On April 7-8, 2026, TEAMZ Summit 2026 was held at Happo-en, a 400-year-old garden venue in central Tokyo. The two-day summit attracted 10,000+ attendees from 50 countries, hosted 130+ speakers, and featured 100+ sponsors, exhibitors, and side events as part of Tokyo Web3/AI Week (April 4-10), cementing its position as one of the most significant gatherings in the global Web3 calendar.
Scale and Execution: Numbers That Tell a Story
The event's scale far exceeds typical regional conferences: 10,000+ attendees, 130+ speakers, 100+ VC and investor groups, 50+ countries represented, 100+ sponsors and exhibitors, and 100+ side events. Partners included Binance, XRP, Cardano, SBI VC Trade, Startale, EMURGO, AAC Holdings, Envo, Bitcoin.com, and TRON. The expo zone spanned multiple levels with Web3 and AI exhibitors, and simultaneous interpretation in English and Japanese ensured accessibility.
Global Speaker Lineup: Industry Titans Converge
The speaker roster reflected the full breadth of Web3: Charles Hoskinson, CEO of Input Output and co-founder of Cardano and Ethereum, delivered a keynote on Layer 1 infrastructure; Justin Sun, founder of TRON, addressed the bridge between crypto asset finance and traditional finance in Japan; Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, examined digital ownership's new economic sphere; Takafumi Horie, Japan's most prominent tech entrepreneur, joined a fireside chat on revitalizing Japan's Web3 ecosystem. Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation, opened Day 2 with a keynote on digital trust as the defining currency of the next economy. The Ethereum Foundation, Aptos Labs, Litecoin Foundation, and Midnight contributed to a Layer 1 infrastructure panel, while Circle, Animoca Brands, and Wave Digital Assets represented leading global protocols and investment firms.
Unprecedented Government Engagement: Japan Shifts from Observation to Action
One of the summit's most discussed aspects was the depth of political participation, signaling Japan's policymakers moving from observation to active engagement. Japan's Minister of Finance and Financial Services, Satsuki Katayama, delivered a keynote on Web3 and AI in shaping the country's next society. Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Digital Affairs Hideto Kawasaki and LDP Digital Society Promotion Division Manager Takuya Hirai also spoke. The standout appearance came from Yuichiro Tamaki, Representative of the National Democratic Party, who delivered a keynote on making Japan a digital asset nation and framing Web3 as a pillar of national economic growth — a sharp departure from previous years' treatment of digital assets as speculative.
Institutional Finance Takes Center Stage: TradFi Embraces DeFi
For the first time at a Web3 summit of this scale in Japan, executives from major global financial institutions participated as active speakers. A panel titled TradFi Meets the Future of Finance brought together executives from BlackRock Japan, SMBC, Flow Traders, and Webull Securities Japan. Separate sessions addressed CBDCs and private stablecoins, featuring a representative from Japan's Ministry of Finance alongside CEOs of JPYC and Progmat, and a partner from Deloitte Tohmatsu. On the RWA tokenization panel, Dr. Andrea Perin, Deputy Chief Representative of Banca d'Italia (Bank of Italy), joined executives from EMURGO, Gold Dollar, and Midas Labs to discuss the multi-trillion-dollar opportunity of bringing real-world assets on-chain. The presence of a major European central bank representative underscored the institutional shift in attitudes toward tokenization.
Positioning for 2027: A Platform for Convergence
TEAMZ Summit 2026 demonstrated that the convergence of global Web3 leadership, Japanese institutional depth, and active government participation creates a forum unmatched by any other event. For sponsors and partners, the summit offered unparalleled access to decision-makers across finance, technology, and policy in a highly curated environment. For organizations seeking to establish presence in Japan's digital asset market, engage with global institutional investors, or align with industry leaders, TEAMZ Summit has become the definitive annual platform. Information on TEAMZ Summit 2027, including early sponsorship opportunities, is available at teamz.co.jp.