Crypto’s next pitch goes well beyond buying a token and waiting for its price to rise.
At this week’s Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul, the published program points toward a broader ambition: markets that operate around the clock, digital dollars that move between services, and AI agents that can transact on someone’s behalf.
The main conference runs September 30–October 1 at Walkerhill Hotels & Resorts, following an invitation-only Upbit Institutional Summit on September 29. Hosted by FactBlock, the event counts Upbit as its main sponsor.
Post from @kbwofficialView the original post on X↗
Who’s On the Lineup
The official speaker roster brings together exchange leaders, investors, builders and policy figures.
Among the listed speakers are Hyperliquid Labs CEO Jeff Yan; Maelstrom chief investment officer Arthur Hayes; BitMine chairman Tom Lee; Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin; and Upbit CEO Kyoungsuk Oh.
The roster also includes Tether USA₮ CEO Bo Hines and White House Crypto Council executive director Patrick Witt. Balaji Srinivasan is listed for a virtual appearance. These are scheduled participants, with appearances subject to change.
Together, those names reflect the range of businesses competing to shape how people hold, move and use digital assets.
What the Agenda Tells Us
The conference program suggests three connected themes: bringing conventional finance onto blockchain infrastructure, making crypto services easier to use, and preparing for transactions initiated by AI.
Sessions address Hyperliquid’s influence on continuous trading, Canton’s approach to connected capital markets and MetaMask’s next phase. Other discussions focus on digital currency in Korea, institutional security and AI payments.
For retail users, the practical questions are familiar. Can moving money become easier? Can financial services stay available outside traditional market hours? And if software makes a payment, who authorizes it and who handles a mistake?
Post from @kbwofficialView the original post on X↗
The Story to Watch in Seoul
Our reading of this year’s program is that crypto companies increasingly want to provide the systems behind everyday financial activity.
That creates a useful test for the announcements coming out of KBW. A partnership matters more when it comes with a product people can access. A tokenized asset becomes more interesting when there is a functioning market around it. An AI payment demonstration needs clear controls before it becomes something consumers can trust.
For Blockster readers, those are the details worth following: what becomes available, who can use it, and what it changes about managing money.
The speaker list will attract attention. The strongest stories will come from companies showing how their ideas work beyond the conference stage.
Blockster will have correspondents on the ground at Korea Blockchain Week, covering the conversations and meeting the people shaping what comes next. Attending and want to be interviewed?
DM us to connect with the team. Next week, we’re heading to TOKEN2049—see you there.
Reporting by Lidia Yadlos
