Key Highlights from the CV Summit Leadership Circles Day 3 [CV Enterprise Leaders Circle]
On the final day of the CV Summit Leadership Circles 2021, blockchain leaders shared ambassadorial insight on how Blockchain is creating efficiencies and transformations within corporate and industrial worlds.
Hosted by CV VC and CV Labs, who are amid the founding fathers of the Crypto Valley ecosystem, this year’s influential 3 day CV Summit is themed “Leadership” and explores how leadership energy and action are accelerating the global megatrend that is blockchain across three core areas: Digital Assets & Investors, Culture and Enterprise.
Setting the stage…
The opening welcome was given by Silvia Thalmann-Gut, Head of Economics Department of the Canton of Zug, who spoke passionately about Switzerland’s spirit of innovation. She referenced initiatives such as the NTN Innovation Booster which aims to promote concrete ideas using blockchain technology and the new blockchain apprenticeship that was launched last month by TIE International.
Thanking CV VC for bringing so much to Crypto Valley including this CV Summit, Silvia spoke of how proud everyone is of the ecosystem in Zug and referenced the open-minded spirit that has resulted in progressive initiatives including that taxes can be paid in crypto! She continued to speak of pride in our Crypto Valley which has established itself as a world-recognized capital of blockchain innovation. The DLT legislation in place at a Swiss federal level was cited as facilitating real progression.
Tim Harvey of Global Palladium Fund joined Marco Grossi, CEO, Atomyze AG to share a taste of what lay ahead at CV Summit Enterprise Leaders day — a view to a new age where blockchain can give unchangeable evidence to ensure effective decisions and the digitization of not only data but also physical things.
Marco explained that global investors want to know what they are investing in and that we can use blockchain to prove to investors exact things, such as that investment is conflict-free. Blockchain gives immutable evidence. Such as — Drone footage of an exact geographical location can be time-stamped on a blockchain so as to prove that no child labor was involved, in say the extraction of a precious mineral.
Track & Trade commodities on the blockchain
After these key speeches, moderator Gordon Einstein started a great panel that examined Opportunities to Track & Trade Commodities on the Blockchain. Further panelists were Phil Dettwiler, COO of TokenTrust AG, Daniel Rutishauser, Head of Blockchain Services at Inacta, Diana Kaliff, Farmer Connect, Carlos Fernandez, Partner at Finka.Swiss, Les Male, CEO at Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange.
Takeaways included:
- Blockchain will provide real data and provenance as requested by conscious consumers.
- Parts of the commodities industry are inefficient — blockchain will enable efficiency, especially in serving investors with detail of ESG compliant sources.
- Some things stay within legacy systems because incumbents may want it as so, but new investors will seek transparent data which blockchain technology can serve.
- Disintermediation by blockchain will bring efficiencies where needed.
- Some commodities don’t lend themselves to blockchain but for those where investors seek proof of authenticity or ESG compliance, blockchain will be a savior.
- Developments and blockchain solutions in this sector are often the result of partnerships between many players.
- The challenge will be to connect legacy data systems to their digital twin!
Blockchain in the corporate world
Ralf Glabischnig, CEO & Founder Inacta came on stage to answer the call — Quo Vadis, Blockchain in the corporate world?
Ralf cited that blockchain is not fully there in the corporate world but that corporates are well aware that the blockchain world exists — and reminded delegates that at the World Economic Forum at Davos, the second most quoted word after “Trump” was “blockchain”.
Ralf gave an analogy of when he saw Dubai emerge, it made him think — why are they building this beautiful new place, not unlike why are we building blockchains!
With 900 companies waiting to get into CV Labs’ newest DMCC Crypto Centre in Dubai, Ralf commented that the combination of Dubai and Switzerland is excellent for the future.
He anticipates that in 5 years, this technology will be core to corporate efficiency.
And so arose the panel moderated by Crypto Lawyer Irina Heaver which delved into Opportunities and Challenges in the Middle East The panel included James Bernard, Representative at DMCC, Sam Katiela, CEO & Founder of MAMEMO Consulting, Jaafar Al Dori from Lead Ventures, Saeed Hareb Al Darmaki, CasperLabs & Sheesha Finance, and Oliver Von Wolff, CV VC Dubai.
Takeaways were:
- The leadership of Dubai and UAE is in itself culturally dispositioned toward entrepreneurship and hence enterprise flourishes in the region.
- Don’t go there to dig for gold but dig for opportunities.
- The region facilitates opportunity in industry 4.0 enterprise, even allowing the small guys to have a chance.
- There is huge encouragement of blockchain by the government, particularly in educating through initiatives like “Smart Dubai”.
- The ecosystem needs to expand and there is a need for tech capability to come and help.
- Decision-making is quick — what might take 10 years in Europe could happen in a fraction of the time in the UAE.
Next up…
Philipp Rösler, CV VC Advisory Board, former Chair of World Economic Forum, and German Minister for Economic Affairs bounced onto the stage to invite delegates to start reaching out to other global stakeholders, such as governments and industry players who are all seeking to assess how to grow with industry 4.0. He enticed that we should ask corporates what they feel blockchain can do to expedite their business intentions. He reminded delegates that the blockchain universe is not an island alone fighting for the digitization revolution. Concurrently, he applauded the amazing foundations already at play in ecosystems such as Crypto Valley — an encouraging administrative mindset, federal laws, and entrepreneurial zest.
After this inspiring speech, Daniel Marfurt, CFO at CasperLabs, gave a seasoned view to corporates that the best thing they can do right now is beginning to future-proof operations for digitization. He captivated, with a succinct proposition on CasperLabs’ enterprise, blockchain solutions for those willing to begin their digitization transformation.
Urgency of digitalization
The second half of the program opened with a stark cry for help for the Global Trade & Supply Chain Management industry.
Emmanuelle Ganne, Senior Analyst, Economic Research Dept. WTO told delegates that going digital is a matter of survival for trade. She referenced that the problems existing prior to covid are now more evident because of the disruptions. A loud invitation was issued to delegates to call on their own selves and governments to step in to put both a legal and operational blockchain support plan into action. The current adoption rate for a digital bill of landing is still only at 0.1%. In an industry that supports global movement, this is staggeringly worrisome.
Trade Evidence of real-life projects
The ensuing panel discussion moderated by Christian Di Giorgio, Product Management at ProofX, heard from diverse global players using blockchain to solve real-life challenges. Included in the panel were: IBMs Blockchain leader Pierre Kauffmann, Marco Cuomo, Manager Applied Technology Innovation at Novartis, Adrian Mühlethaler, Head of SwissTrustChain at CH Post, and Martina Müller, 3D AG.
Pharma giant Novartis intends to use blockchain as a tool to create trust in healthcare and has 8 current use cases including supply, anti-counterfeit, and clinical data.
IBM, who is massively in the supply chain business, is assessing open governance and what can be shared on the blockchain. Swiss Post is assessing use cases in deliveries.
3D AG uses blockchain in its offering- holographic structures originated for high-security applications and finished security labels that guarantee a secure supply chain.
Key takeaways:
- Private and/or hybrid blockchains are where corporates are looking.
- The industry needs to see the benefits rather than the costs of blockchain.
- Governance is a concern, particularly regarding personal data.
- The real attraction lays in the benefits of delivering greater transparency, gain in speed, and enabling real-time overviews.
Blockchain in the insurance sector
One thing was assured in the Insurance & Blockchain panel, that is — the insurance sector is still learning and the middle man is not prepared yet to be knocked out by the new technological wave. The consensus was that the insurance sector needs to agree on where to focus and not fear disintermediation or commoditization. Rather, take the time to understand the tech and fill its own knowledge gap.
It was agreed that the big move will come about when the sector discovers the ability of blockchain to satisfy client demand for faster pay-outs. In no other panel was it evident that education is key to digitization.
New frontiers under examination included: crypto asset insurance protection and insurers investment managers seeking to indirectly include digital assets in their portfolios
Panelists included moderator Roger Darin Head of Digital Finance at Inacta AG, Jens Beba, Head Insurance at Inacta, Samyr Mezzour, Founder at House of Insurtech, Andra-Maria Maute, Head of IT Strategy at AXA, Jags Rao, Head DLT Group Digital Transformation at SwissRe, and Michael Bänziger, Chief Investment Officer at Generali Switzerland.
Blockchain & Digital Identity
James Bowater of London’s City AM, together with his panel got to grips with the issue of digital id and its importance in driving global digitization forward. The topic of digital identification opened a whole can of worms, including the need for interoperability, questions on whether it be a state of self-sovereign? An agreement was reached on the fact that uniformity was urgently needed. The panel agreed that the last thing that humanity needs is that digital identity becomes a control mechanism rather than the freedom expected.
Most people have 10 to 30 identities within the digital world, and so the concept of evolving a base layer was proposed — an open AI door identity that has to be decentralized so no one can switch it off!
The panel included Kasper Mai Jørgensen, Chief Financial Officer at Web3 Foundation, Yanislav Malahov, CEO at Aeternity, Martin Honegger, Business Development Director at Intrum, and Waldemar Scherer, Integritee.
Real estate
Hadi Kabalan, of Tokengate, preceded the panel discussion on Tokenization of Real Estate sharing his vision on how to connect people with tokens. We loved his take — that since he joined the blockchain world, he has discovered that every day is an expression of exponential growth!
The ensuing panel delivered an exciting finish to the day, exploring the future for the largest asset class globally. Whilst the value of the global real estate market has hit a staggering $280 trillion, eclipsing most other major asset classes it became very evident from this esteemed panel that an interdisciplinary approach is starting to bear fruit, in preparing real estate for tokenization.
Moderated by Prof. Dr. Michael Truebestein there was no avoiding the punches…such as that the challenges going forward will be in ownership issues. Token owners will benefit from rental income and potential price appreciation but all of this has to be operationalized and digitized, perhaps starting with national land registers!
The phenomenal interest and excellent progress were referenced often, such as BrickMarks’ inspirational tokenized $135m office building in Zurich.
The final takeaways
- When you start composing a token it takes time, advisory, and a team that covers the old and the new worlds.
- Now that we have the legal basis happening, we should have a digital security exchange for commodities and securities such as real estate as well.
Panelists included: Hadi Kabalan, Managing Partner at Tokengate, Stephan Rind, CEO & Founder at Brickmark, and Catrina Luchsinger Gaehwiler, Froriep/MLL.
Coming to an end…
The close of CV Summit was completed with two cathartic presentations
The first was from Achim Jenner, of Cryptix who gently reminded us that digital business transformation and innovation is here to create the people’s financial marketplace. He encouraged micro-entrepreneurship and invited leaders to lead by example. He encouraged all delegates to create a very strong mission statement for their future in blockchain.
Angus Adams of N Chain completed his mission! He demonstrated what was called for throughout the CV Summit — that we must become ambassadors and tell industries what blockchain does He refreshed us on the fact that bitcoin has changed the game and given humanity the highest level of confidence ever in data authenticity. He reminded us that businesses and governments waste billions every single year checking, reviewing, and verifying data, simply because the possibility of tampering exists. Angus told us — nChain’s KENSEI platform enables businesses to break this wasteful status quo. Now, that IS a mission statement to be enthusiastic about! — Enable businesses to break the wasteful status quo!
The CV Summit Leadership Circles (August 30 — September 1st, 2021) is a series of high-level blockchain events designed to showcase the Swiss Blockchain Ecosystem as one of the leading Blockchain innovation and investment hubs in the world.
This unique event series gathers investors, corporates, and high-profile individuals in one place in order to examine how the present and future applications of blockchain technology can help optimize and evolve our businesses, revolutionize healthcare, modernize governmental institutions, support art and culture, and improve our daily lives as a whole.
CV VC is an early-stage venture capital investor with a focus on startups that build on blockchain technology. Qualified investors can learn how to participate in the success of CV VC’s portfolio companies here.
CV Labs is a blockchain incubator and co-working space based in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Dubai. Startups can learn more about how to get funding here.
