Korea Blockchain Week (KBW)
Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) is an annual Web3 and blockchain conference series founded in 2018 by FACTBLOCK and co-hosted with Hashed. Held in Seoul, South Korea, it brings together global founders, institutional investors, developers, and policymakers for a week of conferences and side events. Positioned by its organizers and media as one of Asia’s leading digital asset and Web3 events, KBW aims to connect South Korea’s blockchain ecosystem with international markets.[1][8][3]
2026 Edition
The 2026 edition, branded as KBW2026: IMPACT and organized in partnership with Upbit, was held from September 29th to October 1st at Walkerhill Hotels & Resorts in Seoul.[3][15] It consisted of the invite-only Upbit Institutional Summit on September 29th at Grand Walkerhill Seoul, followed by the two-day main public conference on September 30th and October 1st across Walkerhill Hotels & Resorts.[3][15] The KBW2026 program featured three stages and more than 100 sessions, with the organizer reporting around 120 sessions and approximately 330 speakers across the summit and main conference.[3][15]
According to organizer FactBlock, the main conference on September 30th and October 1st recorded 12,500 cumulative person-times (연인원), a count in which someone attending both days is counted twice and which therefore does not represent the number of unique individual attendees.[15] Headline speakers listed for KBW2026 included Balaji Srinivasan, Jeff Yan, Arthur Hayes, Tom Lee, Joseph Lubin, Kyoungsuk Oh, Patrick Witt, Bo Hines, Brian Quintenz, Caroline D. Pham, Monica Long, Mike Belshe, Yuval Rooz and Tristan Thompson, alongside policymakers from bodies such as the CFTC, the Bank of Korea and the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea.[3][11]
2025 Edition
The 2025 edition took place from September 22nd to 28th in Seoul, with the main conference, "KBW2025: IMPACT", held on September 23rd and 24th at the Walkerhill Hotels & Resorts.[3][8] The event announced Donald Trump Jr. as a keynote speaker, with Sui, Stable, and 0G as the lead conference partners.[8] Other confirmed speakers included Arthur Hayes, Charles Hoskinson, Lily Liu of the Solana Foundation, and Sandeep Nailwal of Polygon.[3] Over the week, KBW2025 recorded a cumulative total of 28,000 attendees, a 76% increase compared to 2024, with more than 300 speakers and over 130 sessions across four stages: Sui Stage, Stable Stage, ZeroG (0G) Stage, and the Woori Bank Institutional Stage.[12][13] The exhibition area expanded to over 110 booths and more than 5,200 companies participated in the week’s activities, with hundreds of side events, networking sessions and afterparties held across districts such as Gangnam and Cheongdam.[12]
During the week, the inaugural Origin Summit was held on September 23rd. This event focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence, blockchain, and intellectual property, and featured executives from companies such as HYBE, SM Entertainment, and Polygon.[9]
2024 Edition
The 2024 edition of Korea Blockchain Week, branded as KBW2024: IMPACT, brought together over 17,000 participants, representing approximately 70% growth compared to 2023.[14] The flagship conference featured more than 300 speakers and over 130 sessions, including panel discussions, keynotes and fireside chats across four stages: Sui Stage, Movement Stage, Institutional Stage and the Forbes Web3 Stage, with more than 300 side events held across Seoul.[14] KBW2024 was supported by Sui, Movement Labs and BRV Capital Management as official conference partners, BitGo and Hana Financial Group as official institutional partners, and title sponsors including Aptos, Tron, Chiliz, DOP, Creditcoin, Sahara AI, Presto, TON, Bithumb and SK Telecom’s ALEO, alongside gold sponsors such as Orbs, Ripple and Flare.[14]
2023 Edition
The 2023 edition was scheduled to be held from September 4th to September 10th at The Shilla Seoul. During this week-long event, a notable lineup of speakers from various domains shared their insights. The list included individuals such as Jeremy Allaire, Vitalik Buterin, Arthur Hayes, Mike Belshe, Sandeep Nailwal, Henry Chang, Anthony Scaramucci, Simon Kim, Lasse Clausen, Dan Held, Hilmar V.Petursson, Sergey Nazarov, Ed Felten, Seonik Jeon, Pacman, Sebastien Borget, Carole House, Mara Schmiedt, Bjorn Wagner, Woosuk Kim, Nick White, Mo Shaikh, Illia Polosukhin, Zaki Manian, Alan Lau, among others. These speakers covered a wide range of topics, providing diverse perspectives and insights.[3]
2022 Edition
The 2022 edition took place at the Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas from August 7th to August 14th. This edition attracted over 8700 attendees, featuring a diverse audience from various sectors. With more than 150 media partners, the event received extensive coverage, contributing to its impact and reach. The event hosted over 100 side events. The lineup of speakers, which included more than 140 individuals, showcased a range of expertise and perspectives. The following list includes some of the speakers:[3][4][5]
- Yat Siu, Animoca Brands
- Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon
- John Linden, Mythical Games
- Kyu Lee, Com2uS
- Illia Polosukhin, NEAR Protocol
- Jeffrey Zirlin, Axie Infinity
- Ed Chang, Ava Labs
- Timothy Chan, Three Arrows Capital
- Alex Shevchenko, Aurora Labs
- Andrew Durgee, Republic Crypto
- Piers Kicks, Delphi Digital
- Griffin Anderson, Archway
- Seonik Jeon, Factblock / KBW
- Alex Blania, Worldcoin
- Kiyoung Ju, CryptoQuant
2021 Edition
Korea Blockchain Week 2021 took place on December 8, 2021, at Seoul State Tower Namsan, both online and offline, featuring three panel discussions. The discussions included Jeon Sunik, CEO of FactBlock; Kim Seojoon, CEO of Hashed; Kim Woosuk, CEO of Line TechPlus. In addition to them, representatives from companies such as Gluwa, World Bank, CoinDesk Korea, Dispread, SuperTree, WeMade, Nine Chronicles, and NFT Bank participated in the panel discussions.[3]
2020 Edition
The 2020 edition took place from November 2nd to November 8th, 2020, at Yes24 Live Hall in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.[2][6]
Speakers include:
- Changpeng Zhao, Founder & CEO, Binance
- Ryan Selkis, Founder & CEO, Messari
- Rune Christensen, CEO, Maker Foundation
- Stani Kulechov, Founder & CEO, Aave
- Jordan Momtazi, COO, Synthetix
- Heo Back-young, CEO, Bithumb Korea
- Do Kwon, CEO, Terraform Labs
- Gerhard Giese, Industry Strategist, Akamai Technologies
2019 Edition
The 2019 edition of the event, held from September 27th to October 2019, featured more than 120 speakers, attracting a diverse range of voices from various fields. Some of the speakers who shared their insights included Simon Kim, Ethan Kyuntae Kim, Loi Luu, Daniel Shin, Jack O’Holleran, Alex Gluchowski, Lasse Clausen, Aleksander Larsen, Larry Sanger, Uriel Peled, Daniel Peled, Kevin Chou, and Thomas J. Lee. The event provided attendees with an opportunity to engage with a wide spectrum of perspectives. With an attendance of 7000 participants, the event fostered a platform for discussions and exchanges within the industry.[3]
2018 Edition
The first edition of KBW was held from July 16th to 20th. It attracted more than 20 media partners and over 4000 attendees. With a diverse range of participants, the event provided a dynamic platform for engagement and networking. The event's program included presentations from more than 50 speakers, who contributed insights across various domains. The event also received support from over 50 sponsors, enhancing its impact and reach. Some of the distinguished speakers who shared their expertise included Simon Kim, Uriel Peled, Jason Han, Jonghyup Kim, Gabriel Yang, Loretta Joseph, Guy Melamed, Li Huo, Scott Walker, Michael Novogratz, and Dominic Williams.[7][3]
