Explore our two-day conference programme filled with inspiring keynote presentations, engaging panel discussions, and plenty of networking opportunities in the company of digital asset and blockchain leaders from Aotearoa and around the world.
The agenda is currently being finalised. Please check back regularly for updates to speakers and session topics.
18:00 – Welcome from Blockchain Forum New Zealand
Details to be confirmed
20:00 – End of event
4:50 PM – 5:05 PM – Transport to Networking Event at Creative HQ
7:40 – Welcome Breakfast
Kick off the conference over breakfast with the key voices shaping the digital asset industry in New Zealand.
8:45 – Mihi Whakatau
Darren Rewi | Founder, Mana Tāhuna Charitable Trust
9:00 – MC Welcome: From Opportunity to Action
Sets the tone for the year, moving from identifying opportunities (the 2025 theme) to taking them (the 2026 focus). This session looks at the progress made since last year’s conference, across policy, regulation, and industry momentum. Framed around “New Zealand takes the lead”, Trevor will provide an update on the policy work underway and how New Zealand is positioning itself ahead of global peers.
Trevor Topfer | Executive Director, Blockchain Forum New Zealand
9:05 – Opening Keynote
Details to be confirmed
9:20 – Keynote + Q&A
Details to be confirmed
9:45 – Panel Discussion + Q&A | Beyond 2026: What is New Zealand’s Unfair Advantage?
A year on from CryptoWinter25, where does New Zealand’s digital asset policy landscape stand today, and what should market participants be thinking about next? This panel brings together policymakers and regulators for a snapshot of what matters in the local digital asset economy right now, from recent progress and unresolved questions to the global developments beginning to shape New Zealand’s direction. As other jurisdictions move quickly, the conversation turns to where Aotearoa has an opportunity to act with intent.
Alan Crofts | Fintech and Innovation Specialist, Financial Markets Authority (FMA)
Alexandra McNair | Head of Legal, Financial Markets Authority (FMA)
Rocky Yuen | Principal Advisor – AML/CFT Group, Department of Internal Affairs (DIA)
and more panellists to be announced
10:30 – Morning tea
11:00 – Keynote
Details to be confirmed
11:20 – Panel Discussion + Q&A | Beyond Crypto: Exploring the Wider Use Cases of Blockchain Technology
This session moves the conversation beyond digital assets as the primary blockchain use case, exploring where blockchain is delivering real value outside of crypto markets. It examines emerging and overlooked applications, revisits so-called “ghost” use cases, and asks whether areas like NFTs are genuinely finished or simply evolving into more practical forms.
Bryan Ventura | Partner, Hamilton Locke (Moderator)
Nathalie Whittaker | Co-founder, Toha
Laszlo Peter | Founder and Global CEO, OriginsNext
and more panellists to be announced
12:15 – Debate | The Future of Banking: Where Traditional Finance Meets the Blockchain
Blockchain rails, neobanks, stablecoins, AI-driven finance — the infrastructure that once made traditional banking indispensable is being rebuilt from the ground up, and the incumbents know it. The world’s largest banks are no longer watching from the sidelines; they’re moving in. This debate explores the collision and convergence of traditional finance and blockchain: where the two genuinely meet, how banks are adapting (or scrambling), and what’s actually being built as these worlds come together.
Nicola Reynes-Pene | National Industry Leader for Financial Services, KPMG New Zealand (Moderator)
Sean Preston | Head of Enterprise Sales, Cuscal Paymark
Paul Quickenden | Country Manager New Zealand, Swyftx
Alan Crofts | Fintech and Innovation Specialist, Financial Markets Authority (FMA)
Jerome Faury | CEO, Immersve
Mark Paice | General Manager Specialist Markets, Kiwibank
and other debaters to be announced
13:00 – Lunch Break
14:00 – Keynote
Details to be announced
14:15 – Panel Discussion + Q&A | When Crypto Meets the Tax System, CARF: A New Era of Crypto-Asset Reporting
This session unpacks the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and its implications for the New Zealand market. It focuses on the regulatory and operational impact for platforms, founders, investors and consumers, and what organisations need to be preparing for as reporting and compliance requirements come into force.
Simon Akozu | Tax Partner, MinterEllisonRuddWatts (Moderator)
and other panellists to be announced
14:55 – Fireside Chat | The US Impact on the Global Reset: The global fallout from the US crypto moment – and what it means for the industry’s next chapter
Eighteen months ago, the US shifted its stance on the Digital Asset Economy, and the rest of the world felt it. This fireside chat traces the ripple effect of that momentum, looking at how jurisdictions globally have responded, what’s changed in the market, and what it all signals about the maturity of the industry. The highs aren’t as high and the lows aren’t as low, and that’s actually the point. So where does a maturing industry go from here, and what does that mean for everyone in this room?
Speakers to be announced
15:15 – Afternoon Tea Break
16:00 – Fireside Chat | What Dasset and Cryptopia Taught Us – and What Changed as a Result
This session reflects on one of the most challenging periods for New Zealand’s digital asset industry, examining the factors that led to major collapses and loss of trust. It focuses on the key lessons learned across governance, risk management, and oversight, and how these lessons continue to shape the industry today.
James Cochrane | Partner, Lane Neave (Moderator)
and other speakers to be announced
16:30 – Keynote
Speaker details to be announced.
16:45 – Panel Discussion + Q&A | Agentic AI meets blockchain – the future of commerce
AI agents are beginning to move from passive tools to active participants in the financial system, capable of initiating payments, executing trades, managing workflows and interacting with digital assets on behalf of users and businesses.
As this shift accelerates, blockchain infrastructure is becoming a natural foundation for agentic finance. But as autonomous systems begin making real financial decisions, trust becomes the central question. How do we build systems that act with intention, stay within boundaries, and don’t go rogue?
This session moves the conversation from theory into practice, exploring what agentic finance and autonomous trading on blockchain infrastructure actually look like today, what is being built now, and what needs to be true for these systems to operate safely and at scale.
Blake Holmes | Mayson
and other panellists to be announced
17:25 – Closing of Day 1
Trevor Topfer | Executive Director, Blockchain Forum New Zealand
4:50 PM – 5:05 PM – Transport to Networking Event at Creative HQ
19:15 – Evening Function
Details to be announced
4:50 PM – 5:05 PM – Transport to Networking Event at Creative HQ
7:40 – Stablecoin Breakfast | Where Money Moves Next
Stablecoins are no longer a crypto-side story; they are becoming part of the global payments and settlement conversation, with APAC moving faster than many markets expected. This breakfast brings together industry, policy and financial leaders to look at what is changing, what it means for the NZ dollar, and how New Zealand can move from watching the shift to participating in it.
Trevor Topfer | Executive Director, Blockchain Forum New Zealand
7:45 – Breakfast Keynote | We’re Not Even in the Game: Stablecoin adoption in APAC and what it means for New Zealand
The next stablecoin panel to open with a quick keynote from Rachael Jones, AUDD, framing the session around stablecoin adoption across APAC vs globally, making the point that the market is massive and New Zealand is barely participating.
Rachael Jones | Head of Ecosystem & Strategic Initiatives, AUDD
7:55 – Breakfast Panel Discussion and Q&A | Can We Keep the NZ Dollar Alive? The rise of stablecoins
This session explores the implications of a New Zealand dollar-backed stablecoin and what it could mean for everyday Kiwis. It examines how stablecoins fit into the evolving global financial system, potential use cases for payments and settlement, and the policy, regulatory, and trust considerations that would shape adoption in New Zealand.
Effie Dimitropoulos | CEO and Co-Founder, AUDD
Other panellists to be announced
8:40 – Breakfast Ends
4:50 PM – 5:05 PM – Transport to Networking Event at Creative HQ
9:00 – Opening of Day 2
Trevor Topfer | Executive Director, Blockchain Forum New Zealand
9:05 – Keynote
Details to be announced
9:15 – Panel Discussion + Q&A | Digital Assets for All Kiwis: “This Is Financial Advice”
This session is designed for financial advisers and financial services providers, exploring the role of digital assets within regulated advice frameworks in New Zealand. It examines what it means to responsibly present digital assets to clients, including suitability, risk disclosure, compliance obligations, and how advisers can engage with digital assets as part of broader portfolio conversations.
Darcy Ungaro | Financial Advisor, Radical Investment Limited (Moderator)
Alan Crofts | Fintech and Innovation Specialist, Financial Markets Authority (FMA)
Rupert Carlyon | Founder, Kōura Wealth
Paul Quickenden | Country Manager New Zealand, Swyftx
Toni Moyes | Chief Commercial and Financial Officer, Sharesies
and more panellists to be announced
9:55 – Keynote | Hard Assets, Digital Rails: Funding NZ’s Real Economy with Stablecoins
1. The funding gap nobody talks about (2 min)
NZ’s agri and construction sectors are the backbone of the economy but are chronically underserved by traditional finance. Long settlement cycles, seasonal cash flow, and project-based revenue make banks cautious. The result is a structural liquidity gap worth billions.
2. Why stablecoins change the equation (3 min)
USD-pegged stablecoins remove FX friction and settlement delay, introducing potential more affordable funding. A funding pool built on digital assets can deploy capital in hours, not weeks. Smart contracts based terms are transparent, auditable, and enforceable without intermediaries.
3. How the pool model works (4 min) – potential demo, if time and infrastructure permits…
Investors pool, loans issued against real-world collateral (inventory financing): commodity inventory, land, construction contracts, or progress claims. Returns flow back to the pool. This is RWA tokenisation in its most practical form.
4. NZ-specific opportunity (3 min)
NZ is a high-trust, well-regulated environment with deep agri export pipelines and a construction sector under sustained pressure. Both sectors have clear, measurable collateral. The country is small enough to pilot at scale and credible enough to attract offshore capital. Pacific neighbours face the same gaps and would follow a working model.
5. What needs to happen next (3 min)
Regulatory clarity from the FMA on stablecoin-backed lending structures, custody standards for on-chain collateral, trusted data oracles with traceability and compliance overlays, and a willingness from sector bodies to engage. The technology is ready, the question is whether the sectors will move.
Laszlo Peter | Founder and Global CEO, OriginsNext
10:10 – Morning Tea Break
10:40 -Keynote
Details to be announced
10:55 – Panel Discussion + Q&A | Building from New Zealand: The Brutally Honest Conversation
This session offers an open and honest look at why it remains challenging to build and scale companies in New Zealand, spanning regulation, access to capital, and talent constraints. Drawing on real-world stories and experiences from VCs and founders.
Bryan Ventura | Partner, Hamilton Locke (Moderator)
Chas Garunaratnee | Founding Partner & Principal Consultant, Kotuku Consulting
Mike Sweet | COO, Immersve
and more panellists to be announced
11:40 – Keynote
Details to be announced
12:05 – Lunch Break
13:05- Roundtable Discussions
15:10 – Afternoon Tea Break
15:55 – Roundtable Discussions Resume
16:35 – Session to be announced
Details to be announced
17:20 – Closing remarks
Trevor Topfer | Executive Director, Blockchain Forum New Zealand