As the digital-asset ecosystem matures, banks are exploring how to bring the trust and stability of traditional deposits onto new digital rails. Tokenized deposits—bank-issued, blockchain-based representations of fiat money—could redefine payments, liquidity, and market infrastructure. This session brings together leading voices from the banking and crypto worlds to examine how tokenized deposits can bridge TradFi and DeFi, enabling 24/7 settlement, programmable payments, and more efficient markets—without compromising on compliance or safety. Among the things the panel will discuss:

• What’s driving the interest in tokenized deposits now
• How tokenized deposits differ from stablecoins and CBDCs
• Whether tokenized deposits a defensive move—or an offensive innovation strategy for banks?
• What are the biggest operational and technology hurdles to tokenizing deposits within a regulated bank environment?
• How would tokenized deposits change interbank settlement, liquidity management, or treasury operations?
• Could tokenized deposits make correspondent banking and cross-border payments obsolete?
• How are tokenized deposits likely to coexist with stablecoins and CBDCs?

As stablecoins become poised to potentially dominate the settlement rail for on-chain finance, traditional financial institutions face a strategic inflection point: how to build, deploy, and scale an institutional-grade stablecoin strategy that positions them for leadership rather than displacement. With regulatory clarity increasing, tokenization infrastructures maturing, and corporate demand for real-time programmable liquidity rising, stablecoins are shifting rapidly from experimental to essential—and financial institutions must determine their strategic path forward.

The other significant challenge: TradFi technology stacks were not designed for on-chain operations, 24/7 liquidity, tokenized liabilities, or smart contract execution. A financial institution that wants to issue, support, or integrate stablecoins must build capabilities across five major infrastructure layers, each with subcomponents and strategic decisions.
This session brings together TradFi and crypto leaders to explore what it truly takes for a financial institution to operate on-chain. The panel will examine strategic decision-making around issuing versus partnering, the technical and operational infrastructure required to support regulated stablecoins, and how to safely integrate stablecoins into core banking, treasury, payments, and capital markets workflows.

The panel will also focus on liquidity models, interoperability between public and permissioned chains, risk and compliance frameworks, and the emerging business models that will shape competitive advantage. Panelists will share insights on how to sequence a stablecoin roadmap, where early value emerges for clients, and how to organize internally for execution across technology, risk, legal and treasury functions. Key points of the discussion will include:

• The strategic rationale and business case for stablecoins in 2026, 2027 and beyond.
• The bank infrastructure stack needed to issue, distribute, and manage stablecoins.
• Operating models and governance practices that meet bank-grade regulatory, risk, and compliance requirements.
• Practical lessons from early adopters, including liquidity design, chain selection, and integration with tokenized assets and payments rails.
• How to build an on-chain presence that enhances competitiveness, strengthens client offerings, and unlocks new revenue and settlement models.

Rewiring Finance: Modernizing Market Infrastructure for an On-Chain Future

Global financial markets are undergoing a foundational transformation. Legacy systems built decades ago are being challenged by new technologies—from distributed ledgers and real-time settlement rails to AI-powered risk management and tokenized assets. Market participants, regulators, and infrastructure providers now face a shared imperative: how to modernize safely, efficiently, and collaboratively.

This one-on-one interview will explore how market infrastructure is evolving, and what modernization really means for liquidity, efficiency, and resiliency, including:

• Integrating modern infrastructure—DLT, cloud, and digital assets—into existing market systems.
• Balancing innovation with regulatory and operational risk management.
• The future of settlement, clearing, and custody in a tokenized economy.
• Public-private collaboration: how institutions and regulators can shape the new financial rails.
• The business case for modernization: efficiency gains, transparency, and access.

The line between crypto and traditional finance is blurring—but compliance remains the bridge. As global regulators introduce new standards for digital asset activities, both established financial institutions and crypto-native firms face mounting pressure to adapt. This working group examines the technologies, partnerships, and governance models shaping the next generation of regulatory compliance; how AI, blockchain analytics, and real-time reporting tools can strengthen oversight and transparency; and what lessons TradFi and DeFi learn from each other. Discussion points will include:

• The institutionalization of digital assets: how banks, asset managers, and payment firms are entering the space.
• The need for unified compliance frameworks as tokenized assets, stablecoins, and digital securities blur boundaries.
• The challenge: balancing innovation with investor protection, market integrity, and financial stability.
• Key developments in the regulatory landscape
• SEC/CFTC jurisdictional tensions, stablecoin legislation, and custody rules, plus global considerations

For TradFi leaders, meaningful participation in digital assets and on-chain finance depends on the infrastructure decisions they make long before products are launched. This working group focuses on the foundational capabilities—governance, custody, ledger architecture, risk, compliance, and operating models—that must be put in place to support real value, real clients, and real regulatory scrutiny. Rather than debating technologies or market hype, participants will pressure-test how today’s infrastructure choices lock in future control, scalability, and accountability, and identify what must be built now to position their institutions as credible, long-term stakeholders in on-chain financial markets. Discussion points include:

• Defining digital asset infrastructure and setting a common baseline to avoid misalignment.
• Infrastructure vs. products vs. pilots.
• Digital assets as financial infrastructure, not an innovation sandbox.
• Governance for 24/7, irreversible, code-based markets.
• Decision ownership across business, risk, compliance, and technology.
• Mapping infrastructure components to regulatory expectations.
• Custody, safeguarding, AML/KYC, and reporting requirements.
• Key management models and control frameworks to ensure custody is the anchor point.
• On-chain vs. off-chain ledgers and synchronization.
• Permissioned vs. public blockchain considerations.
• Data consistency, reconciliation, and source of truth.
• Interoperability across chains and legacy systems.
• Identity, access, and compliance by design to underpin trust.
• Risk management in real time.
• Ownership across technology, operations, risk, and business.
• New roles and skill sets required.
• Breaking silos between digital asset teams and core functions.

Digital assets are moving rapidly from the fringes of speculation into the mainstream of wealth management, reshaping portfolios, operating models and client expectations. As institutional adoption accelerates and tokenization, regulated products, and new custody models emerge, executive leaders in wealth management face critical decisions about how digital assets—from ETFs and tokenized funds to blockchain-enabled infrastructure—fit into portfolio construction to enhance client engagement.

The generational wealth transfer currently underway and the greater expectations of digitally savvy Millennials and Gen Z investors are further accelerating the strategic opportunity with digital assets, but TradFi executives need to be clear in what they aim to achieve with them as part of wealth portfolio construction.

Panelists will explore the evolving role of digital assets in wealth management, from client demand and portfolio construction to governance, risk management, and infrastructure readiness. Discussion points will include:

• First, why digital assets now: Client demand, institutional legitimacy and competitive pressure.
• Digital assets as an asset class vs. enabling infrastructure.
• Impact of generational wealth transfer and digital-native investors.
• Consequences of inaction over the next 3–5 years.
• Differing needs of UHNW, HNW, mass affluent, and private banking clients.
• Risk tolerance, time horizon, and investment sophistication.
• Education requirements to support informed consent.
• Managing expectations around volatility and drawdowns.
• Defining the purpose: diversification, growth, inflation hedge, innovation exposure.
• Core vs. satellite allocations.
• Correlation behavior across market cycles.
• Position sizing and rebalancing discipline.

Tokenization is redefining how financial assets are issued, traded, and managed — unlocking new levels of liquidity, transparency, and efficiency. As institutional adoption accelerates, the lines between traditional finance and blockchain-native systems are blurring. This panel brings together leaders from banking, asset management, and digital infrastructure to explore how tokenized securities are reshaping capital markets. We’ll discuss how traditional institutions can participate safely and profitably in on-chain finance, from regulatory frameworks and custody solutions to product design and investor access. The panel will offer a practical understanding of where tokenization fits within institutional strategy, what pilots are showing real results, and what’s next for asset managers navigating the digital transformation of capital markets. Key topics include:

• The evolution of tokenized funds, bonds, and alternative assets.
• Legal and regulatory frameworks for tokenized securities.
• Integration of blockchain infrastructure into existing asset management workflows.
• Opportunities for yield, liquidity, and operational efficiency.
• Collaboration models between asset managers, custodians, and DeFi platforms.

Digital-asset lending and borrowing platforms are redefining how liquidity moves across financial markets. Once the domain of crypto natives, these platforms now sit at the intersection of traditional finance and decentralized infrastructure, enabling new models for collateral management, credit intermediation, and yield generation.

As institutional players explore tokenized collateral, stablecoin liquidity, and on-chain credit protocols, the opportunity—and the regulatory complexity—is expanding fast. The panel brings together experts from banking, asset management, and crypto to unpack the evolution of digital-asset lending. Panelist will provide a clear understanding of where digital-asset lending fits within modern credit markets and how traditional institutions can participate responsibly in this emerging ecosystem. Key discussion points include:

• The current state of crypto lending and its convergence with traditional credit markets.
• Risk management, collateralization, and transparency in on-chain lending.
• The role of stablecoins and tokenized assets in institutional liquidity strategies.
• Regulatory and compliance challenges for digital asset credit products.
• Building interoperability between on-chain and off-chain lending platforms.

The Battle for the Deposit Franchise: Will Stablecoins or Tokenized Deposits Dictate the Future of Banking?

As digital money moves from experimentation to execution, traditional financial institutions face a critical strategic decision: pursue a stablecoin strategy, tokenized bank deposits, or attempt both? Each path carries profound implications for balance sheets, regulation, payments infrastructure, customer relationships and long-term competitiveness.

Citi’s Ryan Rugg, Global Head of Digital Assets, Treasury and Trade Solutions, shares her perspective on whether stablecoins or tokenized deposits represent the most viable—and defensible—path forward for TradFi. The conversation will examine where real economic value is being created, how regulators and supervisors are shaping outcomes, and what decisions bank executives must make in the next 12–24 months to remain relevant in a tokenized financial system. The discussion will include a dive into:

• Are stablecoins and tokenized deposits truly alternatives—or stepping stones toward the same end state?
• Stablecoins vs. tokenized deposits: core differences on issuer model, customer trust and brand risk, control vs. reach, and Interoperability.
• Regulatory and balance sheet implications—and which path aligns more naturally with the current regulatory perimeter and which is more future-proof if regulation shifts?
• Creating value: payments, treasury, and liquidity use cases.
• Operating model and technology trade-offs
• Developing an ecosystem strategy—go it alone or join a network?
• Nonbank stablecoin adoption in emerging markets
• The risk of deposits migrating off bank balance sheets

As digital assets move from the fringe into institutional portfolios and market infrastructure, custody has emerged as the critical control point in the value chain. For traditional financial institutions, digital asset custody is no longer a niche offering—it is the foundation that determines who owns client relationships, who controls risk, and who participates in the next phase of tokenized markets.

This panel will explore the biggest opportunities and unresolved issues facing TradFi executives as they evaluate digital asset custody strategies. Panelists will discuss how custody underpins trading, settlement, tokenization, and payments; where banks have a natural advantage—and where they face new forms of operational and regulatory risk; and what decisions leadership teams must make in the next 12–24 months to preserve relevance and optionality. The conversation will focus on strategic choices, governance, economics, and execution realities, equipping executives with a framework to assess whether—and how—to engage, including:

• Custody as the gateway service for all digital asset activity.
• Custody as a defensive strategy vs. an offensive strategic growth play.
• Native crypto assets vs. tokenized securities and funds.
• Role of custody in stablecoins, tokenized deposits and real-world assets.
• Public vs. permissioned blockchain custody models.
• Which assets justify investment today vs. later.
• Institutional trust vs. crypto-native custodians.
• Defining “institution-grade” custody in a digital context.
• Regulatory, legal and accounting considerations.

On-chain finance is forcing a fundamental shift in how financial institutions exercise control. Markets that operate 24/7, settle instantly, and execute through code eliminate the time buffers, reversibility, and layered approvals that traditional governance depends on. For TradFi leaders, the risk is no longer whether to adopt on-chain technology, but whether their institutions can remain accountable when decisions are made in real time by smart contracts and AI rather than committees and manual controls.

Governance is the single biggest challenge for TradFi leaders entering on-chain finance. Without a purpose-built governance framework that embeds risk, compliance, and escalation directly into execution, TradFi will either be locked out of meaningful participation—or exposed to failures they cannot explain, stop or defend to regulators. In on-chain finance, governance is not a back-office function; it is the prerequisite for relevance, trust, and scale.

If you can’t govern on-chain finance in real time, you can’t scale it safely—and regulators, clients, and counterparties will not trust you. The institutions that become key stakeholders in on-chain finance will be the ones that redesign governance for real-time markets; embed risk, compliance, and AI into execution, not oversight; assign clear ownership for on-chain activity at the executive level; and treat control as a design principle, not a post-launch requirement.

This working group will focus on redesigning decision-making, risk ownership and accountability, and control models so institutions can participate at scale in on-chain finance. Discussion points include:

• Why governance—not technology—is the primary constraint on TradFi participation in on-chain finance.
• How 24/7, irreversible, code-driven markets break traditional approval, oversight, and control models.
• Where existing governance, risk, and compliance frameworks fail in on-chain environments.
• Defining accountability when decisions are executed by smart contracts and AI.
• Distinguishing which decisions must remain human and which must be automated.
• Embedding risk, compliance, and controls directly into execution rather than post-trade oversight.
• Designing escalation, kill-switch, and override mechanisms that work in real time.
• Aligning governance models with regulatory expectations for digital assets and on-chain activity.
• Moving from defensive participation to stakeholder-level leadership in on-chain market infrastructure.
• What TradFi leaders must decide in the next 6–12 months to preserve strategic relevance.
• Governance capabilities that differentiate market leaders from followers in tokenized and on-chain markets.

As the financial industry explores the next wave of innovation, tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) has emerged as one of the most promising—yet misunderstood—frontiers. From bonds and real estate to trade finance and private credit, tokenization offers the potential for greater liquidity, transparency, and efficiency. But despite its promise, widespread adoption remains limited by regulatory uncertainty, technical integration challenges, and market readiness.

This working group will explore the real benefits and the practical obstacles of tokenization, giving community members a grounded understanding of where the value truly lies, what barriers must be addressed, and how TradFi institutions can strategically engage in this evolving landscape. Among the topics to be addressed:

• Efficiency and accessibility: How tokenization can streamline issuance, settlement, and secondary trading of traditionally illiquid assets.
• Risk and regulation: Key legal, compliance, and custody considerations slowing institutional adoption.
• Interoperability and standards: The importance of common frameworks to ensure scalability and cross-platform asset mobility.
• Path to adoption: What institutional infrastructure, governance models, and partnerships are needed to move from pilots to production.

Regulation is no longer a backdrop to digital asset strategy—it defines the playing field. For TradFi leaders, understanding the current regulatory state of play in the United States is fundamental to charting strategy around stablecoins, tokenization, custody, decentralized finance (DeFi), and on-chain settlement. This panel will cut through noise to provide clarity on where U.S. policy has moved, where it is heading, and what that means for institutional strategy, risk management, and competitive positioning.

Panelists will explore the most consequential U.S. regulatory developments of 2025—from landmark stablecoin legislation to evolving jurisdictional debates between the SEC and CFTC and the approval of some crypto companies into federally chartered national banks—what’s likely for 2026, and how TradFi can engage proactively with policy, shape outcomes, and manage risks while embracing the opportunities presented by on-chain finance. The session will emphasize the practical implications, including:

• Regulation is shaping who can issue, hold, clear, and settle digital assets, and how TradFi participates.
• Clearer rules enable or constrain strategic choices around custody, tokenization, and payments.
• What stablecoin regulation means for bank vs. non-bank issuance strategy.
• How reserve, audit, AML, and consumer protection requirements will change market entry calculus.
• How TradFi should view SEC vs. CFTC oversight for different asset types.
• The potential for coordinated frameworks in 2026 as regulators align jurisdictions.
• How organizations can prepare for overlapping or shifting regulatory regimes across SEC, CFTC, banking regulators, and Congress.
• Policy impacts on innovation and market structure.
• Compliance risk expectations in an on-chain era.
• What regulatory development will most reshape digital-asset strategy in the next year for TradFi leaders.

As digital assets move to institutional scale, traditional financial institutions face a new reality: the volume, velocity and transparency of on-chain activity cannot be managed with legacy tools alone. Artificial intelligence is emerging as a critical enabler—powering risk management, compliance, operational resilience, and new forms of market efficiency.

This panel explores how TradFi leaders are using AI across the digital asset lifecycle, discussing where AI creates tangible value today, where it introduces new risks and regulatory questions, and how governance, data architecture, and operating models must evolve to ensure AI strengthens—not undermines—trust and control. The session will focus on key decisions executives must make in the next 12–24 months as AI becomes inseparable from digital asset strategy, including:

• Why human-only oversight does not scale in on-chain environments
• AI as a force multiplier for safety, speed, and efficiency
• Client onboarding and risk profiling for digital asset activity
• On-chain transaction monitoring and anomaly detection
• Fraud and scam detection across wallets, bridges, and protocols
• Market surveillance for tokenized and crypto markets
• Automation in custody operations, reconciliation, and reporting
• AI as a risk management engine for on-chain finance
• AI-driven AML and sanctions screening on public blockchains
• Explainability and auditability of AI models
• Demonstrating control, transparency, and accountability to regulators
• Automating custody reconciliations, reporting, and controls
• Smart contract monitoring and risk assessment
• AI-driven liquidity and collateral optimization
• Data quality, provenance, and lineage