEO and Founder of TRON, Justin Sun, delivered the first keynote speech, emphasizing the latest developments in TRON and its impact on the NFT ecosystem.

In the second keynote address, Michael Wu, CEO, and Co-Founder of Amber Group, spoke on the role of value proposition in cryptocurrency adoption. According to him, once a community backs a crypto project, it automatically becomes valuable, and its price is bound to rise.

Other keynote addresses were from Sandeep Nailwal (Co-Founder of Polygon), Marcos Boschetti (CEO of Nelogica), and a joint presentation from Maarja Part and Tim Heath (CEO and Founder of YOLO Group respectively).

Raoul Pal, Co-Founder and CEO at Real Vision, shared his thoughts on the future of NFTs on the fireside chat with Layah Heilpern, author of Undressing Bitcoin and host of The Layah Heilpern Show.

This year’s Crypto Fest also featured five roundtable discussions with the following topics:

  • A Booming Industry: P2P Trading in Africa
  • Moving Towards a Multi-Chain World
  • The Rising Tide of Institutional Investment: Where Are We and Where It Is Heading?
  • NFT Flexing: What Is Driving the Hype
  • VC Investing: Where Is the Money Going?

Premier Sponsors were Amber Group, Nelogica Sistemas de Software Ltda and Yolo Group. The Diamond Sponsor was AmaZix and Gold Sponsors were AltcoinTrader, CryptoCurrencyWire, Luno and TRON.

WHO ATTENDED?

CEOs, CIOs, COOs, CTOs, Heads of data science, heads of innovation and strategy, heads of IT, heads of information security, heads of engineering, heads of IT architecture, heads of emerging technology, heads of development, technical advisors, heads of strategy, heads of risk and compliance, regulators, lawyers, business transformation, data architecture, heads of applications, heads of digital, investors, venture capitalists, software engineers, research managers, development managers, marketing managers, developers, blockchain and cryptocurrency start-ups and enthusiasts.

Attendees
Speakers
Countries

Speaker Videos

Watch the speaker videos below or visit our YouTube channel here.

Sandeep Nailwal


Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer at Polygon (previously Matic Network)
Keynote Address: The Polygon Network: Redefining the Blockchain Landscape

Marcos Boschetti


CEO of Nelogica Sistemas de Software Ltda
Keynote Address: Vector: Redefining Crypto Trading with Customer-oriented Data and Technolog

Maarja Pärt and Tim Heath


Maarja Pärt: CEO of Yolo Group and Board Member at Yolo Investments and Tim Heath: Founder of Yolo Group and General Partner of Yolo Investments
Keynote Address: Innovation at Yolo Group

Justin Sun

Unfortunately due to bad sound quality, this video is unavailable.

Founder of TRON
Keynote Address: DeFi’s Effect on NFTs, Blockchain and Web 3.0

Michael Wu


Co-Founder and CEO of Amber Group
Keynote Address: Digital Wealth

Nevin Freeman


CEO and Co-founder of Reserve
How Cryptocurrency is Being Used to Help People Cope with the Effects of Hyperinflation

Jake Browatzke and Michael Wagner


Host: Jake Browatzke: YouTuber – On Chain Gaming and guest: Michael Wagner: Co-Founder and CEO of Star Atlas
Building a Metaverse from Scratch

Adriana Hamacher and Dominic Williams


Host: Adriana Hamacher: Director, Hipgeeks Media and guest: Dominic Williams: Founder and Chief Scientist at DFINITY
Integration of Bitcoin and Internet Computer Finally Bringing Smart Contracts to Bitcoin

Kwon Park


Chief Strategy Officer of Bittrex Global
Cryptocurrency as a Tool for Financial Inclusion

Logan Saether


Founder and CEO at Zeitgeist
Why Prediction Markets are Key to Crypto’s Future

Jonathan Ovadia


Co-Founder and CEO at OVEX
Arbitrage, OTC Trading, Cryptocurrency in Africa

Stephen Fluin


Head of Developer Relations at Chainlink Labs
The Next Generation of NFTs: Oracle-Powered NFTs

Crypto Battles, Fireside Chat and Panels

Crypto Battle: Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who is the Fairest of Them All? Battle of the Blockchains


Moderator: Alex Melikhov
Panelists: Alon Muroch and Samy Karim

A Booming Industry: P2P Trading in Africa


Moderator: Zindzi Kibiku
Panelists: Oyewole Joledo, Victor Mapunga and Sebastian Sonntag

NFT Flexing: What is Driving the Hype?


Moderator: Jennifer Sanasie
Panelists: Paula Pettit, Sunil Singhvi and James Hakim

Moving Towards a Multi-Chain World


Moderator: Thessy Mehrain
Panelists: brantly.eth, Junjia He and Tarun Malik

VC Investing: Where is the Money Going?


Moderator: Samantha Yap
Panelists: Tim Heath, Tito Cookey-Gam and Anil Hansjee

The Rising Tide of Institutional Investment: Where Are We and Where Is It Heading?


Moderator: Leslie Lamb
Panelists: Michael Wu, Markus Franke, Dean Thomas and Felix Hartmann

Fireside Chat: After The Hype: The Future For NFTs


Host: Layah Heilpern: Author of Undressing Bitcoin and Host of The Layah Heilpern Show
Guest: Raoul Pal: CEO and Co-Founder of Real Vision

Workshops

Hosted by Svalbard Money and FTX

Svalbard: Time, Money and Power hosted by Svalbard.money


Presented by Håvard Kittelsen and Ken Siva Lie

FTX: An Institutional Grade Derivatives Exchange: The Unprecedented Growth of FTX


Presented by Adebayo Juwon

SPEAKERS

Our global speakers are well-known thought leaders and experts in the cryptocurrency and blockchain technology space.

James Preston – MC Marketing Manager at Supra

James is an accomplished tech writer and speaker and currently serves as

Justin Sun (Keynote) Founder of TRON

Justin Sun is the Founder of TRON, one of the world’s largest

Sandeep Nailwal (Keynote) Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer at Polygon (previously Matic Network)

Sandeep Nailwal is the Co-Founder and COO of Polygon. He has been

Raoul Pal (Keynote) CEO and Co-Founder of Real Vision

Former hedge fund manager who retired at 36, Raoul Pal is a

Michael Wu (Keynote) Co-Founder and CEO of Amber Group

Michael Wu is Co-founder and CEO of Amber Group, a leading global

Maarja Pärt (Keynote) CEO of Yolo Group (formerly Coingaming Group) and Board Member at Yolo Investments

Maarja Pärt is CEO of Yolo Group (formerly the Coingaming Group) and

Nevin Freeman CEO and Co-founder of Reserve

As Co-founder and CEO, Nevin oversees strategy, legal, and team coordination at

Logan Saether Founder and CEO at Zeitgeist

Logan is the Founder and CEO at Zeitgeist. He is a developer

Tim Heath (Keynote) Founder of Yolo Group (formerly Coingaming Group) and General Partner of Yolo Investments

Tim Heath draws upon two decades of experience within the igaming and

Kwon Park Chief Strategy Officer of Bittrex Global

Kwon Park is the Chief Strategy Officer of Bittrex Global. Kwon provides

Tito Cookey-Gam Investment Associate at Global Ventures

Tito is an investment associate at global ventures with over 5 years

Zindzi Kibiku Africa's Regional Lead and Host at FINTECH.TV

Zindzi Kibiku is one of Africa’s excellent broadcasting journalist. As a communication

Markus Franke Partner at cLabs

Dr. Markus Franke is a Partner at cLabs, and a co-creator of

Dominic Williams Founder and Chief Scientist at DFINITY

Dominic Williams is a technology entrepreneur and decentralized systems theorist. His recent

Jennifer Sanasie CMO at Streambed Media and Co-Host of The Hash on CoinDesk

Jennifer Sanasie is a Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Streambed Media

Alon Muroch CEO and Founder at Blox Staking

Alon is a blockchain developer since 2013 focusing on Ethereum infrastructure. He

Samantha Yap Founder and CEO of YAP Global

Samantha Yap is the Founder and Director of YAP Global based in

Dean Thomas Head of Institutional Capital at Polygon (formerly Matic)

Dean previously worked as an Investment Analyst at The Blackstone Group and

Paula Pettit Chief Commercial Officer at Linum Labs

Anil Hansjee General Partner at Fabric Ventures

Anil Hansjee is General Partner at Fabric Ventures. For the past 19

Sunil Singhvi Chief Business Development Officer at Rarible

Sunil Singhvi is the Chief Business Development Officer at Rarible. A media

Layah Heilpern Author of Undressing Bitcoin and Host of The Layah Heilpern Show

Felix Hartmann Managing Partner of Hartmann Capital

Felix Hartmann is a German-American Tech Entrepreneur, Futurist, and Trader. Hartmann serves as the Managing Partner of Hartmann Digital

Jonathan Ovadia Co-Founder and CEO at OVEX

Jonathan is the CEO and Co-founder at OVEX. Jonathan is a serial

brantly.eth Director of Operations at Ethereum Name Service (ENS)

brantly.eth is Director of Operations at the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), the

Stephen Fluin Head of Developer Relations at Chainlink Labs

Stephen Fluin is the Head of Developer Relations at Chainlink Labs, bringing

Oyewole Joledo Sr. Manager, Growth - Partnerships for Paxful

Victor Mapunga Co-Founder and CEO at FlexFinTx

A seasoned serial entrepreneur with experience in blockchain, investment-finance, FinTech, amalgamated with

Samy Karim Binance Smart Chain Ecosystem Development at Binance

Samy works on ecosystem development for Binance Smart Chain, supporting developers and

Sebastian Sonntag CEO of LocalBitcoins.com

Sebastian Sonntag, PhD, is the Chief Executive Officer of LocalBitcoins, one of

Junjia He Technical Lead at QuarkChain

Junjia is the tech lead in QuarkChain on building scalable and performant

Thessy Mehrain Co-Founder of Liquality

Thessy Mehrain has been creating innovative digital solutions for more than 15

Alex Melikhov Founder and CEO at Equilibrium

Alex is an engineer in applied mathematics by training. With over 14

Leslie Lamb Chief Marketing Officer at CoinFLEX

Leslie Lamb earned her B.A from Haverford College. She began her career

Michael Wagner Co-Founder and CEO of Star Atlas

Michael Wagner is the Star Atlas Co-Founder and CEO. Michael is a

Tarun Malik Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder at UniLend Finance

Chief Product Officer at UniLend Finance | Building universal DeFi ecosystem on

Adriana Hamacher Director, Hipgeeks Media

Adriana is an award-winning writer and editor, as well as a BBC-trained

Marcos Boschetti (Keynote) CEO of Nelogica Sistemas de Software Ltda

With over 20 years of experience in the financial market, he began

Jake Browatzke YouTuber - On Chain Gaming

Known as the star of the popular web series, ByNight Plays, viewed

29 October 2021

After-Party With the Godfathers of Deep House

The After-Party was hosted live with The Godfathers of Deep House SA, a leading Deep House Music Production which is a vision that is created and founded by Masia Mashapa run under The Godfada Recording Label (Pty).