Kitty Horlick

Keynote Speaker

Kitty Horlick's Biography

Kitty Horlick is the founder of Blackwood, a consultancy firm focused on onboarding traditional businesses into web3 and its associated technologies including blockchain, NFTs, the metaverse and cryptocurrencies.

As well as running Blackwood, Kitty remains closely involved in a selection of web 3 projects. She is a Director at Rarify Services which develops the protocols and infrastructure required to transfer NFTs and cryptocurrencies between blockchains.

Kitty has a particular interest in digital fine art and the NFT market and writes bi-monthly columns for gallery Unit London. Her writing addresses topics including the rise of AI in art, using NFTs to improve provenance and establish authenticity, and distinguishing between digital fine art and other NFT use cases.

Kitty is a long-term adopter of and investor in cryptocurrencies and NFTs with over five years of experience in the space. As early as 2017, she joined Ehab – a start-up devoted to revolutionising the construction industry through blockchain. She is an insider, deeply embedded in the industry and with her finger closely on the pulse of the latest trends and challenges.

Though a deep believer in the disruptive potentials of blockchain, the metaverse, and NFTs, Kitty is not an evangelist. Her focus as a speaker and consultant is on communicating both the possibilities and the limitations of these technologies so that audiences and companies can make informed decisions about exactly how their businesses can create value and tackle the challenges of this promising, competitive industry.

She covers topics including but not limited to identifying key metaverse products; the technological advances required to power a fully-fledged metaverse; common misconceptions and errors; the drivers of investment; rising and future trends within the metaverse, NFTs, and the broader crypto-sphere; the evolution of consumer behaviour; and the role of financial institutions. She provides detailed case studies of both successful and unsuccessful NFT and metaverse project launches to shed light on what works and what doesn’t.

She is adept at communicating what the metaverse, NFTs and other web3 technologies are, how they work and where their value lies.

In addition to her background in blockchain, Kitty is an experienced communications expert and a vivid storyteller. She has worked as a PR executive for Portland Communications, and a multi-media journalist, writing for publications such as The Sunday Times and producing award-winning documentaries.

Blackwood was born out of her frustration that the web3 industry’s growth was being stunted by a lack of clear and relatable expert guidance on its central products of blockchain, the metaverse and NFTs.

As well as providing powerful insights into the possibilities of the metaverse, Kitty suffuses her talks with gripping anecdotes from her on-the-ground experience in the wild world of blockchain, most recently, for instance, staying with bitcoin-mining cow herds in the Caucus mountains.

Testimonials 

Kitty, thank you so much for your participation in our Road to the Metaverse event. It was a great discussion which benefited hugely from your expertise and  was very well received by everyone.

- Katie O'Brien - Sanctuary Counsel