2026 has started with a bang. Following the political shocks caused by new tariffs in 2025, the year opened with waves of unpredictable geopolitics, rippling through the economy. This January, Switzerland finds itself at the center of this political spotlight offering invaluable insights into global politics and their impact on financial markets.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, a longstanding nexus of political and economic power, will once again draw heads of state and influential figures, including the anticipated appearance of Donald Trump. At the same time, the CFC (Crypto Finance Conference) in St. Moritz will turn its focus to the major challenges facing central banks and the profound transformations underway in monetary policy.

Alongside current political themes, the exclusive conferences are also spotlighting new and unconventional investment opportunities, ranging from asteroid mining to a European digital currency. The focus is on developments that could fundamentally reshape the global economic paradigm. 

Marc Bernegger, co-founder of the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz, the Longevity Investors Lunch, and the Future Investments Circle in Davos, offers insights into some of the most exciting and unconventional investment themes and trends being discussed at the exclusive events in Davos and St. Moritz.

A New Cosmos

The extraction of raw materials from asteroids is increasingly becoming a topic of interest among investors. (Image: Pixabay)

It is perhaps unsurprising that in tandem with the popularity of AI, a different futuristic topic, outer space, is rapidly gaining momentum. It seems as if one of the major topics of the future economy discussed at the conferences will largely be outside the earth’s orbit. The space economy is on track to exceed $1.8 trillion by 2035. This is one of the reasons why Bernegger recently launched the Future Investments Circle, which will make its debut in Davos this year. The event has compiled presentations of the most important industry trends, many of which push well beyond what is considered conventional.

One such frontier is asteroid mining, which involves spacecraft extracting raw materials from asteroids and returning them to Earth. At the moment, a lot of asteroid mining is focused on gold, Bernegger shares. «Gold and, to some extent, other materials such as rare earths are relatively abundant in space,» he says. For investors, these ventures open entirely new markets that could reshape global commodities in the decades ahead.

A further emerging thematic that will be eagerly discussed at the event is that of commercial space tourism. Bernegger likens this to the early days of aviation.

«When people first flew to New York, many said it would never happen,» he says. «Eventually, there will come a time when we look back and say that it's actually quite normal to take a trip to space if you want to. Of course, at first it won’t be accessible to everyone,» he states. 

Beyond tourism and resource extraction, discussions will also cover the lunar economy, the science of populating the moon and the fast-growing zero-gravity industry.

«When you’re in zero gravity, all the chemical and biological processes are different, simply because you’re weightless. Today, there are already quite a few companies that are conducting experiments and studying molecules in space,» says Bernegger.