Exclusive Interview: Marc Bernegger of the Finance 2.0 Conference
On September 23, 2015, leading experts will talk FinTech, cryptocurrency, and blockchain technology in Zurich, located in north-central Switzerland. The conference, Finance 2.0, aims to discuss the potential long term abilities of digital currencies and their impact on society. There will be informative research and speakers educating attendees on how this technology may transform the financial industry forever. Switzerland is well known for being an innovative region, giving much optimism to Bitcoin and other financial tech applications. The Finance 2.0 conference aims to be no different with the event led by Marc P. Bernegger, a serial web entrepreneur and FinTech investor.
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“Switzerland is a country where people are fond of using new technologies – something that is of benefit to the financial sector, too. As demand grows, so does supply, and the Swiss financial center is increasingly spawning innovative FinTech startups. When it comes to consumer-facing web and financial technologies, the Greater Zurich Area is the undisputed innovation hub.”
— Marc P. Bernegger
At Age 20, Marc founded the party platform usgang.ch (trade sale to Axel Springer); he is also a founder of amiando (awarded by the World Economic Forum as Global Technology Pioneer in 2010; trade sale to XING). So, there is plenty of interest in financial technology and cryptocurrency solutions with Bernegger. He started this event with his colleagues to show the bright future of this emerging and disruptive technology.
Bitcoin.com chatted with Marc Bernegger about the Finance 2.0 event and whats going to happen there. Bernegger gives our readers a little more insight on the exponential growth in financial tech in Switzerland and the conference itself.
Bitcoin.com: Can you describe your event and where its taking place?
Marc Bernegger: We will organize the first big conference about blockchain and crypto currencies in Switzerland, which will take place in September in Zurich (http://www.finance20.ch/crypto2015).
“I think that the blockchain technology will have a huge impact on all big banks worldwide.”
BC: Switzerland and the Zurich area has a hub of technology and education there. Tell our readers a little about this.
MB: Switzerland is a country where people are fond of using new technologies – something that is of benefit to the financial sector, too. As demand grows, so does supply, and the Swiss financial center is increasingly spawning innovative FinTech startups. When it comes to consumer-facing web and financial technologies, the Greater Zurich Area is the undisputed innovation hub. Zurich is not only home to Technoparks and the ETH, the leading University in continental Europe, but also to Google’s largest engineering office outside of the US and other global players in ICT such as IBM, Evernote, Disney Research and Kayak. Switzerland is also increasingly attracting innovative startups. A recent example of this is Xapo, a bitcoin wallet provider combined with a cold storage vault and a bitcoin-based debit card. Some months ago the company decided to move its headquarters from San Francisco to Switzerland, citing data privacy as one of the main reasons in favor of this location choice.
BC: How is distributed ledger technology and Bitcoin transforming the financial sector in the region?
MB: I think that the blockchain technology will have a huge impact on all big banks worldwide.
BC: Can you tell me about some of the special guests and speakers coming to the conference?
MB: We are proud to have a very high level speakers on stage (among others for example Alex Batlin, responsible for blockchain at UBS and Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum). Additionally we will have some of the most relevant people in the field of blockchain and crypto currencies in the crowd.
BC: Can you tell me about your event staff, organizers and sponsors?
MB: The “Finance 2.0 Conferences” are organized by Rino Borino and Patrick Widmer from Financial media and myself. We started in 2013 with the first “Finance 2.0 Conference” and are happy to see how the whole project evolved.
BC: How do you feel about the current narrative of the Bitcoin ecosystem and how that’s going. Do you feel education and events like these are helpful to the ecosystem?
MB: The main idea of our “Finance 2.0 Crypto Conference” is to bring together all relevant people to boost the whole development in this space. It’s always helpful to have platforms where you can meet decision makers and entrepreneurs involved in the ecosystem.
“The Greater Zurich Area is the undisputed innovation hub. Zurich is not only home to Technoparks and the ETH, the leading University in continental Europe, but also to Google’s largest engineering office outside of the US and other global players in ICT such as IBM, Evernote, Disney Research and Kayak.”
BC: What does Finance 2.0 mean?
MB: In my understanding Finance 2.0 is a broader term, including subjects like FinTech, Insurance- Tech, and cryptocurrency solutions.
Bernegger wants the world to know how proud Switzerland is on their financial tech achievements, educational resources and businesses. This event will go into great detail on how the Zurich area is pushing this momentum forward. How ideas like Bitcoin and financial tech applications will change the world. Finance 2.0 aims to show these disruptive technologies and educate the people on their vast uses.
What FinTech and Crypto conferences will you be attending this year? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, PixBay, Marc Bernegger, and Redmemes
