Michael serves as Chairman of Consensus where he leads strategy, partnership, and development efforts for CoinDesk’s flagship cryptocurrency, blockchain, and Web3 conference. In addition, he is responsible for global business development efforts across the Bullish group ecosystem including the regulated Bullish Exchange, CoinDesk, and Coindesk Data in his role as Senior Vice President, Group Head of Business Development at Bullish. As Chairman of Consensus, Michael was at the helm of the inaugural Consensus Hong Kong conference in February 2025, which attracted nearly 10,000 attendees from over 100 countries to attend one of the most significant crypto conferences globally. Consensus Hong Kong hosted over 300 speakers, generated over 350 side events, generated an estimated HKD $275M in economic impact for Hong Kong, and garnered significant government interest including a specific named mention in the Hong Kong Financial Secretary’s 2025-2026 Budget Speech. Michael joined the financial services division in early 2020 to lead the institutional sales and marketing of the crypto exchange product that is now known as Bullish. He has held several roles at Bullish and was most recently Senior Vice President, Global Head of Sales. Michael holds over a decade of experience in traditional capital markets. He previously served as Global Chief Marketing Officer of CLSA, a leading capital markets and investment group, where he spearheaded marketing initiatives for the firm’s alternative asset management, corporate finance, capital markets, securities, and wealth management products and services. Michael’s experience spans his role as Chief Operating Officer, Equity Advisory at CLSA as well as several positions within the equities business at J.P. Morgan Originally from Canada, Michael holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto, a Postgraduate Diploma in Strategy & Innovation from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, and a certificate of participation in the Chief Marketing Officer Program from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Session

Panel

Stable Stage

CeDeFi Is Back: How Exchanges Are Going Onchain

Tuesday, Sep. 23

11:20 AM - 11:40 AM

Michael Lau+3