To Draw Institutional Money Into Digital Assets, Markets Need Liquidity and Risk Controls: EastPoint: Seoul 2026

Convergence of Traditional Finance and Digital Assets Set to Accelerate

Global digital-asset industry executives said deeper liquidity and a robust risk-management infrastructure are essential to bring more institutional investors into the market. That includes systems that can connect liquidity fragmented across multiple venues and execute large orders reliably.

A panel discussion on "Institutional Trading Stack: Liquidity, Execution, Prime Brokerage" was held at EastPoint: Seoul 2026, a global private Web3 conference, on Sept. 28 at the Westin Josun Seoul Parnas in Samseong-dong, Seoul.

The panel featured Samar Sen, head of international markets at Talos; Benjamin Stani, head of APAC institutional sales at FalconX; Jean-David Péquignot, head of APAC institutional markets at Deribit by Coinbase; and CJ Hetherington, co-founder and chief executive officer of Limitless.

Sen called liquidity one of the most underestimated factors in bringing institutional investors into digital assets. Institutions need to connect liquidity spread across multiple markets efficiently to execute large trades in a stable way, he said.

He added that the trading systems used by traditional financial firms alone are not enough to handle the digital-asset market's complex liquidity structure. Firms need algorithm-based execution systems that can integrate trading routes across centralized exchanges, over-the-counter markets and decentralized exchanges, while splitting orders according to market conditions.

Panelists also said the market needs a broader range of financial products to manage portfolio risk for institutional investors. Hetherington said traditional finance relies on tools such as interest-rate swaps and credit default swaps, but many areas still lack appropriate hedging products.

He cited the fast-growing private credit market in particular. Default risk tied to lending to private companies is rising, but there are still too few products that allow that risk to be transferred to or dispersed among other investors. Digital-asset-based contracts could become a tool for managing risks that have been difficult to address with traditional financial products.

The convergence of traditional finance and digital assets was another major theme of the discussion. Panelists said more financial firms are investing in digital-asset companies or building their own trading and custody infrastructure. Incumbent firms' licenses, client bases and trust built with regulators could become an advantage as the two markets converge.

Changes in the U.S. regulatory environment were also cited as a factor that could speed that convergence. Still, panelists said other countries also need to move faster in building out regulatory frameworks if the trend is not to remain concentrated in the U.S.

Oh Yu-rim / Lee Su-hyeon, Bloomingbit reporter