The 2026 Digital Assets Summit concludes in Singapore: From connectivity to building

The Second Digital Assets Summit in Singapore Concludes: From "Connected" to "Building"

Industry leaders, policymakers and market infrastructure leaders jointly discussed the prerequisites necessary for the large-scale development of programmable finance and tokenization

Singapore, October 8, 2026--The Second Digital Assets Summit (DAS2026) concluded successfully in Singapore today. The tone of this summit has changed significantly: the industry no longer debates whether digital assets should be included in the institutional financial system, but focuses instead on how to build programmable finance. On the eve of TOKEN2049, the summit hosted by the Digital Assets Association had the theme of "Programmable Finance" and brought together representatives from policy makers, exchanges, banks, custodians and law enforcement agencies.

From Connection to Building

Danny Chong, co-chairman of the Digital Assets Association, said at the opening ceremony that last year's theme,"Shaping the Future of Finance," has given way to more practical tasks. "A year ago, the connection between digital assets and traditional finance became more specific. Our focus has evolved from 'connecting' to 'building.'" He pointed out,"The purpose of the Digital Assets Summit is not to spend all day convincing each other that tokenization is the future, but to discuss what the necessary conditions are for turning tokenization into the future."

Trust, practicality and talent team

荣誉嘉宾、新加坡高级国务部长兼职工总会秘书长Desmond Tan围绕构建下一代金融系统的三个核心问题展开论述：技术如何使金融服务更高效、更实用且更易获取；如何在数字世界中保持信任；以及如何确保劳动者在这一转型中处于核心地位。“只有当这三者同步推进时，可编程金融才能取得成功：实用的创新、可信的基础设施以及准备好迎接变革的劳动力。”他提到，新加坡的三方合作模式——雇主、工会和政府——包括通过职工总会和消费者发展委员会补助提供的支持，为此提供了有力保障。

新加坡交易所首席风险官Ivan Han指出，数字资产已经改变了市场对结算、所有权、抵押品流动性和准入方式的思考。他认为，下一阶段是利用可编程性解决实际问题：提高抵押品转移效率、减少结算摩擦、改善流动性，并连接目前仍碎片化的市场。

新加坡的未来十年

In a fireside conversation between Wong Xuncai, Chairman of the National Research Foundation of Singapore and former Deputy Prime Minister, with Tan Chong Huat, Chairman of the SDAX Exchange and RHT Law Asia, he elaborated on the five major forces that will shape the next decade: de-globalization, decarbonization, demographic change, digitalization and distribution channel transformation. When talking about competitiveness, he reiterated a governance principle related to Lee Kuan Yew: Singapore must remain relevant and useful to the international community, adapt to regional needs, and position itself as an important node in global Asia.

Mass tokenization

A panel discussion moderated by Daniel Lee, CEO of Cactus Custody, provided an in-depth discussion on the issue of mass tokenization. Guests included Wai Lum Kwok, Senior Executive Director of ADGM, Derek Neo, Executive Director of Market Platforms and Services, Singapore Group, Benjamin Versluijs, Senior Vice President of Northern Trust, and Patrick Yeo, Head of Global Financial Markets Digital Assets at DBS Bank.

Yeo said tokenized money market funds are increasingly being adopted as a liquidity alternative to stablecoins, allowing digital native users to deploy capital into other tokenized investments while avoiding the 1250% risk weighting that applies to certain real-world asset exposures. He also pointed to the growth in stablecoin spending within DBS Bank and the role of wallet familiarity as a bridge into broader tokenized investments. "The future of tokenization requires us to reimagine tokenization as the next generation of financial rules, and proxy artificial intelligence will help catalyze organizational change." he said.

Neo warned that interoperability is not just a technical issue, but also includes operational, legal and cross-track integration between digital and traditional systems. Since the transition period takes five to 15 years rather than instantaneous switching, it is crucial to address cross-orbit interoperability to ensure that no part of the market is left behind.

Regulation, Security and Cross-Border Coordination

Kenneth Farrugia, CEO of the Financial Services Authority of Malta, emphasized in an interview with Lynlee Foo, host of Money FM 89.3 that innovation and regulation must move forward simultaneously. He said the bureau consults industry on policy guidelines and shares experience between regulators and companies. His advice is: compliance is costly in the short term, but worth the money in the long term; and collaboration and cross-border information sharing are crucial for regulators because licensees operate in different jurisdictions.

In terms of enterprise-level security, Jag Foo, chief security and policy officer at SafeHeron, described five key components: inspections and checks and balances to avoid single points of failure; layered defenses to increase attack costs; strong audit trails; industry-standard infrastructure; and cryptographic agility.

Justice Gregory Kang, Deputy Commander of the Cyber Command of the Singapore Police Force, pointed out that the investigation showed that human error in decision-making was almost always involved before the exploit occurred. The discussion was moderated by Tze Ching Chang, Executive Deputy General Manager of BPI Financial, and also participated in the discussion by June Lau of Elliptic and David Peters of Gelephu Mindfulness City.

闭幕式小组由数字资产协会英国分会章节负责人兼YAP Global首席执行官Otto Jacobsson主持，探讨了监管、互操作性和全球协调问题。与会嘉宾包括马耳他金融服务管理局的Gerd Sapiano、联邦调查局的Heather Armstrong、国际刑警组织的Sungyong Kang以及Coinbase的Parul Vyas。演讲者表示，公私合作正在改变应对数字犯罪的方式，而有意的摩擦对于保护客户仍是必要的。Armstrong呼吁在各司法管辖区建立更一致的报告机制，以便加快调查速度。

结语：从“如何”到“下一步”

数字资产协会联席主席、负责任金融科技研究所主席Chia Hock Lai在总结DAS 2026时表示，十二个月前，峰会仍在问“是否”。如今，每个小组都在问“如何”。“亚洲现在已成为该行业的重心。虽然这值得骄傲，但也承载着沉重的责任。我们的监管机构为该行业制定了早期规则，而在座的 firms 必须对此负责。”

他提出了三项测试，如果明年的峰会要从“如何”迈向“下一步”，行业需做到：

• 为枯燥的案例构建：能够在凌晨2点正常运营的企业，方能应对任何情况。
• 共享标准，而不仅仅是胜利：业务手册和事件事后分析报告应在企业间共享。
• 即使工作进展缓慢，也要密切接近监管机构：保持紧密沟通。

随着数字资产进一步融入主流金融，来自新加坡的信息是：创新与安全护栏必须共同成长。数字资产协会表示，期待明年继续在新加坡开展这一对话。