Banking's New Era Runs on Web3: Lead It, Don't Chase It

Transcript

So without further ado, the next up on stage will have a board member of the Crypto Valley Association, my fellow board member, Ilia Walov, who is the CEO of U-Hauler, and will give you a keynote on banking's new era runs on web three. You need to lead it, not chasing it. Please put your hands together for Ilia. >> Thank you, Ben. >> Yeah. Good morning, bunkers. Good morning webde bankers. Uh it's so nice to see you here and uh once again I'd like to say um thank you for our team for for organizing this event especially in this place because it's always nice to bridge high-tech fintech and culture

and art and uh like the soul right so the venue is beautiful and I I think it will help us to dive even deeper into quite complex and quite quite interesting uh topics of our agenda today. So let's let's begin. Um this slide is already kind of tradition because we started our the first edition of web three banking symposium in Geneva with this slides and we tracked our progress last year in Lugano. So for for those ones who are here first time let me just briefly explain. So this is the innovation continuum. Basically this is the logic the cycle uh through what any kind of innovations any kind of

inventions of human history uh went or going through right so any kind of things we are using now going through this cycle let's take like cell phones this my favorite and the most obvious example few decades ago it was impossible right to even think that in our pockets we'll have such like a powerful devices now it's required right AI AI is hyping Guess where is I? AI. It was impossible. It was impractical. It became possible. I guess AI is somewhere in the early stage of expected. Right. So in the beginning of uh uh this initiative the three banking symposium two years ago in Geneva uh we concluded that uh blockchain DT

and crypto is somewhere again at the beginning of expected in the beginning of this blue blue part of the chart. So now I think we can state that actually we have made significant progress and now actually we uh should speak about blockchain crypto not just like in about um one single piece of something we have to split into two parts one is about uh crypto as an asset class right it's all about investments it's all about trading and uh the second thing is technology it's about infrastructure so and we can say that speaking about blockchain and crypto as an asset class we are already at a required stage. It's been proven

already. Um even u we got this message from number of continental banks in Switzerland who are saying that it's clear for us that if we will not not offer digital assets to our audience speaking about both elderly wealthy audience or younger audience they will migrate to somewhere else and banks with hundreds here years in history with a little legacy can simply just die uh because clients will go away. So it's proven it's required. Speaking about um blockchain as technology, I believe that it's already at the expected phase.

Why I have some illustration here. So even the content of um symposium today will be uh basically structured uh in two dimensions. One will be about technology, another one will be about investments or using crypto as an asset class. So you see here a lot of big names, right? uh from BIS and Swiss National Bank to Swiss, Visa, some tech providers like Ledger, Ripple, it's all about technology. It's all it's all about utilization of technology for servicing traditional markets. It's not like a fancy thing anymore. It's not uh something uh revolutionary anymore. It's just another technology. It's another evolutionary step forward that is helping to serve our traditional needs,

right? And uh today actually we have a lot of uh discussions as Jerome said we'll have a number of keynotes. We'll have number of um uh panel discussions and five such chats and uh believe me I know the content uh we've been working on the content for quite some time. There will be some announcements there will be some news and there will be some practical discussions not just abstract discussions about regulation and some philosophy. Right? So uh second part asset class. Uh again you see here a lot of names from big global investment firms managing uh crypto ETFs to continental banks uh or national banks.

Uh it's all about investments and it's all about crypto as a master class and again I believe today you will you will uh get something interesting to think about uh speaking about this second part of the uh content. So what is no longer on the agenda of the symposium? Two points. So first edition and even second edition we had two more uh points that were represented on stage. So one was about how to get a bank account for tech company. It was a big problem. So now it's not a problem any longer. So if you're running a tech company, fintech company, crypto company and if your

business is very well structured, so you can get an account uh with bank at least in Switzerland. So uh that's why we are not speaking about that on stage anymore. But if some of you are here just to get into some banking relationships, believe uh there are a lot of banks around you. So but there is no need again to speak about it on stage because it's not uh a problem anymore. Problem has been solved. Second thing uh it's about banks. Banks who are thinking about entering the space. Uh it's about getting and enabling service and infrastructure for banks uh who'd like to offer this uh service. It's about legal. It's about custody. It's

about compliance tools. Again no need to discuss it on stage because all solutions are available. they're around even in this room we have uh service providers with proven services and with proven uh work with uh with different kind of banks. So no more these two points on the agenda we go about more heavy and more interesting things. So uh beautiful chart. Look at this chart. This is uh ranking of top countries by number of banks offering crypto solutions.

Who are on the top? Switzerlands, right? So we have 20 banks uh offering crypto. It's even more than in the US where they have 15. So uh this chart is a result of our survey uh of our report which will be presented later today. So uh the reports uh that uh was organized together with our partners the big whale uh 2026 digital asset banking report. So and uh we will be speaking there also about what enables Switzerland to remain on the top. So if you'd like to get some insights and if you'd like to get more

uh interesting things. So stay with us till 5:45 Rafael from uh the big whale together with me will present you this report. So uh one more thing before we proceed. So this slide is not about jurisdictions. This slide is not about flex. This slide is about people. So the chart demonstrates two things regulatory complexity and importance for economy or value for economy. You see flex here and why I'm saying that it's all about people because it's all about goals and motivation. Why Switzerland is on the top because Switzerland was always a place for stability and

innovation. So when we are speaking with with colleagues at all levels here from top level officials to colleagues who are making business uh it's all about clear focus on how to create value right uh it's all about how to bring something that will push the industry forward economy forward and do some good things that's why I think Switzerland is already positioned quite well in this chart between regulatory complexity and importance for the economy but we still have a question mark here because what is happening on one side we're witnessing uh skyrocketing progress of the US right so they significantly reduced the complexity uh just last week actually um I was

opening another corporate account with one of the American banks the process of uh account opening was so smooth so fast so easy at the same time I'm sure that they're following all compliance IML requirements so they reduced the complexity and they stated at federal that they're focusing on this industry because they see clear value that will come to their economy. At the same time, we see what is happening with European Union where motivation, I believe, is slightly different. It's about reducing risks, staying conservative, at some point maybe staying low profile. That's fine. Switzerland is positioned quite well, but competition is not sleeping.

We see some progress in the UK. Where is Baroness Lloyd? Baras Lloyd. So uh UK is officially say saying that they are working on simplification of regulatory requirements in order to welcome companies from European Union. So the competition is not slipping. Again we have Switzerland quite well positioned. Switzerland is already on the top of the list but uh I think times are challenging and uh it's all about people and I think all people are here in this room all the segments of banking here from regulators to businesses to service providers. So let's enjoy the symposium

let's chat let's educate ourself and as Jerome said join crypto association if you are not a member yet. Thank you.