From ETPs to staking: taking advantage of on-chain finance
European Director
Gerry Afentakis is Managing Director, Europe and Board Member of Zodia Custody (Europe) SA at Zodia Custody, roles he has held since January 2025 and March 2025 respectively. In his capacity as Director of European Operations, he has spoken publicly on Zodia Custody's positioning in digital asset custody, articulating the firm's rationale for separating custody from trading functions—a structure Standard Chartered designed in response to counterparty risk concerns illustrated by the collapse of FTX. Zodia Custody was established by Standard Chartered in 2020 and counts Northern Trust, Emirates NBD Bank, National Australia Bank, and SBI Holdings among its shareholders.
Prior to his current role, Afentakis served as Head of Europe and MENA Sales at Zodia Custody from June 2023 to January 2025. Before joining Zodia Custody, he was Head of Asset and Wealth Management, Europe at Matrixport from 2022. Earlier career positions include Chief Strategy Officer and Partner at EFA Invest from 2015 to 2020, Chief Operating Officer at NaRaYa from 2013 to 2015, and Head of Product Development at EFA Group from 2010. His stated professional background spans over 20 years in institutional sales strategy, with experience across digital assets, private credit, and Islamic finance. He has built and led teams and holds board-level governance experience across multiple jurisdictions, including exposure to FCA and CSSF regulatory frameworks. Afentakis attended Brown University and Harrow School.
Meet other people
EMEA Head of Fintech Coverage, HSBC
Jenni Himberg-Wild is a Managing Director at HSBC covering the fintech sector across EMEA. With around two decades of experience in corporate and transaction banking, she previously served as Managing Director, Head of Financial Institutions & Fintech Europe at Barclays. She is a regular speaker at industry events such as Money20/20 Europe and PAY360.
Head of Digital Assets and Currencies, Global Macro, HSBC
Bugra Celik leads HSBC's digital assets and currencies work within Global Macro in Hong Kong, after previously serving as Director of Digital Assets in Global Private Banking & Wealth. A digital product professional with 16+ years across telecoms, e-commerce and financial services (Turkcell, Mox Bank, Liv. by Emirates NBD, OSL), he works on tokenization, stablecoin and CBDC initiatives, including HSBC's tokenized gold products in Hong Kong.
Global Head of Digital Money, HSBC
Lewis Sun is HSBC's Global Head of Digital Money and Global Head of Domestic & Emerging Payments within Global Payments Solutions, based in Hong Kong. He joined HSBC in 2002 as a Product Manager in mainland China and has held senior payments roles including Head of GPS for HSBC China and Regional Head of Product Management for Asia Pacific. He is a frequent speaker on digital money, CBDCs and tokenized deposits at Sibos and the Singapore FinTech Festival.
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