Korea Blockchain Week 2026: KBW IMPACT Returns to Seoul, September 29 to October 1

Korea Blockchain Week 2026, themed IMPACT, takes place September 29 through October 1 at Walkerhill Hotels and Resorts in Seoul, South Korea. The venue sits on the Han River in Gwangjin-gu and is a self-contained resort complex that accommodates the full conference program, networking events, and international delegations in one location.

This is the eighth edition of KBW. The event is organised by FactBlock, the Korean digital asset ecosystem builder behind every KBW edition since 2019. The 2026 edition marks the first time Upbit, South Korea's largest digital asset exchange by volume, has joined as main sponsor.

Event Structure

Day one, September 29, is the Upbit Institutional Summit, an invite-only gathering for global capital markets participants, exchange executives, policymakers, and regulators. It is co-hosted by FactBlock and Upbit and runs as a closed-door session before the public conference opens.

Days two and three, September 30 and October 1, are the main public conference. These cover the full speaker program, thematic tracks, an exhibition floor, and KBW's curated networking format, which has historically produced more scheduled one-on-one meetings per attendee than most conferences of comparable size.

Topics and Tracks

The 2026 program covers institutional adoption and digital asset regulation across APAC, AI integration with blockchain infrastructure, real-world asset tokenization, Layer 1 and Layer 2 scalability, stablecoin frameworks, cross-border capital flows between Korea, the US, and Southeast Asia, and the geopolitical dimensions of digital asset policy.

The inclusion of a White House-affiliated speaker and senior executives from Apollo, Robinhood, and Ripple indicates that KBW 2026 is functioning as a diplomatic and commercial bridge between US regulatory developments and the Asian market, not just a domestic Korean event.

Confirmed Speakers

Key confirmed speakers for KBW 2026 include:

• Balaji Srinivasan, author of The Network State and former CTO of Coinbase
• Arthur Hayes, CIO of Maelstrom and former CEO of BitMEX
• Tom Lee, Chairman of BitMine and founder of Fundstrat
• Monica Long, President of Ripple
• Jeff Yan, CEO of Hyperliquid Labs
• Bo Hines, CEO of Tether USA
• Harry Jung, Deputy Director at The White House
• Johann Kerbrat, SVP and GM of Crypto at Robinhood
• Caroline Pham, CLO and CAO at MoonPay
• Christine Moy, Head of Digital Assets at Apollo

Tickets

KBW 2026 ticket pricing: Student Pass at $99 USD (valid student ID required, attendees must be 19 or older), Early Bird Pass at $499 USD available until June 30, and the standard Last Minute Pass at $999 USD. Tickets are available at the official KBW ticketing page.

Why Korea Matters in 2026

South Korea is one of the largest retail cryptocurrency markets in the world by trading volume relative to GDP. Domestic exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb regularly post daily volumes that rival Coinbase. The Korean Financial Services Commission has been developing a domestic virtual asset framework that runs parallel to but distinct from MiCA in Europe.

KBW sits at the intersection of all of this. It draws government officials from Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia alongside Western investors who want access to the Asian retail and institutional landscape. The Upbit partnership in 2026 is a meaningful signal that institutional Korea is moving from observer to active participant in shaping the global conference agenda.

Venue: Walkerhill Hotels and Resorts

Walkerhill is a luxury resort complex in eastern Seoul, about 20 minutes from the city centre by car or the Gwangnaru metro station. The venue has hosted KBW since the event outgrew its earlier downtown Seoul locations. The campus includes multiple conference halls, outdoor networking spaces along the Han River, and on-site accommodation for international attendees, which simplifies logistics for a three-day event with a heavy evening program.