Digital Assets Summit 2026 Highlights Tokenisation and Trust
Digital Assets Summit 2026 Highlights, Speakers and Key Themes
Danny Chong, Co-Chairman of Digital Assets Association, the organiser of the second edition of Digital Assets Summit 2026, delivered his opening speech.
“Last year, the theme for DAS was Shaping the Future of Finance. A year on, that connection between digital assets and traditional finance has become much more tangible. Our focus has evolved from connection to construction. And that is reflected in our theme for DAS2026: Programmable Finance.” Danny opened DAS2026, reflecting on the progress made since last year. He emphasised the importance of confidence and trust, building stronger relationships with policymakers and digital asset firms. “DAS isn’t about spending the day convincing each other that tokenisation is the future. But about asking what needs to be true for tokenisation to be the future.”
Guest of Honour Mr Desmond Tan, Senior Minister of State & Deputy Secretary-General, NTUC, gave his Guest of Honour address and discussed the importance of innovating while ensuring our workforce can keep up with the progress.
"As we build the next financial system, three questions come to mind. First, how can technology make financial services more efficient, more useful, and more accessible? Second, how do we preserve trust in an increasingly digital world? And third, how do we ensure that workers and people remain at the centre of this transformation?" SMS Desmond Tan explained the need to address these concerns, saying, "Programmable finance will only succeed if these three things move together. Useful innovation, trusted infrastructure and a workforce ready for change".
He emphasised that “Through NTUC, as well as the CDC grant. This reflects Singapore’s unique tripartite approach, where employers, unions, and the government work together to help businesses transform and help our workers adapt.”
Mr Ivan Han, Chief Risk Officer at SGX, presented his keynote address on the importance of convergence between digital assets and traditional finance.
He shared that “Digital assets have already changed the way financial markets think. They accelerate conversations around settlement, ownership, collateral mobility, and market accessibility. They have encouraged us to rethink processes that had often been accepted because it was the taught way." He also emphasised, “The next phase of programmable finance is about using programmability to solve real problems: Moving collateral more efficiently, reducing settlement friction, improving liquidity, and connecting markets that today remain fragmented.” Mr Ivan Han explained during his speech.
Mr Heng Swee Keat, Chairman of the National Research Foundation & Former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, had a fireside chat at the event with Tan Chong Huat, Chairman of SDAX Exchange & RHTLaw Asia, to discuss the technologies affecting today’s financial world.
Reflecting on key strategic priorities, he highlighted a critical question: Amid shifts in AI, disruptive technologies, and geopolitics, what key transition will define Singapore’s trajectory over the next decade?
The 5 Ds Shaping the Future:
Deglobalisation: The global economic framework of the past decade is undergoing structural transformation.
Decarbonisation: Climate change demands immediate and decisive action globally.
Demographics: Major demographic shifts will fundamentally alter global populations.
Digitalisation: Advancements in AI, quantum computing, and blockchain continue to redefine global systems.
Distribution: Ensuring fair distribution of economic growth benefits remains essential to avoid disparity.
Addressing how Singapore can stay competitive, Mr Heng pointed to Lee Kuan Yew’s core governance principle: "Singapore must consistently remain relevant and useful to the international community. To achieve this, Singapore must adapt to regional needs and position itself as a vital global Asia node.”
Daniel Lee, CEO of Cactus Custody, led a panel about tokenisation at scale and how to unlock the next generation of capital markets with Wai Lum Kwok, Senior Executive Director of ADGM; Derek Neo, Executive Director, Head of Market Platforms and Services at SGX Group; Benjamin Versluijs, Senior Vice President of Northern Trust; and Patrick Yeo, Managing Director, Head of Digital Assets, Global Financial Markets at DBS Bank.
Here’s a quick snapshot from the panellist, Patrick Yeo of DBS Bank:
1. Has tokenisation crossed the threshold into true mainstream adoption? “We are seeing an increasing adoption of tokenised money market funds. They serve as a liquid alternative to stablecoins and avoid the RWA 1250% capital charge whilst allowing digital asset natives to deploy capital into other tokenised investments.”
2. Where is the next wave of investors coming from?
“There’s an increase in stablecoin spending within DBS, and they usually stick once users obtain them. And once users become comfortable managing wallets for transactions, that familiarity turns to opening the door to broader investments in tokenised assets.”
Wrapping up the panel, Patrick leaves us with his thoughts for the future of tokenisation: “The future of tokenisation requires us to reimagine tokenisation as the next generation of financial rules, and agentic AIs will help catalyse organisations.”
Derek Neo also added that “Interoperability goes beyond technology to include operational, legal, and cross-rail integration between new digital and traditional systems. Because this transition will take 5 to 15 years rather than a 'big bang', solving cross-rail interoperability is essential so we don’t leave anyone behind."
Kenneth Farrugia, CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), participated in a fireside chat with Lynlee Foo, Anchor at Money FM 89.3, to discuss ways to ensure that innovation and regulation move at the same pace.
Kenneth echoed the theme of the event, emphasising the importance of regulators and innovators in the private sector working together.
When asked if the conversation between firms and regulators improved over the years, Kenneth shared that “On policy guidance, we constantly consult the industry and ensure that everyone is consulted and everyone’s feedback is heard." He also added that “On top of consulting with the industry, we engage with the industry through sharing experiences between regulators and firms.”
Concluding his fireside chat, Kenneth offered his advice for both regulators and firms: “For firms looking to be compliant, in the short term it's costly, but in the long term it is worth it. For regulators, more collaboration is important. As licence holders often operate across multiple borders, information sharing across jurisdictions is crucial to ensure that the financial system is working effectively.”
Jag Foo, Chief Security & Policy Officer at SafeHeron, joined June Lau, APAC Head of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Elliptic, David Peters, Managing Director, GFSO of Gelephu Mindfulness City, and DAC Gregory Kang, Deputy Commander, Cyber Command, Singapore Police Force, moderated by Tze Ching Chang, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of BPI Financial.
When asked about what "institutional-grade" means today, Jag shared that he believes “institutional-grade” is made up of five components: "avoiding a single point of failure with checks and balances, building a layered defence strategy to increase the cost and discourage an attack, have a strong audit trail, building an infrastructure that meets industry standards, and having cryptographic agility such as adapting fast to new emerging technology.”
During a discussion on vulnerabilities of today’s digital assets industry, DAC Gregory Kang echoed Jag’s perspective that human decisions pose the highest risk of vulnerabilities: “Through our investigations, a (misguided) human decision is almost always involved in the leadup to an exploit or security breach.”
Otto Jacobsson, Chapter Lead of Digital Assets Association UK & CEO of YAP Global, moderated the last panel of the day with Gerd Sapiano, Deputy Head (Strategy, Policy & Innovation), Malta FSA; Heather Armstrong, Law Enforcement Attaché, FBI; Sungyong Kang, Criminal Intelligence Officer, INTERPOL; and Parul Vyas, Investigations Analyst, Coinbase, to discuss how to connect the global financial system through regulation, interoperability and global coordination.
Otto opened the panel, asking what is one case, rule or partnership from the past year that showed cross-border coordination working. Heather Armstrong echoed the thoughts of Sungyong that “public-private collaboration is working well and is changing the way we are looking at the evolving landscape of digital crime.”
On the private institution perspective, Parul emphasised the need for education as “what the public don’t see is what happens behind the transaction and why certain measures are in place to keep customers safe. Although the goal is to make crypto as frictionless as possible, certain frictions have to be deliberately set in place to protect our customers.”
Closing off the panel, Heather noted that “I would like to see consistency of reporting mechanisms across jurisdictions. As time is of the essence in investigations, standardising reporting methods streamlines decision-making processes and allows law enforcement to act fast.”
Chia Hock Lai, Chairman of the Responsible Fintech Institute & Co-Chairman of Digital Assets Association, closed the event by highlighting key themes and what to look forward to in this industry.
He highlighted that twelve months ago DAS2025 was asking “whether”. Today, every panel emphasised the “how”. Hock Lai closed DAS2026, leaving the summit with one key quote: “Asia is now the centre of gravity for this industry. While that is something to be proud of, it carries heavy responsibility. Our regulators gave this industry rules early, and the firms in this room have to live up to it.”
As the digital asset industry becomes part of mainstream finance, innovation and safeguards have to grow together. Hock Lai emphasised three things the industry must do together to be asking “what next” at the next DAS:
● Build for the boring case. Being able to operate at 2 am prepares you for anything.
● Share the standards, not just the wins. Share your playbooks and incident postmortems for cross-knowledge sharing.
● Stay close to the regulators even when things are moving slowly.
We look forward to seeing you all next year for more discussions on digital assets in Singapore, as we learn more about innovations, collaborations and developments! For now, we hope you recharge for the big week of TOKEN2049 ahead.
Best wishes,
Your trusted YAP Global team
