Digital Assets Summit 2026 to spotlight tokenised finance

Digital Assets Association Singapore has announced the second edition of Digital Assets Summit 2026, which will be held at SGX Centre in Singapore.

The summit is expected to draw more than 500 attendees, alongside more than 40 speakers and over 30 industry partners from financial institutions, technology providers, regulators and the digital asset sector.

The programme will focus on how digital assets are being integrated into financial markets. Topics include tokenised bonds, funds and real-world assets, as well as stablecoins and tokenised deposits used in payments, treasury and foreign exchange.

Sessions will also cover cybersecurity, fraud prevention, compliance, operational resilience and the role of artificial intelligence in finance. Another theme is the interoperability and regulatory coordination needed to connect markets across jurisdictions.

The event comes as Asia takes on a larger role in digital finance. The association cited industry research showing the region accounts for 60% of global stablecoin payment volume, while digital real-world assets on public blockchains grew by about 300% in 2025 to around USD $30 billion.

That growth has pushed regulation and market structure higher up the agenda for banks, exchanges and other market participants. It has also shifted attention from pilot projects to the mechanics of scaling digital asset activity in mainstream financial systems.

Mr Danny Chong, Co-Chairman of Digital Assets Association Singapore, said the debate has shifted in recent years as tokenised finance moves into practical use cases.

"Two years ago, much of the conversation was about whether tokenised assets would move beyond experimentation. Today, the question is no longer whether tokenisation will move beyond the sandbox, but how far and how quickly it can scale. Singapore is already seeing these technologies move into real-world financial applications," he said.

He added that the next stage of the market will depend on the systems surrounding digital assets, not just the underlying concept.

"The next phase is about building for scale, managing liquidity and risk in a 24/7 environment, and meeting regulatory requirements across jurisdictions. These priorities will be central to discussions at DAS2026, bringing policymakers, financial institutions and industry leaders together to examine what comes next," Mr Chong said.

Market focus

The choice of subjects reflects how digital assets are increasingly being discussed within conventional finance. Tokenised versions of bonds, deposits and other instruments have attracted interest from institutions looking at settlement, collateral management and cross-border payments.

Singapore has been one of the more active centres for these discussions, with banks, market infrastructure operators and policymakers exploring how digital forms of money and securities could fit within existing financial rules. The summit's line-up reflects that institutional emphasis, with confirmed speakers including Senior Minister of State Desmond Tan, Heng Swee Keat, Chairman of National Research Foundation Singapore and former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, and Ivan Han, Chief Risk Officer at Singapore Exchange.

Mr Chia Hock Lai, Co-Chairman of Digital Assets Association Singapore and Chairman of the Responsible Fintech Institute, said governance issues now sit alongside technical development in the sector.

"As digital assets become more closely integrated with mainstream finance, the focus must extend beyond what the technology can do to how it is governed and used in practice," he said.

He added that industry growth would require standards and controls to develop at the same pace as new products and systems.

"As the industry scales, interoperability, security, compliance and governance need to keep pace with technology. Asia's progress shows how innovation can develop with safeguards and standards in place, and DAS2026 brings that into focus to examine what that looks like in practice," Mr Lai said.

Industry backing

Supporters of the summit include DBS, Northern Trust, Coinbase, BitGo, Elliptic, TRM Labs, OKX, RHTLaw, Sumsub, Safeheron, Integral and SGX FX. Their presence underlines the breadth of interest in the sector, from banks and market infrastructure firms to compliance specialists, custodians and digital asset trading businesses.

Digital Assets Association Singapore describes itself as a non-profit body focused on linking blockchain-based finance with established financial institutions. Its work centres on institutional engagement and asset tokenisation, which have become more prominent as regulators and market participants examine how digital assets could be used in payments, capital markets and wider financial infrastructure.

The summit returns for a second edition as the industry's focus shifts from experimentation to governance, liquidity, risk management and cross-border regulatory alignment.