IEEE Canada Blockchain Forum 2026 (4th edition)

Theme for 2026: at the intersection of modernised Payments and AI, featuring Stablecoins, protocols such as x402, Agentic AI such as OpenClaw, on the wake of Bill C-15 and the rise of open source AI. We have a packed agenda!

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The IEEE Blockchain Forum is returning for the fourth time as part of [Toronto Tech Week](https://www.torontotechweek.com/). The goal of this compact one-day event is to congregate BUIDLers, researchers, academics, and engineers building blockchain protocols, infrastructure, and decentralized software <a href="http://applications.

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Expect deep thought leadership, executive talks and panels, and academic presentations. We’re talking long-term engineering trends and innovation. You won’t find marketing narratives, token launches, or <a href="http://promotions.

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Note: [The 2025 edition of the forum](https://events.vtools.ieee.org/m/469545) counted with 200 participants and speakers from JP Morgan, the Bank of Canada, Mastercard, the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance, EY, Starknet, among <a href="http://others.

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Co-sponsored by: Government of Ontario, Invest Hong Kong (Canada), Moody’s Ratings, Compass360 Consulting and Tetra Digital Group

Agenda:
First wave of speaker announcement

Room 1: Seminar Room – for the Thought Leaders

On the wake of Bill C-15 and the rapid digitisation of Canada’s financial system, Canadian innovation leaders will give us a glimpse of what’s to come this year and <a href="http://next.

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10 am – Panel #1 – Stablecoins: A New Era of Payments in Canada

– Felipe Priuli, Program Director for CAD Digital (CADD)
– Kesem Frank, CEO of Canada Stablecorp (QCAD)
– Kevin Zhang, Founder and CEO of LOON

11 am – Short Keynote by Hilary Carter, SVP Research at The Linux Foundation: What’s the Role of Open Source for Canadian Sovereignty?

11:10 am – Panel #2 – Sovereignty by Design

– Ali Abou Daya, CEO of Transactix Financial <a href="http://Inc.
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-“>Inc.
– Thomas You, Associate Partner at Maverix Private Equity

=== LUNCH BREAK ===

1 pm – Panel #3 – How does Canada compete on the global stage?

– Rajeev Bamra, Global Head of Strategy, Digital Economy at Moody’s Ratings
– Stuart Davis, President of Surpass Insights <a href="http://Inc.
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-“>Inc.
– Torstein Braaten, Chief Compliance at Stablecorp

2 pm – Panel #4 – Gaining Momentum from Innovation to Adoption

– Nisrine, Innovation Lead at Interac
– Eric Richmond, General Counsel & Head of Business Development at Shakepay
– Adam Cai, CEO at Virgo Group

== SNACK BREAK ==

3:30 pm – Panel #5 – The New Frontier of Trust in Agentic AI & Blockchain

– Michelle Beyo, CEO of FINAVATOR
– Carlos Andres Delgado, Fintech, AI & Banking Expert
– Diana Oreto, Blockchain & Digital Assets Expert

Room 2: Main Theatre – for The Engineers

Building the next generation of payments and Agentic AI

Anil Nadiminti – When AI Agents Pay: Building x402 Apps for Agentic AI on AWS

James Holler – Compliance by Design: Why Blockchain Systems Must Integrate Regulatory Frameworks from Day One

Ken Timsit – Agentic Commerce and Payments

Lawrence Ley – Agentic AI & Blockchain: The Autonomous Future of Decentralized Intelligence

Rayan Sekhraoui – Sovereign Infrastructure for Web3 — Why Decentralized Apps Need Independent Cloud

Simon Kubbinga – Solana, Superteam, and Agentic Commerce

Vikas Malhotra – Building safer environments with control, decentralization and distribution

Academic Talks

Federico Gatta – Deviations from Tradition: Stylized Facts in the Era of DeFi

Ignacy Nieweglowski – PoliFi Tokens and the Trump Effect

Dr. Jia Kan – Stop Building Faster Chains: Start Building Blockchain Operating Systems

Dr. Marina Flat – AI Governance in Distributed Ecosystems: Accountability by Design

Ngozi Nora Agwu – Beyond Hype: Governance Barriers to Blockchain-Enabled Infrastructure

Revanth Reddy Airre – From Reasoning to Settlement: A Five-Layer Architecture for Agent Payments on the Decentralized Network

Srisht Fateh Singh – Modeling Loss-Versus-Rebalancing in Automated Market Makers via Continuous-Installment Options

Emerging Ventures

Caria Wei – NUVO

Tity Lyngdoh – From Global Workforce to Global Payment Rails: Rebuilding Contractor Payments Infrastructure

More speakers to be announced soon. Stay tuned!

Many thanks to our sponsors: the Government of Ontario (sponsoring the location), as well as

Invest Hong Kong (Canada), Moody’s Ratings, Compass360 Consulting and Tetra Digital Group!

Ontario Investment and Trade Centre, 250 Yonge Street, 35th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5B 2L7