By David Freuden, Ashton Hettiarachi, Fantom Innovation Labs

Fantom Innovation Labs Ashton Hettiarachi and David Freuden attended the APAC Blockchain Conference on July 22–24 in Sydney having just returned from a successful trip in Dubai where they announced Fantom’s partnership with The Private Office of Sheikh Saeed bin Ahmed Al Maktoum and SEED Group.

APAC Blockchain Conference 2019 is the 3rd edition of the biggest Blockchain event in Australia. The conference represents the leading Blockchain experts in the region and highlighting the enterprises on the path to adoption.

At the invitation of ADCA (now merged with Blockchain Australia) Dr Marwan Alzarouni, Founder & Chief Executive Officer Dubai Blockchain Center, was a keynote speaker at the event. He shared Dubai’s Smart City initiative, how Dubai and the UAE pushing their regulations and government departments to adopt blockchain and build economies around decentralization.

The team from Fantom Innovation Labs, along with Tech Advisor Andre Cronje, first met with Dr Alzarouni in April during the Austrade Blockchain Trade Mission, where they were hosted at the Dubai Blockchain Center.

The APAC Blockchain Conference provided a well-timed opportunity for Fantom to further discussions with Dr Alzarouni in Australia.

Photo Left to Right: Emma Jane M. — PR & Marketing Coordinator Fantom, Dr Marwan Alzarouni — Founder & CEO Dubai Blockchain Center, David Freuden — Partnerships Fantom Foundation, Ashton Hettiarachi — Head of Innovation Lab, Fantom, Gaurav Johri — Senior Adviser Austrade at APAC Blockchain Conference Sydney

Whilst in Sydney, Gaurav Johri, Senior Advisor Austrade managed a program for Dr Marwan to meet with several govt stakeholders and businesses with an interest in smart cities and blockchain both in Australia and the UAE.

Australia continues to see growing support for blockchain from both govt and enterprise.

Over the 2 day conference there were presentations by the Hon Jane Hume, Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology as well as several of Australia’s major institutions including the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia to name a few.

As far back as Jan 2016, the ASX announced that they were replacing CHESS with DLT. Peter Hiom, Deputy Chief Executive Officer ASX highlighted the challenges and opportunities of replacing CHESS with DLT, from financial results to technical performance and presented the ASX views on next steps needed to unleash Blockchain technology in Australia.

Sophie Gilder, Head of Experimentation — Blockchain, Embodied AI & Emerging Tech, Innovation Labs for Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) presented on the topic of “Revolutionising Capital Raising and Managing Payments in Complex Ecosystems”. She shared key learnings from — Bond-i, the world’s first Blockchain-bond that was launched in August 2018, and shared some insights on the future of Blockchain in payments and capital raising.

The APAC Blockchain Conference was a great event providing some great insights into how much more is happening with blockchain trial and adoption in Australia.

About Dr Alzarouni & Blockchain Center

Dr Alzarouni founded the region’s first innovation hub for Blockchain technology. The center aims to bring together blockchain thought leaders, developers, investors, and educators. It is a place to engage with the Blockchain community. The center therefore continuously hosts blockchain-related courses, events, meet-ups, and hackathons.