Digital assets are no longer stuck in a “crypto winter” so much as a period of industrial rewiring, according to panelists at the FM Singapore Summit 2026, who said the sector is increasingly being shaped by banks, custodians and institutional allocators rather than the speculative traders who dominated earlier cycles.

The discussion painted a picture of a market that is still fragmented and cautious, but also more regulated, more connected and more useful to mainstream finance than it was even a few years ago.

Market Winter, Not Market Death

The panel, titled “Buying the Deep: Digital Asset Adoption in APAC and Beyond,” centered on whether the latest downturn has stalled adoption or merely changed its form.

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It brought together David Jenkins, the Chief Product and Technology Officer at Openmarkets Group, Chris Knight, the Managing Director of LMAX Digital, Andrew Leelarthaepin the Head of Business Product Maybank Investment Banking Group, Luke Boland, the Head of Fintech at Standard Chartered, Karl Mohan, the EVP for Financial Services and Crypto.com, and Zann Kwan, the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of REVO.

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Knight argued that the industry is not in hibernation at all, but undergoing a hard rewiring as banks and market infrastructure providers build the plumbing needed for institutional participation.

Boland echoed that view, saying the bank’s digital asset work had moved beyond siloed projects into broader internal coordination across risk, compliance Compliance In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a In finance, banking, investing, and insurance compliance refers to following the rules or orders set down by the government regulatory authority, either as providing a service or processing a transaction. Compliance concerning finance would also be a state of being following established guidelines or specifications. This designation can also encompass efforts to ensure that organizations are abiding by both industry regulations and government legislation. Understanding ComplianceCompliance is a Read this Term and custody functions.

Leelarthaepin of Maybank Investment Banking said digital asset adoption in Asia-Pacific is still growing, but warned that the region’s many regulatory regimes remain a practical obstacle. Karl Mohan of Crypto.com framed the shift more bluntly: in his view, the old “cowboys” and arbitrage-heavy business models that flourished in the 2021 bull market have largely disappeared, replaced by a more serious, institution-led market.

What Institutions Want

A recurring theme was that the next phase of adoption will depend less on hype and more on operational efficiency. Panelists repeatedly highlighted custody, connectivity, settlement and collateral management as the real bottlenecks holding the market back.

Knight said credit risk remains one of the biggest unresolved issues, adding that large institutions still need clearer central clearing and stronger counterparty structures before they can participate at scale.

Boland said the industry is already seeing practical use cases move into production, including collateral mirroring with tokenized money market funds in the UAE, which he said the bank plans to roll out in other custody markets.

He also argued that stablecoins have become an important settlement layer because they make money movement faster and more flexible, particularly in a 24/7 market.

Stablecoins as Capital Tools

If one message cut through the discussion, it was that stablecoins are no longer just a payment story. Mohan said their real value lies in “capital efficiency,” allowing traders and funds to move collateral quickly and stay active over weekends and outside traditional banking hours.

Knight used a vivid comparison, saying stablecoins are like sending an email while fiat still feels like mailing a letter and waiting for the post office to open.

Zann Kwan, managing partner and chief investment officer at REVO, said many allocators had reduced risk exposure after a difficult year, but still held stablecoins and could redeploy capital with “a click of a button” when conditions improved.

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She said the market had shifted from broad exposure across dozens of tokens to a narrower focus on top assets, even as pockets of activity continued in derivatives, tokenized products and M&A.

Regulation and Regional Momentum

The panel was notably upbeat about regulatory progress in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, even while acknowledging the patchwork nature of local rules. Mohan said the days of setting up in offshore jurisdictions and servicing the world from there are over, because major markets now have some form of regulatory framework.

He argued that once the US fully settles its own rules, other markets will be forced to follow because capital tends to move toward the largest and most liquid venues.

Leelarthaepin said regional regulators have been progressively more open to innovation, citing Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines as examples of jurisdictions that have built workable paths for digital assets. Still, he said fragmentation remains a challenge for large institutions operating across multiple markets, with compliance requirements often varying from one jurisdiction to another.

Human Stories and Anecdotes

The panel also offered several personal moments that underscored how far the industry has come. Kwan recalled that, a decade ago, even her daughter’s bank account had been shut down because of her family’s involvement in crypto, making it difficult to handle even basic expenses such as school fees. She said the fact that banking access is now far less hostile marks an important form of progress for the industry.

Mohan, meanwhile, described the rise of 24/7 trading as crypto’s most important contribution to traditional finance, saying it solved a problem that decades of legacy markets had not. He also pointed to the convergence of AI and crypto as the next frontier, arguing that agentic trading systems linked to stablecoin Stablecoin Unlike other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that have been designed to keep a stable value. Placing a greater emphasis on stability over volatility can be a huge draw for some investors. Many individuals can be turned off from large swings and uncertainty presented by cryptos relative to other traditional assets.Stablecoins control for this volatility by being pegged to another cryptocurrency, fiat money, or to exchange-traded commodities, including Unlike other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that have been designed to keep a stable value. Placing a greater emphasis on stability over volatility can be a huge draw for some investors. Many individuals can be turned off from large swings and uncertainty presented by cryptos relative to other traditional assets.Stablecoins control for this volatility by being pegged to another cryptocurrency, fiat money, or to exchange-traded commodities, including Read this Term wallets could eventually make every piece of information, from headlines to social media posts, tradable in real time.

Broader Implications

The discussion suggested that digital assets are entering a more mature phase in which infrastructure, compliance and utility matter more than pure speculation.

Banks and institutions are increasingly treating the asset class as part of a broader financial toolkit, whether for investment exposure, treasury management or faster collateral deployment. That does not mean the market has solved its structural problems, but it does suggest the industry is moving from experimentation to integration.

For APAC in particular, the panel’s message was that the region has a real chance to remain at the forefront if regulators and market participants continue building practical rails for institutional use. The next cycle, they implied, may not be about whether digital assets survive. It will be about which firms can make them work in everyday finance.