Interview with Victoria Gago, Co-founder of EBC | European Blockchain Convention

Good morning everyone. I'm Alona Stein, co- CEO of PR agency Reblond Tech. Today I am with Victoria Gago. Co-founder of the European Blockchain Convention and Digital Assets Core. Good morning, Victoria.

Good morning, Alona. How are you doing? Okay, I'm worried, tired, but full of enthusiasm. Glad to hear that. So, we are at EBC 10.

It has been 6 and a half years since you and your partner have been creating this wonderful event. How is it? It was a long journey. As they say in the crypto world, those 6 and a half years are probably like 13. 13 lives.

Exactly. And you know, it was amazing. I mean, being a part of this industry, watching from the sidelines— watching from the sidelines— it's incredible. Also for us as a company: we started with a publication in 2018, where we had 500 people. Today we have 5,123 registered people.

Amazing growth. Amazing growth. Yes. So what trends have you noticed over the past year that you haven't seen before? I think for us as organizers, well, I guess everyone sees institutions entering this space.

But for me as an organizer, it looked like this: a few years ago I could invite a bank, and they would say: " and they would say: " yes, we do tests behind the scenes, but we can't talk about it." So, if I come, I won't be able to say anything. Then I said: "Okay, then come and moderate the panel." Today, institutions, both crypto- institutions, both crypto- native and traditional financial traditional financial , can talk about their activities, and this is extremely exciting. You yourself see many representatives of institutions around you today.

I'm sure we'll see this in the future, it's very exciting and very good. So, we will have our first ever Digital Assets Forum in London next February. How do you think it How do you think it will differ from EBC? What do you have planned for him? Good question.

The Digital Assets Forum emerged this year as a new event. We started in April of this year. So the Digital Assets Forum is significantly smaller than the EBC. It focuses only on asset managers, hedge funds, banks, and corporations. We decided to make the event headquarters, so to speak, in London, because it is the main financial district in Europe.

This event focuses solely on content, meetings, and doing business. Whereas EBC is much larger. We have many institutions, yes, but in addition to institutions, we also have a hackathon . I'm pointing there because the hackathon is literally over there. And there we have a startup battle.

So it's a good mix of hackers, startups, corporations, and financial institutions. We have the entire ecosystem represented here. And DAF, the Digital Asset Forum, is much more institutional. Perfectly. Nice to hear.

I'm looking forward to it . Yes, okay. Certainly. So, an interesting trend we've been seeing lately is on-chain capital management. How do we see this being implemented in your area of ​​expertise?

Yes area of ​​expertise? Yes . I find it extremely exciting to see a new concept of on-chain capital management. So, essentially, the funds own significant funds, right significant funds, right ? And as we all know, they keep their money in cryptocurrency and stablecoins, right?

So, like everything in life, you need to diversify, right? You need to diversify to minimize risks. So what we're seeing recently with new funds coming to market new funds coming to market is the offering of wealth management services for these funds, where these funds tokenize products tokenize products that you can invest in, like a BlackRock fund. So they don't need to sell cryptocurrency, get euros or dollars to invest in a BlackRock fund, they can do it directly online. That's why it's on-chain capital management.

And this is extremely important for these funds, because they need to diversify. And I think that's fascinating, is n't it? Because good people, I think it's interesting. I mean, I interesting. I mean, I worked in finance before I came into this industry came into this industry .

And of course, we've all seen traditional finance move closer to DeFi, blockchain, and crypto, embracing this new technology. But now we see the opposite. DeFi and crypto are moving closer to traditional finance. And I think that's fascinating too. Because we need...

Because we need... Ultimately, I don't believe we need to erase anything. I think that most financial products will probably run on blockchain in the future, but I also find it interesting that these funds and other industry players can gain access to perhaps more boring products, but with less risk. That's it. Certainly.

So, that actually brings me to the next question. You came from finance, that's your background. What prompted you and your partner to change course and move towards creating this wonderful foundation and hosting this event for us? Well, it all started. I moved to Barcelona many years ago, 10 years ago actually, to work for an asset management company here in Barcelona.

Uh, back then it was the largest independent asset management company, Trea Capital Markets, and I remember thinking: okay, I'm surrounded by mostly men, yeah, finance. Uh, so I decided: I'm starting my own women's association. And I thought that I wanted to combine many different, how to say it, professional areas. That is, I didn't want there to be people only from finance or from any one industry. So I created what I think is a really cool association called Excelerator Network called Excelerator Network .

Different professional profiles. One of the ladies was very technical. And she started talking about blockchain at the end of 2016. And she's constantly: "Blockchain this, blockchain that, this and that." And I said, "I do n't understand anything.

Absolutely nothing. And besides, I don't care about technology." Back then, I think I only had my iPhone. It was the only technology I had. I didn't care about technology.

But she was so enthusiastic. So I started listening to her. And then she invited me to Mobile World Congress here in Barcelona in February 2017, where Vitalik Buterin was speaking . And then I saw him on stage. And I remember that the entire hall was filled with people.

People were sitting on the floor because there were no free seats. I looked at Vitalik Buterin and thought, "You look very thin, a little sloppy, very strange." He told me that Yes, you need more sun. I mean, I was... No, I was confused to see so much attention and so much excitement in that room excitement in that room .

And then this guy . And then this guy ... Then I thought: well, he probably knows... he probably... he's knows...

he probably... he's probably building something really cool. So yeah, I became very enthusiastic. I mean, Ethereum was really exciting at first. And then I said, "Daniel, we work together, he's the manager."

I said, "Daniel, let's create a blockchain event for this industry, just like we saw in finance, let's do this for blockchain." And he replied: "No, why would I need that?" I'm a financial analyst. Even with my excellent rulebook. So I asked, "Why not?"

And I thought, " not?" And I thought, " Okay, to hell with it." Then I asked him again in 2018. I said, "We have to do this," and I convinced him. That's how it all started.

Surprisingly. This is a wonderful story. So, you were actually building this with your husband, with your life partner. Yes. What's it like to work together and, you know, build a life together?

I believe I have the best partner in both business and personal life. We have two children. One is 9 months old and the other is 2 and a half years old. I have a 6-month-old baby. Oh, that's good.

So they are that age. Yes, although I adore babies. I did n't like them before, but now I love them. But I think it's amazing. That is, I couldn't trust anyone more than him.

We have everything in common: two children, two jobs, two mortgages. This is great. And I also find it amazing that we are so different, well, just completely different. He is a completely different. He is a real Excel machine.

If necessary, he will build complex financial models. He's a doer, and I think I'm a doer, and I think I'm more of a visionary. I am the one who generates ideas. So that's good. We can discuss anything, but we always come to an agreement, which is good.

I am happy. And I think we all know that one of the hardest things about building a company or a startup company or a startup is the problems between the founders and how to solve them, and I think we're very good at that. I am very happy, and I think the industry is very grateful to you for bringing this fresh atmosphere to Europe and setting a new standard for what blockchain events can be blockchain events can be . Nastya, do you want to add anything for our viewers? No, I think that's all.

This is the tenth anniversary, see you next year for the eleventh. Thank you very much, Victoria. Thank you, Alena, and thank you everyone.