Vlad Anderson

Valencia once again proved it deserves its reputation as Europe’s capital of innovation. This year’s VDS 2025 gathered over 12,000 participants, 600 speakers, and founders of more than 300 international startups that have already raised €8.5 billion in funding. The conference took over the City of Arts and Sciences, with three stages built right over the water, a fitting symbol of how technology and creativity meet in this city. The main theme this year was “Collaborate Today. Transform Tomorrow.”
From artificial intelligence and blockchain to longevity research and space exploration, VDS 2025 covered nearly every frontier of modern tech. As someone who’s been attending this event for years, I can say this edition felt especially global and forward-looking.
The first day started with Sacha Michaud, Co-founder of Glovo, and Enrique Linares, Co-founder of letgo, sharing stories about the chaos and grit behind building unicorns. It was an honest conversation about failures, resilience, and the will to keep going. Then Pablo Fernández (Clidrive) and Sergio Furió (Creditas) took the stage to talk about scaling startups while staying grounded in purpose.
The audience loved Minh Le, the co-creator of Counter-Strike, who mixed nostalgia with insight as he talked about how gaming culture helped shape digital communities. Later, a panel on diversity and inclusion featuring Ella McCann-Tomlin (Mews), Daniel Nieto (Remote), and Olivia McEvoy (Booking.com) discussed how diverse teams don’t just check boxes — they build better products.

VDS 2025
One of the most anticipated moments was the keynote from Volodymyr Nosov, Founder and President of WhiteBIT, who explained why blockchain is becoming the foundation of the digital economy. He highlighted how tokenization is going far beyond finance — covering everything from real estate and gold to wine collections and even sports teams. The market could reach $2 trillion by 2028, with institutions like BlackRock and Goldman Sachs already investing in this direction. Nosov also spoke about the human side of the industry — how blockchain is creating new professions and how WhiteBIT’s 250 developers represent 5% of Europe’s blockchain talent pool. His message was simple: blockchain isn’t a buzzword, it’s the infrastructure of trust.
The second day focused heavily on AI. Christian Teichmann (Burda Principal Investments) led a discussion on AI as a new economic backbone, while Aubrey de Grey, the longevity pioneer, captivated the audience with his research on extending human life. Ana Peleteiro (Preply) brought an educational perspective, showing how AI can make learning truly personal.
Another highlight came from Laura Urquizu, CEO of Red Points, who spoke about cybersecurity not just as technology, but as responsibility. Later, Iñaki Berenguer (LifeX Ventures) shared a thoughtful take on Europe’s role in global innovation, emphasizing collaboration over competition.
Meanwhile, the Sigma Squared Society brought youthful energy to the conference with founders like Haz Hubble (Pally) and Amelie Binder (CargoKite) proving that the next generation isn’t waiting — they’re already building.
Outside the stages, networking buzzed everywhere. Investors like Jacky Abitbol (Cathay Innovation) and Alejandro Rodríguez (IDC Ventures) exchanged ideas with founders about scaling responsibly. Sustainability was another major theme, especially after the DANA storm that hit Valencia last year. The Hack the Future hackathon, organized with Estonia’s e-Residency program, showcased tech ideas aimed at building smarter, more resilient cities.

VDS 2025
By evening, the City of Arts and Sciences turned into a glowing backdrop for hundreds of conversations between startup founders, investors, and corporate innovators from Microsoft, Google, Volkswagen, and IBM. It felt like more than just networking, it felt like the blueprint of Europe’s future tech ecosystem taking shape.
As I left the venue, I couldn’t shake the feeling that VDS 2025 wasn’t just another tech event. It was a reflection of where innovation meets purpose. It showed that technology can still be human, grounded, and inspiring. 
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TOKEN2049 once again confirmed why it is called the global stage for Web3. In particular, on October 1-2 this year, Marina Bay Sands brought together more than 25,000 participants, 300 speakers and 500 exhibiting companies to discuss how the financial infrastructure of the future will take shape.
Speakers included Donald Trump Jr., Tom Lee (Fundstrat), Paolo Ardoino (Tether), Balaji Srinivasan, Arthur Hayes (Maelstrom), Alex Kozenko (WhiteBIT) and others. What's more, Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso and Oliver Bearman even joined the discussions, proving once again how closely Web3 is linked to sports and popular culture.
Despite the wide range of topics and panels, the main theme of this year's TOKEN2049 is market maturity. There is less hype around new tokens and more attention is being paid to real business models, institutional infrastructure and regulatory frameworks.
Here are five trends from TOKEN2049 that investors definitely cannot ignore.
Stablecoins as the Trojan Horse of Modern Finance
Stablecoins were at the center of most discussions at the conference. The reasons for this are quite simple: for DeFi developers, they remain the basis of liquidity and lending strategies, and for traditional financial players, they are the most realistic path to regulated digital money.
In particular, as Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, noted, 35% of users now perceive stablecoins in US dollars as a means of saving, and 70% of transactions are already denominated in dollars. He emphasized that the most dynamically growing use case is cross-border payments, a market estimated at $200 trillion. However, it is important to take into account local market needs rather than imposing universal solutions.
Charles Cascarilla, Co-Founder and CEO of Paxos, called the current period ‘the golden age for stablecoins,’ while Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly, emphasized the potential of emerging markets: success will be determined by distribution and accessibility. At the same time, Arthur Hayes made one of the most poignant remarks: ‘By issuing stablecoins, banks could unlock trillions in new liquidity. Stablecoins are not just plumbing. They are the Trojan horse that could reshape global finance.’
For investors, this means that stablecoins have long ceased to be just a trading instrument — they are forming a new infrastructure for global financial flows. Startups that can integrate them into their products will have an advantage in building liquidity and attracting users.
Tokenizing the Unreachable: How RWAs Open Doors to New Markets
The topic of real-world assets (RWA) covered not only real estate, but also stocks, bonds, and even collectible watches. Thus, this year's discussions showed that tokenization allows investors to open up markets that were previously inaccessible. 
Atul Khekade, co-founder of XDC, noted: ‘Tokenization of real-world assets unlocks liquidity in markets that were once closed. By digitizing ownership of assets like fine watches, we open them to global participation and transparent settlement.’
In particular, investors gain access to investments that were previously only available to a select group of wealthy participants, and start-ups can create new platforms for trading and managing these assets, lowering barriers to entry and ensuring transparent conditions.
Integrating Crypto: Long-Term Wealth and Institutional Adoption
This year's conference clearly demonstrated that the approach to crypto assets is gradually changing. In particular, Mazen Eljundi, Global Business Head of Crypto at Revolut, believes that cryptocurrencies no longer exist separately from traditional finance. According to him, ‘Crypto is a driver of fintech innovation, reshaping the banking ecosystem as we know it and advancing a borderless financial future. Unlocking its full potential requires regulatory alignment, strong infrastructure, and a customer-centric approach.’ He added that transparency, user education, and honest communication about both opportunities and risks are key factors in building trust.
Alex Kozenko, CMO of WhiteBIT, shares a similar opinion: ‘Everyone is trying to move money from traditional finance into crypto. I think this process will keep doubling and doubling in the coming years.’ His words emphasize that the integration of crypto into the financial system is not just a fad, but a large-scale, long-term process that opens up new opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs. WhiteBIT itself, with a market capitalization of $38.9 billion, demonstrates how quickly a company that actively develops its product and market can grow.
During the conversation, Alex also drew attention to the importance of transparency and honest communication. This year, WhiteBIT held a large-scale International Crypto Trading Competition, where eight traders competed in a global championship that was broadcast live. Inspired by esports, the team decided to create a format in which traders work in conditions of maximum transparency — without bots or third-party tools. The main goal of the tournament was to show how professionals trade in real time, without “Photoshop” or pre-prepared plans, demonstrating the real process and results.
In the same vein, Christian Ulloa, CEO and co-founder of Liquid Loans, spoke about assets as tools for creating long-term wealth: ‘Sell low buy high is a mindset that will keep you poor… long term wealth comes from acquiring valuable assets and holding them. Extract value by borrowing against them – this is how long term wealth is really built.’
This trend demonstrates a paradigm shift for investors and startups. Investors are less focused on immediate profits from price fluctuations and more on systematic asset management strategies, where cryptocurrency becomes part of a long-term portfolio. For startups, this is a signal: successful products must not only provide fast transactions or speculative profits, but also create tools for accumulating, securely storing, and growing users' wealth.
Redefining Institutional Trust: ZK Tech Meets Cloud Infrastructure
Another interesting topic at TOKEN2049 was the discussion of how zero-knowledge (ZK) technologies and cloud infrastructure can redefine the concept of trust at the institutional level. The panel focused on how “smart privacy” makes data sharing more targeted and controlled. In addition, participants noted that Google is at the intersection of Web2 and Web3, but for secure integration, it needs a reliable privacy infrastructure — this is where, in their opinion, Midnight comes in. Although privacy chains can be a potential source of risk, secure execution spaces on Google Cloud Platform keep data isolated from external threats, making the platform an ideal partner for private networks.
The experts also emphasized that trust is not only a technical aspect, but also an emotional one. Solutions such as Midnight allow this emotional component to be “transferred” directly to the chain, creating more transparent and predictable relationships between regulators, suppliers, and customers.
For investors, this means that ZK technologies and private blockchain solutions increase security and strengthen trust in institutional projects. For startups, the integration of such solutions can be an important competitive advantage, especially when working with regulatory authorities and large corporate clients.
The Synergy of AI and Blockchain in Fintech
One of the popular trends has been the integration of artificial intelligence and blockchain. Vivien Lin, Chief Product Officer at BingX, emphasized that decentralization is becoming a new mechanism of trust, and data is a key asset in finance. She introduced BingX AI Master, an AI-based crypto strategist that makes quantitative trading strategies accessible to everyone. In her opinion, the combination of artificial intelligence and blockchain paves the way for transparency, personalization, and user empowerment.
Equally, interesting was the presentation by Kevin Pang from Neura, who introduced the concept of Emotion AI. In his opinion, the next step in the development of artificial intelligence is emotional intelligence, capable of taking into account sarcasm, cultural nuances, and context. Such systems are already being used in therapy, elderly care, retail, and the gaming industry. For investors and startups, this means new niches where artificial intelligence becomes a platform for highly adaptable products and user experiences.
The OG Labs panel added a practical aspect: AI and blockchain complement each other. Blockchain provides transparency and verifiability of data, while AI simplifies the complexity of solutions for end users. Business leaders such as Frank Mong from Helium and Mike Horton from GEODNET have demonstrated that combining tokenization, decentralized infrastructures, and the right business models allows networks to scale quickly and efficiently. For startups and investors, this is a signal: success in the new fintech ecosystem depends not only on technology, but also on how it is integrated into business processes and incentivizes users.
Thus,
TOKEN2049 has once again demonstrated that the future of finance is not just about new tokens or flashy presentations. It is about building real infrastructure, strengthening trust, and developing innovations that truly have scale. For investors, it is a reminder not to pay attention to short-term hype; for startups, it underscores the importance of developing tools that truly empower users and integrate easily into traditional finance. The conclusion is clear: the next wave of crypto leaders will be those who combine technology, trust, and real business value.

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