Source: Peatix

This episode of Shibuya Web3 University is a special edition.

Our guest is Keita Nakamura, Representative Director and CEO of Mercin, Inc.

You can buy Bitcoin within the Mercari app.
No dedicated app or understanding of difficult terminology is required. Anyone can naturally interact with cryptocurrencies as an extension of a flea market app. Melcoin has been at the forefront of Web3 mass adoption in Japan.

Leading the company is Keita Nakamura, who started his career as a blockchain engineer at Mercari's research institute "R4D" and became CEO in his twenties. He is a rising star of this generation who has not merely conceived a plan to "create a new economy where diverse values circulate," but has instead implemented it into a product used by millions of people.

While our usual Shibuya Web3 University series features presentations from multiple companies, this time we're focusing solely on Keita Nakamura of Melcoin.

How far has the mass adoption of cryptocurrency trading progressed?
And what is the "circulation of all kinds of value, not limited to goods and money," that they envision beyond that?
How does Mercari Group, which operates one of Japan's largest marketplaces, view the rapidly emerging global trends such as NFTs and RWAs (tokenization of real assets)?

This will be a night where you're sure to hear stories you won't hear anywhere else.

And there's one more special feature this time.

This evening's session will be an interactive one, created together with the members of the Shibuya Web3 University Create course and everyone in the audience. Representing the Create course members, Shota Yamanaka, CEO of Delight Inc., will take the stage. With the motto "Joy begets more joy," he will discuss the future with Mr. Nakamura, as a business leader who supports corporate transformation in the AI and DX fields, and as a practitioner captivated by the potential of Web3.

The panel discussion will utilize Mentimeter to display questions and comments from the audience in real time. Whether you're just starting to learn about Web3 or already at the forefront, this evening will be about becoming a participant rather than just a listener.

Let's all talk with Keita Nakamura about the exciting future of Web3.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

■ Recommended for these people

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Those involved in Web3 and cryptocurrency businesses
✓ For those who want to hear directly from the top about the forefront of cryptocurrency mass adoption.
✓ For those who want to learn about the trends and possibilities of "digitalization of value," such as NFTs and RWAs.
✓ Those interested in Web3 strategies of major platforms

Business owners, new business development, and product development professionals
✓ For those who want hints on how to create "Web3 products that are actually used"
✓ For those who want to hear real stories from young business leaders who have risen to the top.

Those who want to discuss the future of Web3 together
✓ For those who want to participate in an interactive discussion and share their questions and opinions.
✓ Members of the Create and Study courses at Shibuya Web3 University, and those who want to connect with like-minded individuals who share the same vision for the future.
✓ We warmly welcome those who are learning about Shibuya Web3 University for the first time.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

■ Event details

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Date and time] Wednesday, September 16, 2026 18:00-20:30 (doors open 17:00)
*Important: On the day of the event, entry is only permitted until 7:30 PM. Please arrive before then.
[Venue] SHIBUYA SCRAMBLE SQUARE 45th floor, WeWork
[Address] 2-24-12 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (directly connected to Shibuya Station)
[Format] In-person participation (no online streaming available)
[Capacity] 100 people (participation approval required)
[Participation Fee] Free
[Items to bring] 1 business card

Beverages are available (craft beer, coffee, tea).
*Drinks are self-service. No food is provided.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

■ Program (tentative)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

17:00 Doors open
18:00-18:10 Opening
18:10-18:15 Introduction of Create Course Member (Shota Yamanaka): Delight Inc.'s Challenges and Thoughts on Web3
18:15-18:35 Keynote (Keita Nakamura): Melcoin's vision of a "new economy where diverse values circulate" - The current state of mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and what lies beyond.
18:35-19:35 Panel Discussion: "Let's talk about the exciting future of Web3 together" (Keita Nakamura x Shota Yamanaka x Audience)
*This is a concept for an interactive session that utilizes Mentimeter to display questions and comments from the audience while engaging in discussion.
19:35-19:40 Commemorative photo
19:40-19:45 Ending
19:45-20:30 Networking

*Time schedule is subject to change without notice.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
■ Speakers
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Keita Nakamura
Mercin Co., Ltd. Representative Director and CEO
While still a university student, I interned at CyberAgent, where I was involved in launching a programming education service, and at DeNA, where I worked on implementing an emotion analysis platform for their video service. After that, I interned at Mercari's research institute, "R4D." After joining the company as a new graduate in 2018, I worked as a blockchain engineer on the "mercariX" project being developed within R4D. Subsequently, I moved to Merpay, a group company, where I was in charge of distributed ledger development, the AML system team, and served as PM for new financial businesses (Credit Design). I joined Mercoin in April 2021, and after serving as Director and CPO of the Product division, I assumed my current position in April 2023.

▼Melcoin Co., Ltd.
https://about.mercoin.com/

[Moderator]
Shota Yamanaka
Delight Co., Ltd. Representative Director (Shibuya Web3 University Create Course)
Focusing on system development, DX, and AX, we support companies in improving business operations, utilizing digital technologies, and implementing AI. We view technology not merely as a means of efficiency, but as something that expands the potential of companies and people, and we strive every day to be a partner that supports transformation and growth. We are fascinated by the potential of blockchain and have a strong interest in the Web3 domain. We research the changes that new technologies bring to society and business every day, and we ourselves are constantly challenging ourselves. Our hobbies are soccer, triathlon, and sauna. Based on the belief that "a sound mind resides in a healthy body," we strive to maintain our physical condition every day.

▼Delight Co., Ltd.
https://delight-x.co.jp/

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
■ Organizers and collaborators
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Organizer] Shibuya Web3 University Co., Ltd.
[In cooperation with] Mercin, Inc. / Delight Inc.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

■ Important matters

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Regarding participation approval]
This event is by application only. Approved applicants will receive an email with instructions on how to enter the venue, starting one week before the event, to the email address they provided during registration.
Please be careful when entering your email address, as you will not be able to enter the venue if you make a mistake. If the email fails to be delivered, we may contact you via Peatix message.

【Cancellation policy】
As this event is being held in a space with limited capacity, please be sure to contact us via Peatix message at least two days in advance if you need to cancel.

【Notes】
・Please be careful not to make any mistakes when entering your email address.
The application deadline is 9:00 PM the day before the event (applications will close once the maximum number of participants is reached).
・Photography is allowed at the venue
The event will be recorded and photographed by members of Shibuya Web3 University and for publicity purposes. The photos will also be posted on social media.
・On the day of the event, admission is until 7:30 PM. Please arrive by then.

Shibuya Web3 University
https://www.shibuyaweb3univ.com/

Venue