On Wednesday, February 18th, 2026, The Tie will host our Innovate event, InnovateDenver. Innovate is an event series presented by The Tie at crypto’s major conferences, where investors and builders come together to engage in discussions that strengthen the industry’s momentum and increase interest in digital assets. The event series features three key pillars: networking with top-tier industry professionals, expert-led panels, and opportunities for 1:1 meetings with blockchain innovators. InnovateDenver was the first of these invitation-only events at ETHDenver 2024.
2026 Speakers
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Chris Ahn
Haun Ventures
Partner
Omar Azhar
Matter Labs
VP, Head of Business Development
Gerard Barile
Wave Digital Assets
Principal
Dr. Benjamin Beckmann
Midnight Foundation
Chief Technical Adviser
Justin Chuh
Polychain Capital
Head of Trading
Justin Cohen
J.P. Morgan
Managing Director - Head of EDG & SI Product Development
Gideon Daitz
Three Point Capital
Partner
David Duong
Coinbase
Global Head of Investment Research
Lee Fan
Avenir Group
Head of US / Managing Partner
Eunice Giarta
Monad
Co-Founder, GM of Monad Foundation
Jared Hedglin
Re7 Capital
BD and Partnerships
Jeremy Huff
No Limit Holdings
Founding Partner
Omar Kanji
Dragonfly
Partner
Wyatt Khosrowshahi
Castle Island Ventures
Investor
Timothy Khoury
Lightspeed Faction
Partner
Ayesha Kiani
Monarq Asset Management
Chief Operating Officer
Baek Kim
HASHED
General Partner
Jonathan (JK) King
Coinbase Ventures
Senior Manager, Investments
Thomas Klocanas
Strobe Ventures
Managing Partner
Matt Kummell
NEAR Foundation
Chief Commercial Officer
Jacqueline Kwok
DCG
Head of Platform
Melvis Langyintuo
Canton Foundation
Executive Director
Steve Lee
Neoclassic Capital
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Jake Lynch
Former L1D
Investment Partner
Juan David Mendieta
Keyrock
CSO and Co-founder
Chuck Mounts
S&P Global
Chief DeFi Officer
James Newman, CFA
Republic
Managing Partner - Fund Manager, Global COO & European CEO
Stuti Pandey
Triton Capital
Partner
Kayla Phillips
Hivemind Capital
Senior Investment Principal
Jenna Pilgrim
CoinFund
Head of Portfolio Growth
Matthew Schmenk
Ava Labs
Senior Growth Associate
David Sedacca
Polkadot Capital Group/ Parity Technologies
Lead / Director of Finance
Rena Shah
Stacks Endowment
COO
Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary
Grayscale
Managing Director, Head of Product and Research
Aryan Sheikhalian
CMT Digital
Investor & Head of Research
Maria Shen
Electric Capital
General Partner
Germán Soto Sanchez
Broadridge Financial Solutions
Chief Product and Strategy Officer
Matt Szenics
ME Foundation
Director
Katie Talati
Arca
Director of Research
Carl Vogel
6th Man Ventures
General Partner
Ben Werkman
Strive Inc
Chief Investment Officer
Richard Widmann
Google
Head of Strategy, Web3
Crypto VCs Have Scale, Liquid Funds Do Not. What Are the Implications and Can This Change?
You Just Raised a $500M VC Fund, In This Cycle is It Even Possible to Generate a Return for LPs?
Are Airdrops and Incentives Fueling Real Adoption or Just Phantom Users?
From ETFs to Treasury Strategies — What’s the Next Institutional Trade in Crypto?
Do Venture-Backed Tokens Create Uninvestable Post-Launch Dynamics?
Buybacks, TVL, Users, Revenue, Liquidity, Community: Which Metrics Actually Matter?
The Real Moat Debate: Are Chains Competing on Tech, Brand, or Balance Sheet?
Confidential by Design: How Privacy Protocols and Chains Are Unlocking Institutional Use Cases
AI × Crypto: Essential Fusion or Forced Marriage?
Speculation Built Crypto, but Can Utility Sustain It Through the Next Decade?
Layered Yield: Are We Stacking Productivity or Just Stacking Risk?
How Can Protocols Build Sustainably When Crypto Narratives Constantly Rotate?
Tokenomics in 2026, What Bull and Bear Markets of Past Can Teach us About Sustainable Token Design
The Push to Tokenize Everything: Which Use Cases Demand It, and Which Clearly Don’t?
Equity vs. Tokens: Are Conflicting Priorities Killing Crypto as an Investable Asset Class?
Blockchain Partners & Sponsors
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