CEO
Custodia Bank
Caitlin Long is Founder and CEO of Custodia Bank, which is the first U.S. bank to issue a tokenized demand deposit on a permissionless blockchain (“Avit”) with its partner, Vantage Bank. She became involved with Bitcoin in 2012 while she was a managing director in capital markets at Morgan Stanley in New York (2007-16). Before that she was a managing director at Credit Suisse (1997-2007) and vice president at Salomon Brothers (1994-97). From 2016-18 she jointly spearheaded a blockchain project for delivering market index data to Vanguard as chairman and president of Symbiont, an enterprise blockchain start-up. In 2017 she helped spearhead a multi-year initiative to pioneer clarifying the legal and regulatory treatment of digital assets in Wyoming, her native state, some of which has since been adopted nationwide. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School (JD, 1994), the Kennedy School of Government (MPP, 1994) and the University of Wyoming (BA, 1990).
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: