What happened
FACTBLOCK, the Seoul-based organizer of Korea Blockchain Week, released the full partner lineup for KBW2026 on Wednesday. Upbit, Korea's largest digital asset exchange, comes in as Presenting Partner. Decentralized AI infrastructure firm 0G and venture capital firm BRV take Official Conference Partner slots.
Stable and Tria sign on as Diamond Sponsors, and BitGo lands the Official Institutional Sponsor tag. The organizer confirmed the roster in an August 31 announcement, per NewsBTC's Wednesday report. Kyoungsuk Oh of Upbit, Michael Heinrich of 0G Labs, Brian Mehler of Stable, John Lilic of Tria and Mike Belshe of BitGo are all confirmed as main-stage speakers.
The conference itself runs September 29 to October 1 at a Seoul venue, opening with the invite-only Upbit Institutional Summit on day one before the main program takes over from September 30.
Why it matters
The sponsor mix tells you where Korea's crypto conversation has moved. It's no longer a retail exchange story. BitGo Korea only recently secured its VASP registration acceptance from Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), with Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom sitting as strategic shareholders.
That combination, a US custody giant paired with a domestic bank and a telco, is the kind of local-plus-global structure Korean regulators have been signalling they want. Upbit stepping up to Presenting Partner sharpens the point: the country's dominant exchange is putting its brand behind an institutional-first agenda. The Upbit Institutional Summit is invite-only and targets funds and financial-sector attendees, not the retail base that built Upbit's volumes.