Crypto Finance Conference isn't going to take the stage in the grand surroundings of St. Moritz in the Swiss alps this year, with the pandemic still raging across Europe. The exclusive meeting of fintech investors has been turned into a virtual event, but organizers are looking forward to their event full of anticipation, as they told finews.com in an interview.
Crypto Finance Conference, or CfC St. Moritz for short, will be hosted as a virtual meeting in 2021. A one-day webcast on January 20 will replace the three-day conference, which had been held at luxury hotel Suvretta House in St. Moritz for the past three years.
Despite the surroundings, the list of speakers is rich in expertise: Thomas Moser, an alternate member of the governing board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), will speak about digital central bank currency. Michael Sonnenshein, managing partner of Crypto Asset Managers Grayscale, is slated to discuss the type of investors active in the cryptocurrency industry and their specific interests. Sygnum CEO Mathias Imbach will meet with SDX head Tim Grant and crypto investor David Johnston to talk about tokenization.
By Invitation Only
True to their style, the conference organizers are not discussing the exclusive group of investors that will participate at this year's do. In past years, billionaire investors used to take their private jets to Samaden Airport to lend the event an aura of exclusivity. CfC CEO Nicolo Stöhr remains confident: «For known reasons, we were forced to shift to a virtual concept and adjusted our invitation procedure accordingly. But we stuck to our principle of keeping attendance exclusive and by invitation only – the persistent and top-notch interest serves as confirmation for our strategy.»
The prevalent market sentiment is ideal for the conference: the price of a bitcoin has surged in recent weeks and the industry as a whole is in the same euphoric mood that helped spark off the conference in 2018.
Change of Paradigm
The earlier boom of 2017 and 2018 had focused on initial coin offerings (ICOs), a phenomenon that was keenly followed by private investors. Today, the onus has shifted to the institutional investor. «We are seeing a shift of paradigm in how cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and digital assets are being perceived,» said CfC co-founder Marc P. Bernegger. «More and more qualified and regulated investors are participating in the market, which creates a massive increase in demand and which is conducive to the creation of more efficient and professional structures.»
The conference may be geared towards an international audience of crypto investors. But the organizers are relying on a fairly well-established market of innovative financial-service providers and crypto-banks in Switzerland, the location for the event.
Building Bridges
After the heady years of 2017 and 2018, crypto descended into a period of slowdown – «crypto winter» – a time when low and highly volatile valuations held sway. The newer and the established players, helped by the progressive Swiss regulatory framework, used the lull to start building bridges between the new business and traditional banking. «In Switzerland, a lot of activities are taking place below the radar, building a crypto market and developing trust and adaptation in cryptocurrencies with institutional investors,» said Bernegger, who also serves as a board member for Crypto Finance, a Zurich-based crypto-service provider.
«It wouldn't come as a surprise if some of these investors were to go public with such plans over the course of this year.»
