What is it like to experience the pulse of global digital assets and traditional finance (TradFi) during market turmoil?

On February 9, 2026, the annual flagship digital asset institutional summit "Liquidity 2026," hosted by LTP HK, successfully concluded in Hong Kong. As the fourth consecutive year of this institutional-level industry event, we are honored to once again gather senior representatives from hedge funds, market makers, high-frequency trading firms, family offices, asset management companies, exchanges, custodians, banks, and technology service providers from around the world to witness another milestone in the accelerated integration of digital assets and traditional financial markets.

Throughout the day’s agenda, we set up multiple in-depth roundtable discussions, fireside chats, and keynote speeches, engaging with guests on the accelerated integration of the global financial system with digital assets, tokenization trends, and multi-asset ecosystems, sparking intellectual debates and systematic exchanges on "new opportunities" and "new paradigms."

As the summit concluded, LTP, through the collision of diverse perspectives, reached a high level of consensus with various partners, jointly outlining a more realistic and actionable industry landscape: at this turning point in the reshaping of the global financial landscape, infrastructure development, regulatory dialogue, and inter-institutional collaboration will become key variables driving the healthy development of the industry.

Detailed Agenda and Corresponding Transcript Content

At this summit, LTP, together with top global experts, conducted an in-depth analysis of the future of the institutional digital asset market, engaging in comprehensive discussions from various dimensions such as underlying architecture, liquidity bridging, tokenization trends, and future paradigms.

Multi-Asset Trading and Market Integration: "Compatibility" and "Resilience" for Institutional Entry

In the discussion on multi-asset trading and market integration, attendees generally agreed that crypto assets are being redefined as an asset class that must be included in portfolio management systems, rather than as an alternative market independent of traditional finance. BitMex CEO Stephan Lutz stated during the conference that CIOs can no longer ignore this asset class. As institutional CIOs begin to formally incorporate it into their allocation frameworks, the design logic of trading systems is also changing: the focus is no longer on pursuing extreme performance, but on how to achieve smooth access within existing governance structures, API architectures, and risk control logic. Meanwhile, system resilience was repeatedly emphasized; Gold-i founder and CEO Tom Higgins mentioned in the roundtable that system design must assume that failures will inevitably occur, achieving redundancy and survival capability through multi-exchange aggregation. On a more macro level, regulatory fragmentation is seen as a core obstacle to global market interoperability; without cross-jurisdictional rule coordination, the true integration of multi-asset markets will remain limited.

New Settlement Layer: Clearing, Custody, and Interoperability

The discussion on settlement and custody presented a clear direction: the role of custody is shifting from mere asset safekeeping to being the core layer supporting clearing, settlement, and risk management infrastructure. With increased institutional participation, custody is no longer just a compliance requirement but is viewed as a key hub connecting regulatory certainty and global operational efficiency. The essence of trust is also changing; Ceffu CEO Ian Loh emphasized that trust should be reflected in executable on-chain mechanisms, allowing assets to generate actual returns through collaboration between custodians and prime brokers. In this process, the importance of mature third-party technology is becoming increasingly prominent. Fireblocks Head of APAC Amy Zhang stated that the industry must rely on mature third-party technology and pointed out that Europe is becoming a new strategic focus for global digital asset institutions, with the maturity of compliance and infrastructure attracting more investments. At the same time, technological redundancy is seen as a necessary condition to prevent systemic disruptions; the question of whether assets can be securely accessed is replacing whether they are securely stored, becoming a new standard for assessing custody value. Komainu Chief Commercial Officer Darren Jordan pointed out during the meeting that the future of custody lies in asset availability, and redundancy should be introduced at the underlying technology level to reduce the risk of systemic interruptions.

Reconstructing Infrastructure and Data Pricing Layer

Robinhood Crypto SVP and GM Johann Kerbrat shared that Robinhood is transitioning from a crypto trading platform to a universal financial infrastructure, reconstructing payments, settlements, and traditional asset trading with blockchain while hiding all underlying complexities from users.

In his view, the core bottleneck of TradFi is settlement efficiency (T+1 or even longer), while crypto systems inherently possess 24/7, instant transfer, and fragmentation capabilities, significantly reducing capital costs and counterparty risks. Therefore, Robinhood chooses to promote stock tokenization within a regulatory framework using a 1:1 physical anchoring method, anticipating that tokenization will gradually expand to stocks, ETFs, private equity, and other broader assets after stablecoins. The real challenge lies not in technology but in regulatory implementation and collective adoption.

Pyth Network Head of APAC Cory Loo believes that market data is an underestimated giant industry: the industry generates over $50 billion in revenue annually, and data costs have risen more than 15 times over the past 25 years. The essence of high costs is not the lack of information transparency but rather that data quality determines whether traders receive the best prices.

He introduced Pyth's attempt to reconstruct traditional data links—allowing trading parties and exchange data to directly enter the pricing layer, aggregated by Pyth and then returned to institutions, providing higher quality and lower-cost multi-asset millisecond-level updated data. He disclosed that Pyth Pro, launched about two months ago, has attracted over 80 subscribers, with the first month's ARR exceeding $1 million. It also plans to form systemic value accumulation through a mechanism of "subscription revenue entering DAO → DAO repurchasing tokens → reserve accumulation."

Institutional Capital Flow and Allocation Trends: From Mechanisms to Systematic Allocation

In the discussion on capital flow and allocation trends, a noticeable change is occurring: institutional capital is shifting from assets that heavily rely on narratives to core targets with real demand and regulatory predictability. Sygnum CIO Fabian Dori pointed out that after the cooling of the metaverse narrative, institutions are focusing on achieving value chain integration and process automation through smart contracts. Risk management capabilities are gradually replacing revenue imagination as the primary criterion for strategy selection. Tokenization is widely believed to bring structural rather than incremental changes, but its scaling premise still hinges on the emergence of genuine client demand rather than technology-driven initiatives. Meanwhile, interest in index and structured products is rising; CME Group Head of Crypto Currency Product Giovanni Vicioso observed that the future will present a state of integration between various technologies and market structures.

Trading Integration: Bridging, Pricing, and Risk Management

In the discussion on liquidity and risk management, attendees focused on whether systems can maintain stable operations under extreme market conditions. Ludisia CIO Jeremi Long mentioned that infrastructure upgrades have significantly improved execution quality and emphasized that risk management must prepare for the worst-case scenarios. Enhancing cross-location capital efficiency is seen as one of the key directions to address capital dispersion issues, and achieving capital pool sharing through collaboration between exchanges and custodians is becoming a practical exploration path. In this context, the importance of market transparency is further amplified; Kraken's institutional team Vice President Giuseppe Giuliani emphasized that the premise of liquidity is that risks can be clearly priced, and the transparency and stability of exchanges directly determine the participation of market makers.

Building Institutional Tracks for the Digital Asset Economy: Opening a New Era On-Chain

At a longer-term institutional and infrastructure level, multiple cases show that institutions are gradually moving from concept validation to actual deployment. Testing stablecoins in scenarios such as insurance and payments demonstrates the practical value of on-chain settlement in enhancing efficiency. Some institutions have begun to envision migrating flagship products directly on-chain to gain broader global liquidity support. In this process, system stability is being redefined as a form of "income assurance." AWS Senior Architect Zeng Xin pointed out that system stability is essentially a form of income insurance, with cloud infrastructure providing the necessary resilience and elasticity for digital markets. Meanwhile, structural constraints imposed by traditional regulatory frameworks on capital allocation still exist. Futu Group's digital asset head Sherry Zhu believes that trust and convenience are core opportunities for brokerage platforms, but she also pointed out structural constraints on institutional allocations, such as the Basel framework. How to balance compliance, privacy, and custody has become a key threshold for institutions entering DeFi.

Everything Can Be Pledged: RWA, Stablecoins, and Tokenized Credit

The discussion around whether tokenized assets can become core collateral is gradually shifting from concept to practice. Compared to traditional structures, on-chain collateral, due to its 24/7 settlement capability, is better suited to meet sudden margin demands in derivatives trading. However, the clarity of legal structures becomes a key factor determining its feasibility. Franklin Templeton SVP Chetan Karkhanis emphasized the need to choose purely on-chain native digital asset structures rather than digital twins to ensure a single credible source at the legal level. The impact of regulatory classification on capital occupation cannot be overlooked; clear institutional-level definitions are seen as a prerequisite for releasing institutional participation. In the evaluation process, legal ownership, operational risks, custody arrangements, and liquidity conditions constitute the four dimensions of greatest concern for institutions.

After the Hype: Current Status and Future

At the end of the summit, attendees formed a highly consistent judgment: tokenization itself does not constitute a competitive advantage; the real watershed lies in whether it can provide clear, quantifiable functional enhancements in key areas such as reserves, trading, or settlement. ABEX CEO Erkan Kaya believes that tokenization has the potential to completely absorb traditional finance into the crypto system, predicting a tipping point of dominance in the next decade. As compliance qualifications, system stability, and user experience become new competitive focal points, the evolution of financial infrastructure is entering an irreversible stage. Digital assets are no longer just a supplementary option to traditional finance but may gradually reshape its operational logic and power structure. Moses Lee, head of Anchorage Digital Asia-Pacific, summarized that tokenization does not equal success; its value depends on whether it provides clear functional advantages in reserve, trading, or settlement scenarios.

In Conclusion

For LTP, the industry gradually entering a "mature phase" means the fading of hype, but it is also the best time for infrastructure, compliance, and sustainable innovation to take root. We firmly believe that true value creation lies hidden in the infrastructure that silently supports market operations.

Therefore, from 2023 to 2026, from regional markets to a global perspective, we remain committed to witnessing and documenting the continuous evolution of the digital asset industry in terms of structure, participants, and systems. The successful conclusion of "Liquidity 2026" is just another important milestone in our long-term effort to promote the deep integration of digital assets and TradFi.

In the future, LTP will invest greater resources to promote and develop the ecosystem, welcoming the next decade of digital assets through more robust infrastructure and a more open collaborative stance.

We believe that with the combined efforts of infrastructure development, regulatory dialogue, and inter-institutional collaboration, a healthier, more professional, and mainstream digital asset era is beginning.

Although "Liquidity 2026" has just concluded, the marathon of promoting the deep integration of digital assets and TradFi has only just entered the second half. As a long-term observer and participant in this process, LTP and the Liquidity Summit will continue to invest more resources to promote ecosystem building and industry dialogue, welcoming the next decade of digital assets through more robust infrastructure and a more open collaborative stance.

The complete conference report (including key points from roundtable discussions and core views from guests) will be released shortly, further systematizing the discussion outcomes of this summit. Please stay tuned.

Friendly Reminder: The complete conference report (including key points from roundtable discussions and core views from guests) will be officially released after the conference, further systematizing the discussion outcomes of this summit. Please stay tuned.

About LTP

LTP is a global institutional-level prime broker established to meet the evolving needs of digital asset market participants. By applying traditional financial standards to blockchain innovations, LTP provides a full-chain prime brokerage service encompassing trade execution, clearing, settlement, custody, and financing. Its service scope also extends to institutional asset management, regulated OTC block trading, and compliant fiat deposit and withdrawal solutions—providing secure and scalable infrastructure for various institutions in the digital asset ecosystem.

LiquidityTech Limited holds licenses for regulated activities under categories 1, 2, 4, 5, and 9 from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

Liquidity Technology Limited is licensed by the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission to engage in investment trading and virtual asset service provider activities.

Liquidity Technology S.L. has been registered as a virtual asset service provider with the Bank of Spain.

Liquidity Fintech Pty Ltd has been registered with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre to conduct digital currency exchange, remittance, and foreign exchange services.

Liquidity Fintech Investment Limited is licensed by the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission to provide investment management services.

Neutrium Trust Limited is registered as a trust company under the Trustee Ordinance and has been issued a trust or company service provider license under the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance.

Liquidity Fintech FZE in Dubai has received in-principle approval from the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority to operate virtual asset service provider businesses.

For more information, please visit: https://www.liquiditytech.com