The Bermuda Business Development Agency’s Bermuda Virtual Tech Summit 2021 from Wednesday to Friday is centred on the theme Transforming the Digital Landscape.

The BDA said that it offers an exciting schedule of thought-provoking panels featuring global tech leaders.

David Hart, BDA CEO, said: “On behalf of the BDA, we are proud to offer this three-day event featuring 79 speakers across 23 panels. Sixty-three local and international companies are participating, along with 12 BDA sponsors and partners who are helping the event to take place.

“Engaging, cutting-edge tech topics such as decentralised finance, non-fungible tokens, digital identity and the transformation of value exchange will be discussed, as well as how Bermuda can be the innovative platform for your tech business.”

Mr Hart said, “Aggregating this calibre of participants is possible due to our hard-working BDA staff and the support of our sponsors and partners, who the BDA graciously thanks for their engagement.

“This includes Appleby, Bespoke Analytics, Bittrex Global, Circle and Walkers as platinum sponsors; 24 Exchange as gold sponsors; Carey Olsen, StableHouse, Westham Trade Company and XBTO as silver sponsors; Global Blockchain Business Council as content partner; and Goslings as spirits partner.”

The final agenda is available via the BDA website — a selection of highlighted panels includes:

• “The Transformation of Value Exchange”, featuring Sheila Warren, deputy head, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network; Executive Committee, World Economic Forum; Dante Disparte, chief strategy officer and head of global policy, Circle; Moad Fahmi, senior adviser, fintech, Bermuda Monetary Authority; Eric Kryski, co-founder, Bidali; and Joseph Seibert, group managing director/senior VP, digital asset banking, Signature Bank

• “Risk vs Reward — The Potential Transformative Power of Decentralised Finance” featuring Natalie Neto, partner, Walkers; Philippe Bekhazi, founder and CEO, XBTO Group and StableHouse; Jordan Momtazi, core contributor (ex-COO), Synthetix; Denis Pitcher, CEO/chief architect, resPartner Ltd, independent non-executive director, Bittrex Global, and fintech strategic adviser to the Premier and Office of FinTech, Government of Bermuda; and Ajit Tripathi, head of institutional business, Aave

• “Cutting-Edge Innovation in Bermuda”, featuring Vanessa Williams, chief compliance officer, CrossTower; Sandra DeSilva, CEO and chief architect, Nova; Nina Kilbride, founder, Mothership; and Simone Smith-Bean, member, BDA FinTech Legal and Regulatory Committee, and managing director, Smith Bean and Co.

• “Digital Identity — Fundamental to the Transformation of Financial Services”, featuring Stan Stalnaker, chairman, Bermuda Global Fintech Advisory Board, and founding director and chief strategy officer for Hub Culture/Ven/Ultra/AQUA Travel; Alex McD White, privacy commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Bermuda; Justin Newton, CEO, Netki, Inc; Bruce Silcoff, CEO and co-founder, Shyft; and Lucy Yang, community director, Covid Credentials Initiative

• “Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) — Hyped-Up Fad or Revolutionary Shift?”, featuring Michael Casey, chief content officer, CoinDesk. Panellists include Kevin Abosch, NFT and crypto artist; Lucia Gallardo, founder and CEO, Emerge; and Vinay Gupta, founder and CEO, Mattereum, and author of The Future of Stuff.