On Friday, I attended the 4th edition of the Crypto Valley Conference in Rotkreuz, Switzerland. A rather last minute decision on my part, i.e. 1am the night before despite there being no available tickets left on the website. Aside from being allowed entry and the free Swiss chocolate 'bitcoins', there were a few things to appreciate. 

The agenda promised 40 presentations across technology, economy & finance and legal & regulation by companies such as Swiss National Bank, SDX, ETH, Copper, Binance, Cardano Foundation, Ledger, Linum Labs, Alien World. An eclectic mix it was, but no dry nerd-fest. It was inspiring to be amongst speakers so passionate about their cause. And who made effort to deep dive on some of the biggest problems being solved today with blockchain technology in a relatable, humorous, even controversial, way with plenty of real use cases. 

The NFT panel was a highlight for me. Panel members spanned a broad range of views from artist and game maker, to software development, security and legal. It was a lively discussion full of insights as to current and future use cases. In particular, Saro McKenna discussed how Alien Worlds fused her work on decentralised autonomous communities (DAOs) with NFT's. The future role that DAO's may play in our everyday lives, in business, government and communities is certainly food for thought for those of us dealing with legal constructs like companies on a regular basis. We may well find version 2.0 in DAO form. 

Being Switzerland, there is no escaping fintech and wealth management, and of course, crypto regulation - another hot topic.  It was enlightening to get the most recent download from companies showcasing their compliance tools. These tools are leading the way for wealth service providers to onboard crypto-native clients with digital assets, whilst meeting regulatory requirements. 

For those of you who don't know, Crypto Valley is located in Zug in the heart of Switzerland and forms the centre of the Swiss blockchain eco-system. It is the birth place of the Etherium Foundation and home to c.1,000 world leading companies in blockchain and cryptographic technologies.