Last updated 3 months ago
The problem of Cardano being out of discussion in broader circle of cryptocurrencies and blockchains, especially in the front of further adoption by institutions and enterprises.
Introduce Cardano into the first & leading tokenisation event in Japan and Asia, building connections with the other key players in the blockchain industry and enterprises/institutions.
Please provide your proposal title
Blockchain Summit 2026 Gold Sponsorship
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
60000
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
2
What is the problem you want to solve?
The problem of Cardano being out of discussion in broader circle of cryptocurrencies and blockchains, especially in the front of further adoption by institutions and enterprises.
Supporting links
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
Yes
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
The Summit is co-organised with Saison Capital. While the odds are slim, should they decide to cancel their participation, the Summit may not go as scheduled. However, in the case that the Summit is cancelled, the funds received will be returned.
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
No
Please provide details on the intellectual property (IP) status of your project outputs, including whether they will be released as open source or retained under another licence.
N/A
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal
Events
Who you’re targeting, how you’ll reach them, and why this matters for Cardano?
The Blockchain Summit 2026 is designed to attract a highly specialized and influential audience, primarily focused on institutional finance, regulation, and large-scale adoption.
Key target demographics include:
Decision-Makers and Innovators: The summit is unique because it brings together the builders, investors, regulators, and institutions actually driving the space forward.
Financial Institutions and Investors: The event is designed for both Japanese and international founders, investors, and financial institutions to engage deeply on real-world use cases.
Regulators and Banks: A key objective of the summit is convening regulators and institutions—specifically bringing together regulators, banks, investors and founders to co-design compliant, scalable digital financial infrastructure.
Industry Experts: The event will gather 300+ experts from Japan and Asia.
Collaborators: Attendees include Major banks, brokers, and Fintechs who are collaborating on real-world asset tokenisation and stablecoin trials.
The conversations at the summit will be centered on the Japan opportunity but also stretch beyond borders to discuss the latest happenings across Southeast Asia, Korea, the Middle East, and the United States of America.
Cardano's engagement with these targets is facilitated through securing the Gold Sponsorship and leveraging the strategic context of the event:
Direct Speaking Platform: The Gold Sponsorship tier provides one (1x) Panel Speaker Slot (from conversation history), which is the direct mechanism for Cardano representatives to introduce Cardano into the "breaking conversation in a major and loud way" (from conversation history).
Exclusive Networking: The summit is an invite-only forum within Japan Fintech Week. This structure ensures Curated Connections where meaningful partnerships form across institutions, innovators, and investors.
Brand Credibility and Visibility: By being a Gold Sponsor, Cardano's brand gains entitlement and visibility, including logo placement on the stage-backdrop and on-site event banners (from conversation history). This places Cardano in association with major partners like CREDIT SAISON and Pacific Meta.
Strategic Location: The summit is held at the Tekko Building in Marunouchi, the "Wall Street" of Tokyo, ensuring interaction happens within the physical center of Japan's financial industry.
Securing a major presence at the Blockchain Summit 2026 is strategically important for Cardano because it directly addresses the problem of Cardano being "out of discussion in the broader circle of cryptocurrencies and blockchains, especially in the front of further adoption by institutions and enterprises" (from conversation history).
The key strategic implications are:
$6 Trillion Opportunity: Japan, as the world's third-largest economy, is at an "once-in-a-generation inflection point" with a vast pool of financial assets ready for tokenisation, representing an opportunity of over US$6 trillion.
Regulatory Testbed: Japan leads Asia in clear digital asset rules and is pairing regulatory clarity with institutional readiness, creating the most credible testbed for tokenised finance in Asia. This focus on compliant and scalable infrastructure is vital for institutional adoption.
Alignment with Institutional Themes: The key themes of the summit are directly relevant to Cardano’s ambition to serve enterprise needs, focusing on Tokenised Assets & Institutional Markets, and Stablecoins & Digital Currency Adoption.
Co-host Support: The summit is co-hosted with Pacific Meta, which is the largest Tokyo-based Web3 accelerator and has provided blockchain-related consulting to major local institutions. Associating with such a credible local partner is crucial for navigating the Japanese market.
Bridging Institutional Strength and Innovation: The event serves to unite Japan’s institutional strength with global blockchain innovation, creating a trusted bridge for real-world assets and stablecoins.
Pathway to On-Chain Activity: This initiative aligns with Project Catalyst goals by demonstrating a Pathway to Adoption. By connecting Cardano with regulators and financial institutions at this high-level forum, the project aims to equip the ecosystem to enable future on-chain activity at the enterprise level.
Provide a list of key activities of your project:
The central activity of the summit involves discussions centered around four major themes driving the future of finance:
Payments & Cross-Border Settlements: Discussions will focus on how on-chain payments are redefining remittances, trade finance, and FX to create faster, cheaper, and interoperable rails across Asia and beyond.
Digital Infrastructure & Market Connectivity: Activities cover everything from core blockchain networks to custody, identity, and compliance layers that power new infrastructure across digital finance ecosystems.
Stablecoins & Digital Currency Adoption: Experts will discuss how clear rules are enabling regulated stablecoins, thereby bridging traditional finance with programmable money and on-chain liquidity.
Tokenised Assets & Institutional Markets: The core conversation involves how tokenization unlocks liquidity and access—from private credit to T-Bills—and transforms the creation and distribution of financial products.
These conversations are centered on the Japan opportunity but will also discuss the latest happenings across Southeast Asia, Korea, the Middle East, and the United States of America.
The organizers intend the Blockchain Summit to be "transformational" by focusing on three structural activities designed for maximum impact and connections that last:
Convening Regulators and Institutions: The summit's primary function is to bring regulators, banks, investors and founders together. This activity aims to co-design compliant, scalable digital financial infrastructure.
Curated Connections: The event is an invite-only forum within Japan Fintech Week, structured specifically so that meaningful partnerships form across institutions, innovators, and investors.
Bridging Japan and the World: The summit works to unite Japan's institutional strength with global blockchain innovation, thereby creating a trusted bridge for real-world assets and stablecoins. The conference will include live translation between Japanese and English.
The goal of the summit is to gather 300+ experts from Japan and Asia to discuss the future of Stablecoins, Tokenized Assets, and RWAs (Real World Assets).
Cardano's proposed involvement via the Gold Sponsorship directly secures a key activity within the event schedule: one (1x) Panel Speaker Slot [17, 18, Conversation History]. This activity allows Cardano representatives to directly participate in the high-level industry discussions mentioned above [Conversation History].
What are your success metrics?
The following are the main success metrics relevant to Cardano:
Further more, the event should achieve the following qualitative goals:
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
The proposed solution is securing the Gold Sponsorship tier for Cardano at the Blockchain Summit 2026 in Tokyo, Japan.
The core issue this initiative seeks to address is Cardano being out of discussion in the broader circle of cryptocurrencies and blockchains, especially in the front of further adoption by institutions and enterprises.
The solution involves funding the Gold Sponsorship for the Blockchain Summit 2026, which requires an investment of 25,000 USD (or 3,800,000 JPY). The aim is to "Introduce Cardano into this breaking conversation in a major and loud way, building connections with the other key players in the blockchain community and among institutional institutions".
The Gold Sponsorship package includes several key entitlements:
The Blockchain Summit is a one-day event taking place on February 25, 2026, at the Tekko Building in Tokyo, Japan, in the Marunouchi area, often referred to as the "Wall Street" of Tokyo. The event is part of Japan Fintech Week 2026 and is powered by CREDIT SAISON and Pacific Meta.
The solution addresses Cardano's lack of presence in institutional discussions by targeting a high-impact, institutionally-focused event in a critical region for tokenized finance.
The Blockchain Summit 2026 is specifically designed to bring together builders, investors, regulators, and institutions actually driving the space forward. It is explicitly designed for Japanese and international investors and financial institutions to engage deeply on real-world use cases. The conference is set to gather 300+ experts from Japan and Asia.
The event emphasizes:
By securing the Gold Sponsorship, Cardano gains a Panel Speaker Slot. This enables Cardano representatives to directly participate in the "breaking conversation" alongside key industry players, investors, and regulatory bodies. This direct involvement is crucial for inserting Cardano into the institutional discussion that it is currently "out of".
The sponsorship provides significant brand entitlement and visibility, including logos on the stage-backdrop, event website, and banners. This ensures that Cardano's brand is prominently displayed at an event co-hosted by the leading blockchain accelerator in Japan, Pacific Meta, which has experience supporting major projects and providing consulting to major local institutions. Japan itself is described as the world's third-largest economy, offering a vast pool of financial assets ready for tokenization (a $6T market opportunity), making it a credible testbed for tokenized finance in Asia.
In essence, positioning Cardano as a Gold Sponsor is intended to move Cardano from being absent in institutional discussions to being a visible, present, and participating voice within a strategically important, regulatory-ready, institutional forum.
The proposed solution acts like purchasing a dedicated booth and speaking spot at a high-level trade expo that only top industry executives and government officials attend. Instead of shouting messages into the general cryptocurrency crowd, the sponsorship ensures Cardano is standing directly among the key decision-makers (banks, regulators, and large institutions) who can facilitate real-world, enterprise-level adoption.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
The proposed project, securing Gold Sponsorship for Cardano at the Blockchain Summit 2026, is designed to have a significant positive impact on the wider Cardano community primarily by driving enterprise adoption, expanding Cardano's global footprint, and increasing the ecosystem's credibility in key financial markets.
This positive impact is defined by achieving objectives that align directly with the criteria for demonstrating Community Value and establishing a Pathway to Adoption.
The project directly addresses the problem of Cardano being "out of discussion in the broader circle of cryptocurrencies and blockchains, especially in the front of further adoption by institutions and enterprises" [Conversation History]. The positive impact lies in forcing Cardano into this conversation:
Accessing the $6 Trillion Opportunity: By positioning Cardano at the Blockchain Summit, the project aims to tap into Japan's vast pool of financial assets ready for tokenization, representing over US$6 trillion. Success in this market translates to major potential on-chain activity for the entire Cardano ecosystem.
Targeting the Right Audience: The summit is specifically designed to bring together builders, investors, regulators, and institutions actually driving the space forward. The positive impact is ensuring Cardano is introduced to these key players in a major and loud way, building connections with the other key players [Conversation History]. This fulfills the requirement to explain how the initiative will grow Cardano’s ecosystem and expand its global footprint.
Focusing on Core Needs: The summit's key themes—such as Tokenised Assets & Institutional Markets and Stablecoins & Digital Currency Adoption—are vital areas for institutional growth. The project places Cardano directly in discussions relevant to compliant, scalable digital financial infrastructure.
The project's success enhances the ecosystem's credibility, which is vital for attracting future developers, enterprises, and users:
Association with Institutional Partners: The summit is co-hosted with Pacific Meta, the largest Tokyo-based Web3 accelerator that has provided blockchain-related consulting to major local institutions. It is also powered by CREDIT SAISON and is part of Japan Fintech Week 2026 (organized by the Japan Financial Services Authority). Associating Cardano with these highly credible financial and regulatory entities validates the ecosystem for institutional partners.
Navigating Regulatory Clarity: Japan is considered the most credible testbed for tokenised finance in Asia because it is pairing regulatory clarity with institutional readiness. By participating (via the Panel Speaker Slot [17, 18, Conversation History]), Cardano demonstrates its commitment to operating within regulated, established financial frameworks.
Bridging Institutional Strength: The summit aims to unite Japan's institutional strength with global blockchain innovation. Cardano's presence helps cement its position as a trusted bridge for real-world assets and stablecoins.
The investment lays the necessary groundwork (the "Pathway to Adoption" requirement) for future on-chain activity for the community:
Enabling Future Enterprise Use Cases: By engaging banks, regulators, and fintechs, the project prepares the groundwork for institutions to utilize the Cardano blockchain for tokenization, stablecoin trials, and digital infrastructure. Future on-chain activity from these major players will benefit the entire community through increased network usage, transaction fees, and exposure.
Providing Public Outputs: While the Gold Sponsorship specifically covers branding and a speaking slot, the commitment to public outputs (such as event reports or educational content derived from the summit engagement) is a requirement for strong proposals. These outputs can be used by the wider community (educators, marketers, content creators) to promote Cardano's institutional readiness globally.
In summary, the positive impact on the Cardano community is the strategic elevation of the ecosystem's standing from being absent in high-level discussions to being a recognized, credible player actively seeking to enable multi-trillion dollar tokenized finance opportunities through regulatory engagement and institutional partnerships.
What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?
The organizers of the Blockchain Summit 2026 demonstrate a high capability for delivering the summit with trust and accountability through their prominent affiliations and extensive track record. The feasibility of the approach is validated by the organizers' strategic positioning within the Japanese institutional and regulatory landscape.
The trust and accountability of the organizers are strongly supported by their identity and demonstrated experience:
The Blockchain Summit is powered by and associated with significant, credible entities:
Powered By: The summit is powered by CREDIT SAISON and Pacific Meta.
Part of Japan Fintech Week: The event is part of Japan Fintech Week 2026. This week of events is organized by the Japan Financial Services Authority. This direct link to the primary financial regulator provides a high level of legitimacy and institutional focus.
The Blockchain Summit is co-hosted with the leading blockchain accelerator in Japan: Pacific Meta. Pacific Meta's verifiable experience indicates strong organizational capability and institutional trust:
Scale and Team: Pacific Meta is the largest Tokyo-based Web3 accelerator, featuring over 30 full-time professionals.
Institutional Consulting: Pacific Meta has provided blockchain-related consulting to major local institutions.
Project Support: They have supported 150+ projects across 23 countries, aiding protocols and brands to localize, launch, and grow in the Japanese Web3 market.
High-Profile Collaborations: Pacific Meta has facilitated high-profile collaborations such as STEPN GO x G-SHOCK (Casio), linking Web3 communities with Japanese iconic brands like CASIO and KDDI.
Event Track Record (IRL Achievements): Pacific Meta has a proven history of organizing 100+ events with 10,000+ total participants.
The organizers intend to validate the feasibility of their approach by ensuring the summit is strategically timed and targeted toward a specific, ready market with regulatory support. The validation hinges on three core pillars:
The organizers assert that Japan is at an "once-in-a-generation inflection point". This timing validates the feasibility of achieving high impact by focusing on:
$6 Trillion Market: Japan is the world's third-largest economy, with over US$6 trillion in financial assets ready for tokenisation. This substantial market size makes a targeted event feasible and highly desirable for institutional attendees.
Regulatory Clarity: Japan leads Asia in clear digital asset rules, having enacted stablecoin legislation and expanded tokenized securities sandboxes. This regulatory foundation ensures that the discussions around Tokenised Assets & Institutional Markets and Stablecoins & Digital Currency Adoption are practical and actionable, ensuring that the event brings together regulators and institutions to co-design compliant infrastructure.
The event’s structure validates its approach by eliminating casual attendance in favor of high-value connections:
Invite-Only Forum: The summit is an invite-only forum within Japan Fintech Week, ensuring Curated Connections where meaningful partnerships form across institutions, innovators, and investors. This selective nature validates that the goal of bringing together the builders, investors, regulators, and institutions actually driving the space forward is feasible.
Focus on Real-World Use Cases: The Blockchain Summit is specifically designed for both Japanese and international investors and financial institutions to engage deeply on real-world use cases.
The feasibility is demonstrated by existing high-level collaboration between major players:
The capability of the organizers, built on the foundations of the Japan Financial Services Authority's backing, the financial credibility of CREDIT SAISON, and the proven execution history of Pacific Meta, strongly suggests they can deliver the summit with high accountability and trust. The feasibility is validated by focusing the event on the actionable, regulated, multi-trillion dollar market opportunity in Japan.
Milestone Title
Confirmation of Speaker and Attendees from Cardano Ecosystem.
Milestone Outputs
##Premise
With the Gold sponsorship in Blockchain Summit 2026, a panel speaker slot is provided.
In order to make full use of the sponsorship, a representative from Cardano ecosystem should be filling the panel speaker slot.
##Output
Acceptance Criteria
Evidence of Completion
Announcement of the Panel Speaker representing Cardano ecosystem in the official channnels of Blockchain Summit, which could be in any of the following form:
Delivery Month
1
Cost
18000
Progress
30 %
Milestone Title
Fulfillment of Pre-event Exposure
Milestone Outputs
This milestone will comprise of the following outputs as written in the sponsorship deck of Blockchain Summit 2026 (Gold Sponsor)
Acceptance Criteria
Cardano's logo and the details of the panel speaker in Cardano ecosystem is announced properly in the following space:
Evidence of Completion
Provide the access (either in the form of a URL or PDF/png file) to the following items.
Delivery Month
1
Cost
33000
Milestone Title
Event completion
Milestone Outputs
The following outputs should be expected
and other information if appropriate for the proof of event conclusion.
Acceptance Criteria
All milestone outputs are fuliflled;
and proof of either of the following success metrics relevant to Cardano are achieved:
Evidence of Completion
The links to the following items:
Delivery Month
2
Cost
9000
Progress
100 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
The following are included in the Gold Sponsorship for Blockchain Summit 2026. Further cost breakdown is not available as it is sold as a package.
The Gold sponsorship package requires an investment of 25,000 USD, which is an equivalent to 60,000 ADA (assume 1 ADA = 0.417 USD) and includes the following:
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
The cost of the Blockchain Summit 2026 Gold Sponsorship, which is 25,000 USD (or 3,800,000 JPY), represents significant value for the Cardano ecosystem by providing direct, high-level access to institutional markets, regulatory engagement, and enhanced credibility in the critical Asian finance sector.
Here is how the cost is justified by the value delivered:
The sponsorship secures Cardano's presence at a pivotal moment in the world's third-largest economy:
Targeting Financial Institutions: The summit is designed for both Japanese and international investors and financial institutions to engage deeply on real-world use cases. Securing Gold Sponsorship ensures Cardano is present at this exclusive forum.
Tokenization Focus: Japan is described as being at an "once-in-a-generation inflection point," pairing regulatory clarity with institutional readiness to create the most credible testbed for tokenized finance in Asia. The market opportunity for financial assets ready for tokenization in Japan is over US$6 trillion. The summit's key themes explicitly include Tokenised Assets & Institutional Markets.
Strategic Location: The event is held at the Tekko Building in Marunouchi, known as the "Wall Street" of Tokyo. This location directly places Cardano's brand in the epicenter of Japan's financial industry.
The Gold Sponsorship package includes critical entitlements that facilitate direct relationship-building and influence:
Speaking Opportunity: The sponsorship includes one (1x) Panel Speaker Slot. This provides Cardano representatives a crucial platform to introduce Cardano into the discussion in a "major and loud way" and build connections with key players, investors, regulators, and financial institutions.
Targeted Audience: The summit aims to gather 300+ experts from Japan and Asia and is focused on bringing together builders, investors, regulators, and institutions actually driving the space forward. This focus ensures that the investment reaches the specific audience necessary to drive enterprise adoption, addressing the problem of Cardano being "out of discussion" in these circles.
Curated Connections: The summit is an invite-only forum within Japan Fintech Week, specifically designed for meaningful partnerships to form across institutions, innovators, and investors.
The sponsorship investment buys association with highly credible partners and established industry organizations:
Co-Hosting Credibility: The Blockchain Summit is co-hosted with Pacific Meta, which is described as the largest Tokyo-based Web3 accelerator. Pacific Meta has supported over 150 projects, provided blockchain-related consulting to major local institutions, and facilitated high-profile collaborations with Japanese brands like CASIO and KDDI.
Association with Major Networks: The event is powered by CREDIT SAISON and Pacific Meta, and is part of the broader Japan Fintech Week 2026, which is organized by the Japan Financial Services Authority. This association lends significant legitimacy and regulatory context to Cardano’s presence.
Brand Entitlement: The Gold Sponsorship ensures Cardano's logo is visible on the stage-backdrop and on-site event banners, reinforcing its status as a major participant within this institutional context.
From the perspective of a Project Catalyst funding mechanism (Cardano Open: Ecosystem), this investment aligns with the category's goal of funding non-technical initiatives, such as community events and local advocacy, that drive ecosystem growth, broaden Cardano’s reach, and demonstrate a clear Pathway to Adoption. By connecting Cardano with regulators and financial institutions (convening to co-design compliant, scalable digital financial infrastructure), the investment facilitates the crucial step of demonstrating how Cardano can enable future on-chain activity at the institutional level.
I confirm that the proposal is a non-technical initiative, with ≤20% of the budget for tech support.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal provides verifiable evidence (portfolio, links, reports) of the team's ability to deliver the project.
Yes
I confirm that the proposer and all team members are in good standing with prior Catalyst projects.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal includes clear objectives with both Output Metrics (what proposal did) and Adoption-Focused Metrics (what effect proposal had).
Yes
I confirm that the proposal clearly explains the user journey and provides a credible plan for how the project will equip and motivate users for future on-chain activity.
Yes
I confirm that the initiative clearly demonstrates how it will grow the Cardano ecosystem or onboard users.
Yes
I confirm that the project plan and timeline (≤ 12 months) are realistic and well-defined.
Yes
I confirm that the proposal commits to public outputs and justifies any exceptions.
Yes
I confirm that the budget adheres to all policies: it is for future work, follows the merchandise rule, and excludes establishing local treasuries, incentives/giveaways, re-grants.
Yes
I Agree
Yes
The project team will comprise of members from Pacific Meta.
Here are the short profile of some participating members (*Please understand that there may be changes to the team formation):
三宅 悠介 (Yusuke Miyake), Co-Founder and Head of Operation, graduated from Keio University. After serving as an officer and marketing manager during his job hunting period, he co-founded Pacific Meta. He is currently responsible for overseeing and managing all of the company's operations.
邵 鴻成 (Kousei Sho), Co-Founder and Head of Global Business Development, has experience in Corporate Branding at ByteDance (Shanghai) and Business Development at Onedot Inc. He joined Pacific Meta in 2022, specializing in global business development and leveraging his experience in Sino-Japanese relations to manage business development with domestic and international partners.
武田 康平 (Kohei Takeda), Branding Strategy Director, has experience as an account planner at CyberAgent and served as Sales Manager and General Manager of the Nagoya branch at Makuake Inc. He joined Pacific Meta in 2025 to oversee Marketing, PR, and Brand Strategy, and supports the Japanese market entry for overseas projects.
アンディ・ホン (Andy Hung), Head of Alliance, previously worked in overseas business promotion at Ōji Management Office and handled cross-border M&A at Yamada Consulting Group. Currently, he is in charge of Brand Strategy at Pacific Meta, with notable experience in planning Japan-Global exchange events and facilitating collaboration between major Japanese companies and global Web3 projects.
※Current member of Intersect Growth and Marketing Committee.
森 大 (Dai Mori), Manager, held roles in store operations, sales, and planning at MARUYAMA MFG. CO., INC. from 2015, focusing on new business development. He joined Pacific Meta in 2024, contributing to Marketing and serving as a Business Partner, where he supports the Japan expansion of overseas Web3 projects and manages offline event negotiations.
福島 豪 (Go Fukushima), Associate, worked in the sales department for functional base materials at Nichito Electric Co., Ltd. He joined Pacific Meta in 2025 as a Business Partner, primarily focusing on supporting the Japan expansion of overseas Web3 projects through recognition acquisition activities and managing multiple offline events.