- Welcome to the London Blockchain Finance Summit
- Opening Remarks
- Panel 1: Blockchain Regulation – Global Trends and Regional Responses
- Panel 2: The Convergence of TradFi and DeFi – Bridging Innovation and Compliance
- Panel 3: The Evolution of Digital Currencies – Navigating the Future of Finance
- Key Takeaways
- What’s Next: Afternoon Sessions & Industry Announcements
Blockchain is no longer an emerging trend – it’s a foundational force transforming digital finance.
On 3 June, the London Blockchain Finance Summit kicked off in Canary Wharf bringing together top-tier financial leaders, policymakers, technologists to chart the next chapter in digital finance – from regulatory innovation to the convergence of decentralised and traditional systems.
The summit’s morning sessions delivered high-impact insights on asset tokenisation, stablecoin adoption, and the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape across Europe, Africa, and the United States.
Check out some of the major discussions from the morning sessions.
Opening Remarks
Diego Ballon Ossio, partner at Clifford Chance, opened the summit with a speech on how the finance sector is facing a pivotal moment as digital asset adoption ramps up. This is primarily because of the maturing of the industry but also increased regulations from key jurisdictions such as the EU and the US, he said.
This maturing of decentralised finance has been swiftly adopted by the traditional finance industry, which has taken several steps to adopt the technology and create a parallel finance system, he said.
This has been supported by lawmakers in the UK, with regulators moving to bring digital assets within the regulatory framework and moving to provide clarity around issues such as tokens and stablecoins.
He added that it was no longer an existential question of whether this technology and these assets will be regulated, but rather how traditional finance providers benefit from this regulation and can drive adoption forward.
“Now we are asking how regulation will happen, how the lines will be drawn, and how the game will be played,” he said.
Blockchain Regulation: Latest Insights into Key Regulatory Developments
The panel, which was titled Blockchain Regulation: Latest Insights into Key Regulatory Developments, was hosted by Madeleine Boys, director of programmes and innovation at Global Digital Finance, and included Laurent Marochini, CEO of Standard Chartered Luxembourg; Reginald Tumusiime, CEO of CapitalSavvy and President of the Blockchain Association of Uganda; Ron Tarter, founder and CEO of MNEE, and Angus Brown, CEO of Minit Money.
Tarter began the discussion by focusing on the US market and how it has shifted its position on digital assets significantly over the last year. He noted that the Biden administration had taken a very restrictive stance on digital assets, while the Trump administration had shown itself to be more progressive and now things are moving much more quickly in the space.
It is relatively easy to get set up as a digital asset provider in the US through a combination of licensing and registration, Tarter said. This more permissive regime is also good for attracting and keeping talent, with regulators passing the recent GENIUS Act and Stable Act sending a clear message to investors in space.
He added that it is particularly positive for fintech companies and stablecoin operations in space as the regulations provide specific guidance. By comparison, he noted that the EU and its MiCA regulations are definitely more restrictive, primarily as a result of having more time to develop frameworks in the region.
Brown noted that digital asset regulation in South Africa was also in a good space, with regulators adopting a ‘buyer beware approach’ but not actively preventing operations. He added that South African lawmakers have tweaked existing laws rather than introducing entirely new pieces of legislation.
This has allowed the authorities to deal with specific issues as and when they come up, such as Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules around digital assets and whether digital assets should be considered foreign currency. Tumusiime noted that similar developments were being seen in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa, with East Africa in particular showing a strong appetite for digital assets. Kenya recently introduced a Digital Asset bill to parliament, while Rwanda and Uganda have also made specific moves towards regulation.
He added that Sub-Saharan Africa is especially important for the global digital asset market, with around 9% of people in the region using some form of digital asset. Much like the US and the rest of Africa, Tumusiime said it was the private sector, which was driving adoption in this space, with regulators having to play catch-up. However, he noted that this was largely the case for mobile money adoption in Africa, and that it has shown to be an incredibly strong market.
Speaking about Europe, Laurent noted that the EU continues to be the leader on digital asset regulation, even if it’s seen as a stricter regime by the rest of the world. He pointed to the introduction of MiCA, which was first mooted as far back as 2018. He added that Standard Chartered is a key player in the space and has been working on everything from crypto custody to tokenisation in key regions such as Luxembourg, the UAE, and Singapore. The conversation then turned to how different regulatory regimes can impact digital asset adoption across borders. Laurent began the conversation by noting that this issue was not unique to the digital asset space and that any large business working in the financial space would have to deal with different regulatory regimes.
This means that businesses working in the space need a clear strategy and commitment to using digital assets, he said. He added that this included the MiCA bill in Europe, and that businesses would still need to follow the individual laws of the European countries in which they do business.
Laurent concluded that most jurisdictions have quite similar rules and that Standard Chartered typically just has to adapt to the 10% of regulations which are different. This was echoed by Tarte, who noted that global lawmakers can do more to talk to one another to make sure that regulations align more closely.
He added that this is a time-consuming process and that entrepreneurs and the private sector will always be faster than the law. This can be somewhat offset by guidance notes from regulators who can give businesses an idea of where regulations are heading, without making wholesale changes, he said.
This view was echoed by Brown, who noted that private businesses must help guide regulators in the right direction. Even if it takes time, regulators usually choose the right path, he said.
The Convergence of Traditional Finance (TradFi) and Decentralised Finance (DeFi)
The panel, which was titled The Convergence of Traditional Finance (TradFi) and Decentralised Finance (DeFi), was hosted by Elise Soucie Watts, Executive Director at Global Digital Finance, and included Adeline Bachellerie, Deputy Director of Innovation and Financial Market Infrastructures in the Directorate General of Financial Stability and Operations at Banque de France; Munder Shuhum, Founder and Managing Partner at Pearls Capital; and Anna Dinescu, Partner at Hilbert Capital.
Bachellerie began the discussion by outlining some of the work she and her team have been doing at Banque de France, including several regulatory sandboxes over the last five years. She noted that the testing began after financial companies approached them to discuss some of the potential benefits and risks involved.
Banks in particular also wanted to preserve the regulatory framework and security that they have, she said. While her work largely focused on experimentation within France, she noted that this has now shifted to projects with the European Central Bank and the wider European Union.
In the short term, the next project will see the testing of central bank tokens by the middle of 2026. Longer term, her group is looking at how market infrastructures will evolve under these new technologies. She added that whether it’s testing TradFi or DeFi, the focus is to provide financial and monetary stability.
Expanding on this point, Shuhum noted that regulators and businesses often look at blockchain and monetary products as two separate technologies, when in reality they should simply be seen as the modernisation of existing technologies.
Pointing to the tokenisation of European currencies as a specific example, he noted that this was just the next logical step, and the longer it takes for regulators to confirm this, the longer the wider market will suffer. This is also the case for the tokenisation of assets, which is a sector which is ready for implementation but is waiting for regulatory approval. In this regard, the European Union is at risk of falling behind the US market, which has a history of begging for forgiveness rather than asking for permission, he said.
Developed markets which will likely see the next major influx of DeFi interest are real-world assets (including gold and gilt contracts), the tokenising of property, and the Venture Capital sector, he said.
Dinescu noted she and her team only had a background in traditional finance before starting her hedge fund. What they increasingly found is that it is possible to take the best practices from traditional finance and apply them to the decentralised finance world.
In this case, blockchain is the connective tissue, she said. Much like Shuhum, she believes that decentralised finance is now entering the next phase of adoption as it benefits from traditional finance in implementing stablecoins and real-world asset tokenisation.
The one caveat is that the traditional finance world is still heavily tied to regulation, and it’s next to impossible to implement new products without regulatory approval, she said. As such, it is often the case that firms can see the benefits of decentralised finance but are hesitant to adopt it fully. She gave the example of a token which is transferred to a wallet in North Korea – something most businesses will have rules against happening but have limited power to stop currently.
On the other end of the spectrum, Shuhum argued that compliance can be made easier using blockchain and decentralised finance, as it can offer faultless verification at a fraction of the cost of the current systems. He concluded by noting that not every product needs to have a blockchain or decentralised finance implementation.
He noted, especially in the venture capital space, that businesses will want to introduce new technology because it is ‘nice and shiny’ without asking what the business benefits are and whether the technology can scale to their needs.
Bachellerie concluded the session by discussing some of the CBDC projects her team is working on and some of the guiding principles that they follow. She noted that the goal was not to control but rather to address consumer habits and to preserve the monetary system going forward with an anchoring point.
The Evolution of Digital Currencies: Navigating the Future of Finance
The panel, which was titled The Evolution of Digital Currencies: Navigating the Future of Finance, was moderated by Bilal Jafar, Hedge Fund & Crypto Correspondent at Dow Jones, and included Previn Singh, Executive in Residence, Global Digital Finance (GDF), Former Head of the Digital Assets and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Centre of Competency at Credit Suisse; Simon Seiter, Head of Digital Assets at Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe Privatbankiers AG; Ray Dillet, Head of Financial Institutions at Bitwise Asset Management; Francesco Roda, Services Digital Assets Risk Director at Citibank; Joy Adams, COO for Digital Assets & Currencies at Deutsche Bank; and Michael R. Blaschke, Global Principal Enterprise Architect at Enterprise Architecture & Advisory at SAP.
Dillet began the panel discussion by noting that there had been a major change in ‘mood music’ when it comes to the regulation and integration of digital assets over the last 12 months.
He added that more people have grown to understand that this is not just a ‘hobby technology’ or a niche financial sector, but rather a foundational infrastructure. He pointed to emerging megatrends such as AI and green energy, which will have digital assets and blockchain sitting at the nexus. Only once businesses understand this do they see how important and transformative technology is, he said.
This was echoed by Adams, who noted that there are now a lot of opportunities in space which didn’t necessarily exist a couple of years ago. She gave the example of a multinational company with vendors and clients all across the world and how they stand to benefit from blockchain adoption when it comes to payments.
This extends to using smart contracts and also moderating internal AI processes, she said. Roda joked that 10 years ago cryptocurrencies were only talked about due to the concerns around financial crime and illicit activities, now they are a potential trillion-dollar industry.
While this change should be welcomed, Roda noted that the change in thinking around digital assets has also led to a complete change in thinking when it comes to risk management. He added that enterprises essentially have a choice to make – they can opt to treat decentralised finance as its risk factor or opt to integrate it into their existing operations. If you keep the risk separate, you run the risk of crystallising the risk in one area and also potentially not see all of the benefits from the technology, he said.
By comparison, if you embed the risk into existing practices, you effectively recognise the benefits and can have a consistent approach to risk management, he said. Part of this risk management is understanding that conversations around digital assets don’t exist in isolation, explained Singh. He noted that a lot of the issues that are being discussed now around decentralised finance were discussed in the cloud computing space several years ago.
As such, he urged enterprises and regulators not to forget some of the lessons that have already been learned and instead apply those lessons going forward. Blaschke explained that much of this risk-taking comes from the fact that enterprises are focused on making money in the decentralised finance space. He pointed to the fact that every company from LVMH to Pfizer has done testing to see how their platforms can benefit from blockchain integration.
Most of the focus is on the reward that these technologies offer, while all of the institutional questions are on the risks these technologies introduce. This means businesses will need to ask questions as to whether they take the risk themselves, whether they use proprietary systems, whether they seek external advice, and ultimately who they decide to partner with.
The discussion then shifted to the future of finance and the potentially disruptive effect of blockchain going forward. While early adopters might have pushed to completely disrupt the finance world, as the technology has matured, the conversation has shifted to change management at an enterprise level.
Seiter said that in his experience, the push to put every platform on blockchain over the last five years has failed because it is not enough to simply promise something faster and cheaper. He added that this is not going to be the case in the next five years either, as companies do not want this huge capital expenditure for a ship which can run an hour quicker or a payment system which is 5 per cent faster.
Instead, he said enterprises should focus on how blockchain will enable new business and strategies which never happened before. The actual disruption comes from not having a centralised system, and if you want to change something, the market structure has to change, he said. Opinions differed on this issue, and Sigh noted that at an enterprise level, the interim technology is also important, and it is not possible to completely change systems overnight.
He gave the example of large multinational banks and warned that putting all of them on blockchain would be a ‘change that kills the patient’ – which ultimately doesn’t benefit anyone. This was echoed by Adams, who noted that there are several things enterprises can do when implementing change of this level, including onboarding employees properly and taking clients on a journey of how they can benefit from the changes introduced by blockchain.
Key Takeaways and Market Implications
Regulation Is No Longer a Question of “If,” But “How”
Opening speaker Diego Ballon Ossio emphasised that the financial sector is moving past existential debates on digital assets. With mature infrastructure and mounting regulatory clarity, the focus is now on how regulation will be implemented and how traditional finance can leverage it for adoption.
Global Regulatory Approaches Are Diverging – But Harmonisation Is Crucial
From the US’s progressive licensing model to the EU’s stricter MiCA framework and Africa’s adaptive strategies, the panel on regulation made it clear: while jurisdictions vary, cross-border cooperation is needed to avoid fragmentation and ensure safe innovation.
TradFi and DeFi Are on a Collision Course – in a Good Way
Traditional finance institutions are no longer resisting blockchain – they’re integrating it. Regulatory sandboxes, tokenised assets, and central bank digital currency pilots (CBDCs) are signs of a growing synergy between innovation and monetary stability.
Enterprises Are Embracing Digital Assets – But Risk Must Be Reframed
Panelists highlighted a shift from viewing digital assets as speculative tools to treating them as core infrastructure. Risk management must evolve too: integrating DeFi risk into existing frameworks is now seen as smarter than isolating it.
Blockchain Adoption Will Succeed Where It Drives Real Business Value
Panelists agreed that blockchain’s future won’t be built on hype or marginal efficiencies. Instead, adoption will accelerate in areas like real-world asset tokenisation, supply chain transparency, and programmable finance, where it enables entirely new strategies.
What’s Next
Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage from the London Blockchain Finance Summit, including afternoon session recaps and on-the-ground insights. You can also rewatch the panels on demand here.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of the ongoing conversation – register now for the upcoming London Blockchain Conference on 22-23 October and connect with global leaders shaping the future of finance and digital assets.
