Yoshitaka Kitao is the President and CEO of SBI Holdings Inc. He earned degrees from both Keio University (1974) and Cambridge University (1978). Prior to his role at SBI, he has held multiple positions within Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. (1974-1995) as well as Softbank Corporation (1995-1999). Kitao became the Representative Director, President of SOFTBANK INVESTMENT CORPORATION, currently SBI Holdings Inc., in 1999, and has led the company to become one of the biggest financial conglomerate in Japan.

Nischint is the head of Digital Currencies in Asia Pacific for Visa. Based in Singapore, he oversees Visa’s digital currency business performance in Asia Pacific, including partnership strategies and developing new crypto business streams for Visa’s Digital Currencies business. Nischint is a subject matter expert on digital currency and web 3.0 engagements with key stakeholders such as banks, fintechs, regulators and blockchain infrastructure companies. As part of his portfolio, he is also responsible for emerging Central Bank Digital Currency and tokenized deposit products, leading Visa’s go-to-market efforts in the region. Nischint has over 22 years of experience in financial services having worked across multiple streams through the years.

Ashok leads the Blockchain and Digital Assets Practice for APAC region. In this role, he works closely with Mastercard clients to develop a digital currency and blockchain strategy and product roadmap. He has deep understanding of the digital currency ecosystem and its need to be interoperable to current environments. Prior to Mastercard, he led the Customer Experience and Digital Strategy practice for EY Singapore focusing on Banking and Capital Markets.
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Katherine Dowling is on the Executive Management team and is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Bitwise Asset Management. She previously served in General Counsel, CCO, and COO roles at several financial and private equity firms, and was a co-founder, Managing Director and COO of Luminate Capital Partners, a software private equity firm in San Francisco. A Harvard Law School graduate, Ms. Dowling spent over a decade as a federal prosecutor, most recently in the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, where she worked with the FBI, SEC, IRS and other agencies to prosecute insider trading, fraud, and money laundering cases, among others. She serves on the boards of two non-profit organizations.

Beju Shah is Head of Nordics for the Bank for International Settlements' (BIS) Innovation Hub. He leads a team of experts in cybersecurity, payments, artificial intelligence and new forms of money to deliver cutting edge insights on technology to the global central bank community on critical topics such as the future of Financial Crime Prevention, Cybersecurity and Resilience, and the Future of Money and Payments. Before the BIS, Beju was at the Bank of England for 10 years leading on large digital and business transformation programmes as well as many international initiatives.

Takashi Takamura is the Country Head of Franklin Templeton Japan since 2024. Previously, He held senior management roles at major asset management firms in Japan. His career began at Mitsui Trust & Banking Company, followed by positions at Arthur Andersen, UBS, and Citigroup Asset Management. As President and CEO of State Street Global Advisors (SSGA, 2017-2024), he led growth strategies in Japan, establishing a top position in the domestic pension market, pioneering ESG initiatives, and focusing on global projects. Before SSGA, he was Head of Distribution at Capital International Japan. He holds a B.A. from Keio University and a Master of Public & Private Management from the Yale School of Management. He is also an Executive Committee member of the International Bankers Association of Japan (IBA Japan).

Joining SMBC (Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation) in 1990, Akio Isowa was engaged in corporate banking, legal affairs, corporate planning, human resources management. He established the Retail Marketing Department and IT Strategy Department as the General Manager and led the debit card business, and the UX project of their internet banking app. As the head of Transaction Business Division, he led product and sales planning for online payment services such as Bank Pay and Cotra. Since 2023, he has been leading digital innovation of the SMBC Group as the Chief Digital Innovation Officer.

Samson Mow is best known for his work with El Salvador's Bitcoin initiatives and his efforts in nation-state Bitcoin adoption around the world. As one of the top executives in the Bitcoin ecosystem, his expertise spans from running one of the largest exchanges and mining pools when he was the COO of BTCC, to guiding the development and deployment of Bitcoin infrastructure as the CSO of Blockstream. A prominent Small-Blocker in the Block Size Wars, Samson fought to keep Bitcoin decentralized and prevent a potential takeover of the protocol. Now, he leads JAN3 as its Founder and CEO.

Masaki joined the Bank of Japan in 1994. He has been in his current position since 2024. In 2021-2024, as Head of FinTech Center in Payment and Settlement Systems Department, he led projects for innovation in payment systems, such as CBDC and use of DLTs in payment infrastructures, representing the Bank in international forums. His career at the Bank also includes research at foreign offices (London, Frankfurt), legal services/studies, reserve management, and rulemaking at subcommittees of the Basel Committee. He received an LL.M. from the University of Virginia (1999) and an LL.B. from Kyoto University (1994).

Eiji Kobayashi is Country Head, Japan of Securitize, Inc., the leader in tokenizing real-world assets, driving the compliant digitization of financial assets through next-generation blockchain technology. Eiji started his investment banking career on Wall Street with Merrill Lynch and then moved to Goldman Sachs. After four years in New York, he was relocated to Tokyo where he worked at Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank. He then took leadership roles at American Express, Mastercard, Western Union and a European insurtech start-up. Eiji joined Securitize in February 2020, and is a member of the Executive Committee at Securitize, Inc.. Eiji has an A.B. degree in Mathematical Economics from Brown University and M.B.A. from The University of Chicago. Eiji was appointed as Director of Japan Security Token Association in August 2022.

CEO of Diamond Hands, Japan’s premier Bitcoin consulting and business development firm. He's also leading business expansion of Blockstream in Japan as a brand ambassador. Koji has been involved with Bitcoin since 2014 and is known as one of the key contributors to the Bitcoin ecosystem in Japan and beyond. He has extensive experience in marketing, content creation, product development and community management in the Bitcoin and crypto industry.

Henry Zhang has over 20 years of senior leadership experience at global financial institutions, including serving as Deputy CEO of China at Citibank and Standard Chartered, and CEO of Greater China at East West Bank.

In 2022, he founded DigiFT in Singapore—a next-generation platform for the tokenization, trading, and distribution of institutional-grade real-world assets (RWAs). Licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), DigiFT plays an active role in advancing an open economy and is a trusted tokenization and distribution partner for global asset managers like Invesco and UBS-AM.

・Education
1985 Graduated from CSE of ENA(France)
1982 Graduated from the Faculty of Law, The
University of Tokyo
・Career
2023- Acting Chairperson (senior) Policy Research
Council
2022- Deputy Secretary-General, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
Chairperson, Research Commission on the Finance and Banking Systems
2019- Acting Chairperson, General Council, LDP
Chairperson, Special Committee on Foreign Workers, LDP
2018-2019
Minister of State for Regional Revitalization
Minister of State for Regulatory Reform
Minister of State for Gender Equality
Minister in charge of Women's Empowerment Minister in charge of Regional
Revitalization
2016 Acting chairman, Policy Research Council, LDP
2015 Vice-chairman, General Council, LDP
2014 Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, House of Councillors (HC)
2013 Director, Environment Division, LDP
2012 Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications
2010 Elected to the member of the House of Councillors
2005 Elected for the first time as a member of the 44th House of Representatives
(Shizuoka 7th District)
Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
2004 Budget Examiner, Budget Bureau, Ministry of Finance
2003 Director for Legal Affairs, Budget Bureau, Ministry of Finance
1989 Director, Kaita Regional Tax Office

Bill to ensure a safe and secure environment for women in women’s space
１．Background and Objectives
 In October 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the provision that requires "the absence of
gonads or a permanent lack of gonad function" in the law that stipulates the conditions for
gender change in Japan is unconstitutional.
 In response to this, concerns have been raised that "men who identify themselves as
women may enter women's restrooms and commit crimes," and that "women's safety and
security may be at risk."
 In response to these concerns, we are considering submitting the bill to ensure a safe and
secure environment for women.
２．Outline of the bill
 For public baths and changing rooms etc., which are used by many people without wearing
clothes, measures will be taken by the relevant ministries and managers of such facilities,
regarding the separate use of facilities by men and women, based on the premise that men
and women are distinguished by physical characteristics.
 In facilities that are normally used by men and women separately, such as restrooms,
managers of such facilities will be required to make efforts to take necessary measures,
such as providing necessary equipments and patrols, to ensure a safe and secure
environment for women to use the facilities.