CoinDesk’s Consensus Hong Kong 2026 has arrived. Over the next two days, over 10,000 attendees will hear discussions on tokenization, stablecoins, AI, and more from over 350 speakers across five stages.
The conference comes just after the crypto market has reached a period of intense volatility. Bitcoin BTC$68,619.14 After plummeting from over $95,000 to nearly $60,000, it recovered to $70,000 within a few weeks. This fluctuation is well known to longtime industry insiders, but it's still jarring.
Against this backdrop, we hear from Hong Kong policymakers, including Chief Executive John KC Lee, Legislative Member Johnny Ng, and Securities and Futures Commission CEO Julia Leung, about their efforts to draft a cryptocurrency-focused policy in the SAR.
Industry leaders such as Animoca's Yat Siu, Solana Foundation's Lily Liu, and BitMine's Tom Lee will introduce you to the current state of the crypto world and explain the trends you can expect to see in the coming months.
Perhaps the cryptocurrency industry is now merging with traditional finance, while putting aside some of its more esoteric products. Consensus speaker Armani Ferrante told CoinDesk last month that blockchain is more of a financial infrastructure than a support tool for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other projects.
Still, the market still needs to mature to truly support institutional demand, Jason Atkins of Auros told CoinDesk last month.
Financial institutions themselves, such as Robinhood, are also looking more deeply into blockchain as a tool that can support the financialization of their institutional clients, Johann Kelblatt, the company's head of cryptocurrencies, said last month.
