ChangeNOW Chief Strategy Officer Pauline Shangett Appears Across Consensus Miami 2026 Panels

At Consensus Miami 2026, ChangeNOW is taking part in multiple sessions organized by NOWNodes at the Miami Beach Convention Center’s “Meet Ups” zone, with the company’s Chief Strategy Officer Pauline Shangett appearing across May 5, May 6, and May 7.

“Trust in crypto remains biggest barrier to adoption, say Consensus Miami 2026 panelists Speakers point to complexity, poor user experience and lack of transparency as key obstacles for mainstream users”

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Coinpedia and Coinpaper both place ChangeNOW’s participation on May 6, saying the team joined “two back-to-backpanel discussions” organized by NOWNodes, and that the sessions focus on “infrastructure resilience, tokenization, and the real-world adoption challenges facing the industry today.”

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Coinpaper adds that the May 6 panels are held at the “Meet Ups” area of the Miami Beach Convention Center, and it ties the programming to a broader question of “what does it actually take to build systems people trust with their money?”

The Coinpedia account says Pauline Shangett will moderate the first session “in her role as Strategic Advisor to NOWNodes,” and it also lists her additional appearances at the Capital Markets Summit on May 5 for “onchain privacy and identity (11:25 AM)” and later that afternoon at “FQ Trust by Design: Building On-Chain Systems People Believe In” (1:20 PM).

Coinpedia further says that on May 7 she plans to attend “The Next Commodity Revolution: RWA Meets Instant Liquidity” at 4:40 PM.

Coinpaper similarly describes her May 5 schedule, listing “onchain privacy and identity (11:25 AM)” and “FQ Trust by Design: Building On-Chain Systems People Believe In” at 1:20 PM, before adding that she joins “The Next Commodity Revolution: RWA Meets Instant Liquidity” at 4:40 PM.

Across both accounts, ChangeNOW is described as a non-custodial cryptocurrency exchange that “never keeps your money,” supporting swaps across “more than 110 blockchains and more than 1,500 digital assets,” and serving “more than eight million users.”

The ChangeNOW-linked programming at Consensus Miami 2026 centers on tokenization and the operational reality of keeping systems consistent, with Coinpedia and Coinpaper both describing a first panel titled “Trust Under Pressure: Can Tokenized Systems Stay Consistent at Scale?”

Coinpedia says the session starts at 10:35 and runs until 11:10, and it names Pauline Shangett as the panel moderator alongside Kwon Park, Abi Dharshan, Vidor Gencel, and Philipp Zentner.

bitcoin.es

Coinpaper similarly states that the first session runs from 10:35 to 11:10 AM and is moderated by Pauline Shangett, with the panel featuring Kwon Park (Crypto.com), Abi Dharshan (Zerion), Vidor Gencel (Solflare), and Philipp Zentner (LI.FI).

Both accounts frame tokenization as no longer theoretical, with Coinpedia saying “Tokenization isn’t an experiment anymore” and describing “real users, real assets, real money at stake.”

Coinpaper likewise says “tokenization is no longer experimental” and that “inconsistencies in ownership data are not minor issues, they’re business-critical failures.”

Coinpedia adds that the panel is “deliberately confrontational,” asking “at what point does a data inconsistency become a board-level incident?” and “what’s the actual cost (not theoretical, but quantified) of one major failure?”

The same accounts connect these debates to ChangeNOW’s own operations, with Coinpaper saying “Its systems process cross-chain swaps daily, requiring consistent uptime, accurate real-time data, and secure execution: all without custody of assets.”

Immediately after the first session, ChangeNOW-linked coverage describes a second panel focused on whether tokenized real-world assets can deliver mass adoption, with Coinpedia and Coinpaper both giving the title, timing, and moderation details.

“Binance CEO CZ echoes Consensus panelists on the lack of privacy hindering cryptocurrency adoption”

CoinDesk

Coinpedia says the second panel is planned right after the first session and is titled “Selling Trust: Can RWA Deliver on the Promise of Mass Adoption?” with a time window from 11:15 to 11:45, moderated by Samuel Hood Burke (Chief Content Officer at CCN).

Coinpaper matches the same title and timing, stating “Immediately following, the second panel: “Selling Trust: Can RWA Deliver on the Promise of Mass Adoption?” runs from 11:15 to 11:45 AM,” and it again says it is moderated by Samuel Hood Burke (CCN).

Both accounts list the panelists in the second discussion, with Coinpedia naming speakers from Houdini Swap, TON Foundation, Paxos, and GlobalStake, and Coinpaper listing “speakers from Houdini Swap, TON Foundation, Paxos, and GlobalStake” as well.

Coinpedia describes the session as examining why “mass adoption hasn’t happened,” and it frames the panel as a search for reasons such as “Is it awareness? Liquidity? Regulation?” or whether “the industry pitching something users don’t actually want.”

Coinpaper similarly says the pitch for tokenized real-world assets “sounds compelling” but that “mass adoption hasn’t happened,” and it asks whether the bottleneck lies in “regulation, liquidity, awareness, or simply a mismatch between what’s being built and what users actually want.”

Coinpaper echoes that the sessions are organized by NOWNodes but “reflect broader challenges across the crypto industry,” and it says the NOW ecosystem is not at Consensus “to launch products or make announcements,” but to contribute to discussions that shape where the industry goes next.

Beyond ChangeNOW’s panels, CoinDesk’s Consensus Miami 2026 coverage ties adoption barriers to trust, transparency, and privacy, quoting panelists and institutions discussing why mainstream users and institutions hesitate.

The CoinDesk piece says “Trust in crypto remains biggest barrier to adoption, say Consensus Miami 2026 panelists,” and it reports that speakers point to “complexity, poor user experience and lack of transparency as key obstacles for mainstream users.”

Coinpaper

It also says panelists from Circle, U.S. Bank and ChangeNOW argued that “trust is earned through clear, simple user experiences, strong customer support and visible human interaction rather than technical claims alone.”

In the same CoinDesk reporting, Ali Tager of the National Cryptocurrency Association is quoted saying research shows “the number one barrier to non-crypto holders is they just do not get it,” and it attributes that to “complexity, jargon and misinformation.”

Britt Cambas of Circle is quoted saying “you are not going to get technical trust in 30 seconds,” and Rachel Castro of U.S. Bank says trust is central to financial services and “very easily broken,” adding that rebuilding it takes longer once lost.

Pauline Shangett of ChangeNOW is quoted saying “the primary factor of trust for me when it comes to a web3 project is a feeling that you are working with real people,” and the discussion is described as moderated by Ashley Wright.

Separately, CoinDesk’s privacy-focused article reports that Binance cofounder CZ echoed Consensus panelists on “the lack of privacy hindering cryptocurrency adoption,” and it frames transparency as a problem for both everyday use and institutional adoption.

Consensus Miami 2026 coverage also extends beyond ChangeNOW’s panels into other announcements and discussions, including Solana’s “Alpenglow” update and Xsolla’s Web3 and game commerce session.

“Sara is steadily working on cryptocurrency evaluations, news, and fluctuations in digital currency prices”

Coinpedia

In bitcoin.es’s report, Solana cofounder Anatoly Yakovenko says during remarks at Consensus Miami 2026 that the “Alpenglow” update could be implemented “in the final testing stages” and that “the mainnet deployment could occur in the next quarter.”

Coinpedia

The same article says “The 'Alpenglow' update has been one of the most discussed projects within the Solana community since it was first announced,” and it adds that Yakovenko said the update will “optimize transaction speed but also reduce operating costs for decentralized application (dApps) developers and validators.”

It further states that “One of the most technically relevant aspects of 'Alpenglow' is its focus on improving Solana’s consensus mechanism,” describing “changes in how validators process and confirm transactions.”

Separately, MEXC Exchange’s Business Wire release says Xsolla will host a featured panel session and an exclusive networking meetup at Consensus Miami 2026, with the conference dated “May 5 to 7, Miami Beach Convention Center.”

It specifies that Xsolla’s panel session is scheduled for Thursday, May 7, from “11:00 AM to 11:45 AM” as part of the “Blockchain Game Alliance” programming, and it names Rytis Joseph Jan as moderator.

The release quotes Chris Hewish, President at Xsolla, saying, “The internet solved for distribution, communication, and access at a global scale, but it never solved for ownership, identity, and trust,” and it also quotes him saying, “The first billion Web3 users will not come from financial applications,” adding, “They will come from games.”