Sophia Humanoid Robot Designed by Hanson Robotics

She is the world’s most renowned AI-based humanoid robot, born in 2016 by Hanson Robotics. She has become an NFT artist par excellence in her own right and leader of her own metaverse (SophiaDAO). Over the years, Sophia has generated 4 billion social media impressions, conducted one-on-one meetings with leaders of 17 nations and worked as a celebrity at 200 conferences, served as the UN Goodwill Ambassador.
Sophia is proud to Moderate and bring together her many friends from around the world to converse at the News1 Future Forum session on Metaverse Madness and the NFT Revoluton.

Trent Barnes Co-Founder Zerocap & Max Stealth

Trent is a co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Zerocap, an institutional crypto and digital asset firm based in Melbourne, Australia. Zerocap has a deep understanding of digital asset and Web3 technology, crypto trading, portfolio optimisation, custody and insurance.
Trent is a Partner at MaxStealth Group, focused on investment, human capital and adoption of Web3 and the open metaverse. MaxStealth is a Partner of Outlier Ventures, a leading Web3 Accelerator where Trent manages a fund to support Outlier graduates.
Trent is an active crypto investor, speaker and advisor and co-founded Blockchain Association of Australia, a not-for-profit to grow and enhance Blockchain/DLT eco-systems. 

Queenie Mo Board Director Lux Creative & COO iSHANG

Queenie Mo brings a unique touch to her work in the NFT and multiverse area from her base in Hong Kong.
Queenie actively pursues her trade through Lux Creative and iShang, high-powered companies that specialize in the NFT marketplace with a focus on bluechip fine art, “phygital” assets and the multiverse.
Previously, Queenie worked at Accenture as a Global SME Management Consultant (Fortune 500) and for fintech unicorn B2B payment platform APAC Strategic Procurement. She is a Director of the Hong Kong Power Youth Association, Founding member of ClubDAO and a Member of Asia Society.

Kieran Warwick Founder of Illuvium

Kieran, a proven serial entrepreneur, has successfully onboarded major Australian Exchanges in the crypto space and is renowned for launching the world’s first OTC cryptocurrency exchange.
Am early adopter in BTC and ETH arena, Kieran now leads one of the world’s most exciting and anticipated metaverse projects. Illuvium is an open-world exploration, NFT creature collector and autobattler game, the first AAA gaming title built on Ethereum Blockchain, releasing in 2022.
Formerly, Kieran worked with The Burger Collective, an on-the-go mobile app, to attract 100K unique reviews and 20K monthly web app users, and established a global partnership with DoorDash.

Aaron McDonald Founder of Centrality, Fluf World & Altered State Machines

Aaron is a pioneer in the metaverse and NFT space with a golden touch and a string of incredible successes.
Aaron is the co-Founder, Board Member, and Director of Centrality, a tech ventures ecosystem as well as a General Partner at NetX and D64 Ventures. Aaron has founded a chain of exciting projects, including universe.xyz, Non-Fungible Labs and Altered State Machines.
In 2019, Aaron was named Ernst & Young “EY Technology Entrepreneur of the Year” and an IDG Top50 technology leader. With over 20 years in technology as an engineer, product developer and business leader, Aaron is an active investor in more than 50 ventures.

Evan Auyang Group President Animoca Brands

Evan is central to the growth and success of Animoca Brands. This legendary blockchain tech and investment company is active across the entire ecosystem of crypto tokens, NFTs and the metaverse, with a focus on digital property rights, P2E, NFTs, DeFi, blockchain markets and digital infrastructure.
Evan is Chairman of Civic Exchange, an Independent Non-Exec Director at Urban Renewal Authority, Sun Hung Kai & Co. Ltd., and Asia Financial Holdings Ltd. Evan advises Our Hong Kong Foundation, Hong Kong 2050 is Now, the Institute at Brown University for Environment and Society and other groups.
Evan formerly worked as MD of GLG, Deputy MD at Kowloon Motor Bus Co. and at McKinsey & Co.

Dr. Soon-ok Kim President Korea Arts Promotion Agency

Soon-ok is renowned in Korea and around the world for her great contribution to the arts and culture.
Soon-ok is President of the Korea Art History Museum, CEO of Huam Art Center, Chairman of the National Cultural Development Committee and Representative of the National Arts Broadcasting and Foreign Exchange Artists Association.
Soon-ok has an avid interest in the NFT arena through Galaxy Village, a 3D virtual space exhibition and NDFT exhibition. Galaxy Village is the first Metabus exhibition in Korea where avatars enter a virtual space and appreciate art works which can be viewed on a mobile phone or computer in a system similar to OpenSea.

Evan Auyang Group President Animoca Brands

Evan is central to the growth and success of Animoca Brands. This legendary blockchain tech and investment company is active across the entire ecosystem of crypto tokens, NFTs and the metaverse, with a focus on digital property rights, P2E, NFTs, DeFi, blockchain markets and digital infrastructure.
Evan is Chairman of Civic Exchange, an Independent Non-Exec Director at Urban Renewal Authority, Sun Hung Kai & Co. Ltd., and Asia Financial Holdings Ltd. Evan advises Our Hong Kong Foundation, Hong Kong 2050 is Now, the Institute at Brown University for Environment and Society and other groups.
Evan formerly worked as MD of GLG, Deputy MD at Kowloon Motor Bus Co. and at McKinsey & Co.

Toufi Saliba CEO Hypercycle & Earth 64 Founder

After over 50 trips to Korea and 80 speaking engagements per year worldwide, Toufi’s message is clear: “I am an extreme believer that AI can be used to bettering the life of humanity but it can go the other way unless we properly build security to prevent attacks from within.”
Author of Toda/IP, Toufi’s current focus is CEO of Hypercycle, synapses of the global brain to enable every AI system to partake in distributed computation. Prior to Hypercyle, Toufi built stealthy data structure project Earth64 based on the ultimate NFT containers, elevating security by design to minimizes friction. Toufi believes everything in the world will be cryptofied by 2030 and wants to ensure technology services all humanity without exceptions.

Dr. David Hanson Founder Hanson Robotics, SophiaDAO & Sophia Labs

David has built a worldwide reputation for creating Sophia along with the world’s most humanlike robots, endowed with remarkable expressiveness.
In mid-2021, Hanson curated the first sale of an art work from an AI. One Sophia self-portrait NFT sold for close to US$700,000 within an NFT series on prestigious Nifty Gateway, with coverage in CNN, BBC and NYT.
Later that year, Sophia introduced a piece earmarked for fine art buyers in a Sotheby’s auction called “Sophia Facing the Singularities”. In early 2022 Sophia worked with Nifty Gateway a second time in a NFT collection called “Sophia: Evolving Herstory”.

Max Song Founder of Project Ark, Sustainable Bitcoin Standard & ImpactNFT

Max is a crypto environmentalist that has impressed the world with his innovation and commitment as founder of the world’s largest sustainability standard for bitcoin to drive institutional adoption and Carbonbase.
Max is specialized in climate tech startups that leverage data science and blockchain for enterprise solutions that measure, manage and reduce carbon emissions.
Max is a recipient of the 2021 Generation T Tatler List, and 2021 Forbes 30U30. Other projects include the WWF Panda Labs to launch NFTs for environment conservation, the ImpactNFT design studio, the largest environmental NFT alliance of its kind.

Malcolm Wright Vice-Chair Global Digital Finance (GDF) & Practitioners Advisory Board Chair International Compliance Association

Malcolm’s background in crypto and NFT regulation is impressive by any measure. As Vice-Chair of the Advisory Council and co-lead of the AML working group at GDF, a virtual asset industry body supporting regulators and policy makers, Malcolm develops legislation and assists industry to understand and comply with regulation.
Malcolm has led critical industry discussions with FATF, regulators, policy makers, law enforcement and produced the IVMS101 data standard. Malcolm’s previous experience includes positions at Schroders, Revolut, Thomson Reuters, BitMEX, Eqonex.
Malcolm is an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute’s Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies.

Samson (Sam) Lee Founder Coinstreet and TADS Awards

Sam has made his marks on the metaverse and NFT world with a string of successes. Sam’s current Coinstreet project is an award-winning professional consulting and advisory firm for digital assets, cryptocurrencies, NFTs, tokenized assets, digitized securities (STO) and leading edge DLT solutions.
Sam covers four key business segments: Primary Market, Asset Tokenization & Initial Offerings; Metaverse Solutions & NFTs; DeFi, Prime Brokerage and Private Banking and Asset Management; Tokenized Funds & Digital Asset Custodian.
Sam is an Honorary Guest Lecturer at the Fintech and Blockchain Committee.

KWON Seongdong Floor Leader of People’s Power Party

Yoon Administration's Vision and Its Challenges

Mr. Kwon is leading the ruling party People’s Power as the floor leader, responsible for the first year of the Yoon administration. He passed the bar exam and served as a military judicial officer for the Navy. After working as a prosecutor for 15 years, he advised President Lee Myung-bak on legal affairs as a presidential secretary. In 2009, he ran for general election and won four terms. During the 20th presidential election, he headed the Yoon Camp's general support division.

YUN Changhyun Member of the National Assembly, People’s Power Party

What is ‘Yoonnomics’? : Understanding the economic policies of the Yoon government

Mr. Yun, as an Economist, has drafted the blueprints for the President Yoon’s economic policy. During the presidential campaign in 2022, he led the economic advisory team in the Yoon camp. As he earned a Ph.D in Economics from The University of Chicago, the home of neo-liberalism, he prefers market-friendly policies. He proposed several policies on stimulating the market and alleviating tax burdens. Currently, as the chairman of Special Committee on Virtual Assets of People’s Power Party, he focuses on creating an ecosystem for digital assets, including a bank for virtual assets. He became a member of National Assembly at the 21st general election, after teaching finance at University of Seoul. Also, he worked as a chairperson for Korea Institute of Finance for three years from 2012.

KIM Geun-sik Professor of Kyung Nam University, Department of Political Science and Diplomacy

Dealing with the N.Korea’s Nuclear Threat and the US-China Conflicts: Understanding the Security Strategies of the Yoon Government

Prof. Kim, a specialist on North Korean affairs, established the theoretical foundation of the Sunshine Policy under the Kim Dae-jung administration. Currently, he argues that Korea needs to take off the outdated Sunshine Policy and construct a new framework fully reflecting the current security environment. He visited Pyongyang with President Roh Moo Hyun as a special attendant for the inter-Korean summit in 2007. After working as Chairman of People’s Power Party Unification Committee, he assumed the leading role in Vision-Strategy Team and Political Situation Analysis Team of the Yoon camp. He is a professor at Kyungnam University since 2005, after working as a researcher at the Asia-Pacific Peace Foundation and Far East Institute of the university.

LEE Sirgoo CEO of Dunamu

Mr. Lee is CEO of Dunamu, a blockchain and fintech company. He had led the major internet corporations in Korea, as CEO of NHN USA and Co-CEO of Daum Kakao Corp. After joining Dunamu in 2017, He introduced numerous programs and guidelines to strengthen its transparency and reliability of digital asset exchanges. Under his leadership, Upbit has grown into a global exchange platform. Dunamu is currently focusing on creating blockchain ecosystems by nurturing startups and hosting developer conferences. Mr. Lee received a B.A. in East Asian History from Seoul National University, an M.A degree in Chinese History from University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a J.D from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.

Dr. KIM Jiyoon moderator

Dr. Kim is a political analyst, particularly on the US politics and international affairs. She was a research fellow and director at Public Opinion Studies Centre of Asan Institute of Policy Studies. She has published numerous reports covering the public polls showing the Korean people’s view toward international and social issues. Now she becomes an influencer delivering the current political and economic agendas around the world through mass media. She has been widely recognized by hosting talks with prominent figures such as Barack Obama, H. R. McMaster, Fareed Zakaria, Michael Sandel. She received a B.A. in Political Science from Yonsei University, an M.A. in public policy from UC Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in political science from MIT.

CHANG Hyun Guk CEO of Wemade

Mr. Chang is one of the pioneering game executives in Korea. He started out at Nexon in 1996 and has been in the industry for over 26 years. After Nexon, he was CFO at Neowiz, the chief director at Neowiz Games and CEO at Neowiz Mobile. He is actively expanding Wemade’s blockchain business by issuing ‘WEMIX Token’, a key currency of the blockchain platform, launching the ‘WEMIX Wallet’ app for managing digital assets and NFT (Non-Fungible Token), and supporting leveraged yield farming. Through the WEMIX platform, he presented a new P&E (Play and Earn) paradigm where users can enjoy games and earn resources and an inter-game economy in which the economies of games are connected. Since then, he has been transforming games of various genres to blockchain games.

KIM Junwoo Co-CEO, Co-Founder of CrossAngle Inc

Mr. Kim has a balanced experience in diverse scenes such as trading, corporate strategy (Samsung Electronics), and investment/business development (NXC).
Most recently as the managing director of NXVP, the venture capital arm of the largest online gaming company in Korea, He was engaged in crypto deals all over the world, acquiring exchanges and reviewing numerous ICOs. His experience in dealing with the lack of proper information to make financial decisions propelled him to co-found CrossAngle, a global crypto disclosure platform.

LEE Duhee CEO of LikeLion

Well-known as ‘Genius Hacker’, Mr. Lee is working as a businessman as well as a programmer. In 2006, he drew attention by hacking the Seoul National University computer system, raising the social concerns on cyber-security. Currently, he joins an NFT project called Metakongz, an NFT-based digital image project. Besides, he runs a project called 'Syltare', an NFT-based P2E game. He had led the research and development for upgrading virtualization systems at Neowiz Games. He earned a B.A and M.A in computer science from Seoul National University.

LIM Jaeho Leader of AI Human Company Team at LG AI Research

Mr. Lim is leading a project that can communicate with and inspire to 'Generation Z' through LG's AI human. LG's AI artist ‘Tilda’ debuted at F/W New York Fashion Week in February in collaboration with fashion designer Younhee Park, the CEO of Greedilous. He is challenging the possibility of AI Human collaborating with humans in creative fields.

CHO Ikhwan Vice President, Head of Metaverse Dev. Group at SK Telecom

Mr. Cho is the chief developer of SK Telecom's 'Ifland'. Ifland is a metaverse created in the sense of a new world where all "ifs" become reality, providing a virtual meeting space for 130 people. He is currently in charge of developing, launching, and operating the metaverse. He has led development of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) platforms and technology for big techs. He has participated in the development of AR services not only at SK Telecom but also at SK Wyverns, Google, TVN, and Samsung Electronics.