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HONG KONG – Consensus Hong Kong 2026 officially opened its doors today at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The event gathered industry leaders, government officials, and investors for one of the region’s most significant digital asset conferences.
Mike Lau Jr., Chairman of Consensus, and Jay Yarrow, President of CoinDesk, delivered the opening remarks that set the tone for a day, focusing heavily on the convergence of traditional finance and the crypto economy.
Hong Kong Reaffirms Web3 Ambitions
Local government officials maintained a strong presence which underscored Hong Kong’s continued push to cement itself as a global crypto hub.
- John KC Lee, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR, delivered the opening address.
- He reiterated the administration’s commitment to a regulated and sustainable digital asset ecosystem.
- Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po later took to the Auros Global Stage for a keynote speech.
- He emphasized the strategic role of fintech in the city’s economic future, noting that “HK financial institutions are warming up to digital assets.”
Chan revealed that Hong Kong banks have begun offering tokenized deposit services, reaching $29 billion HKD by last year. He also provided a timeline for upcoming regulatory milestones.
“Our strategy is moving forward fast step by step. So we will issue small number of licenses in March this year but more will come later,” Chan stated.
Julia Leung of the Securities and Futures Commission, also joined the conversation, speaking with CoinDesk’s Sam Reynolds about the evolving compliance landscape. She highlighted how clear rules currently attract institutional players to the region.
Institutions and RWAs in Focus
The rapid transformation of global finance emerged as a major theme of Day 1.
Anthony Scaramucci, Founder of SkyBridge, and Thomas Farley, CEO of Bullish, engaged in a fireside chat regarding the US regulatory environment.
- Scaramucci remarked on the political shift in the US, stating, “I’m not a fan but Donald Trump IS the crypto President.” He also predicted a path forward for the US market structure bill.
“Libertarians might not like the bill but the bill can’t be perfect immediately. The bill has to be in place and soon there will be amendments to it eventually,” Scaramucci said.
In a significant product announcement, Intercontinental Exchange revealed the launch of cryptocurrency futures contracts based on seven CoinDesk Indices. Jen Ilkiw of ICE Markets and Dave LaValle of CoinDesk Markets announced the new contracts will include futures for the CoinDesk 20, CoinDesk 5, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and BNB.
Real-World Assets were a key subject of panels. Graham Ferguson of Securitize and Min Lin of Ondo Finance joined CoinDesk’s Krisztian Sandor to discuss the sector’s next stage.
“We need to make sure people want to use and utilize these tokenized assets,” the panel noted. “There’s no question about the advantages of tokenization. But it is up to us to figure out distribution.”
Peter Mintzberg, CEO of Grayscale, spoke separately with Dave LaValle regarding adoption. Mintzberg argued that access has largely been solved, and the current effort is on education.
“We provide clients the education materials that they can take to their clients. These are longer term initiatives to hopefully lead to sustainable adoption,” Mintzberg said.
Solana and Market Structure
Ecosystem-specific updates drew significant attention beyond the macro discussions. Lily Liu, President of the Solana Foundation, joined Mike Lau Jr. to outline the 2026 outlook.
Liu emphasized the region’s importance, stating, “Asia underpinned Bitcoin at any aspect. The most successful blockchain organizations have come from APAC.” She also clarified Solana’s positioning, noting that the network “has always been globally focused, no geographic home.”
Liquidity providers took the stage as well to clarify their role in the ecosystem.
- Jason Atkins of Auros Global, Jordi Alexander of Selini Capital, and CJ Fong of GSR discussed the complexities of market making with Sam Reynolds.
- Addressing common suspicions about price action, the panelists denied manipulating markets for projects.
“Most founders are brilliant but also pretty young. We guide them and explain the market and how the market works. But we’re not going to manipulate the market for you,” one panelist explained.
When asked if a token price tanking is the fault of the project rather than the market maker, the panel responded with a definitive, “Sure!”
BitPinas On the Ground
The BitPinas team is currently at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to cover the event.
The team sat down with Nick See Tong, Country Lead for Base Singapore, to discuss the Layer 2 network’s strategy in Southeast Asia. The team also interviewed Edwin Mata, CEO and Co-Founder of Brickken, who explained the platform’s role in the growing tokenization sector.
Both interviews will be published on BitPinas shortly.
This article is published on BitPinas: Consensus Hong Kong 2026 Day 1 Recap: Regulatory Clarity and Institutional Adoption Take Center Stage
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