Optimism was the word of the hour at the 12th edition of the European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona. The CLARITY Act had failed in the US Senate just two days earlier, something that could easily have dampened the spirits of the attendees.
Not this time.
In fact, Richard B. Levin of Taft kicked off the panel on “EU, UK, US and UAE: Multiple Regulatory Paths, One Global Digital Asset Market” by sharing his own version of a famed Winston Churchill quote: “You can count on Americans to do it absolutely wrong until they finally get it right.”
While the fallout from CLARITY is still playing out in Washington, US regulators didn’t wait around. Two days after the vote, the SEC unveiled an “Innovation Exemption” allowing tokenised US stocks to trade on-chain. Meanwhile, progress in other regulatory arenas, like MiCA, took centre stage, and a hope for regulatory harmonisation echoed across panels.
With panellists ranging from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) to the European Banking Authority, there was an unmistakable optimism about the growing presence of digital assets across the financial industry, a presence that has expanded significantly over the last few years.
What struck me most were the headlines that swirled around our preparation in the lead-up to the event. While our team worked to build a strong media presence at the conference, the digital assets space rode its usual whirlwind rollercoaster. Beyond CLARITY failing, MiCA’s transition period came to a hard stop, leaving only licensed firms able to serve EU clients. Bitcoin climbed back above $80,000 for the first time since May, and the Fed hiked rates for the first time since 2023. It became obvious that charged discussions would dominate the event.
And they did.
The panels were packed, with people who wanted to know one thing: what’s next for digital assets? Spokespeople from major institutions, including Visa, Bitwise, Fidelity Digital Assets, Citi, and BlackRock, took the stage, as well as our much-loved Radoslav Poljasevic of LO:TECH and Kean Gilbert of Lido, and YAP Global CEO Otto Jacobsson, all weighing in on the institutionalisation of digital assets.
The regulatory conversation may be loudest in the United States, but the resounding message at the conference was this: while the US has hit a bump on the road to a clear regulatory approach, frameworks are still moving forward across the globe. In the EU, MiCA is now fully in force, and the register is filling up fast, with the number of banks licensed as crypto service providers doubling to around 80 since June, as Brussels begins reviewing the rulebook for a “MiCA 2.0.” In the UK, the FCA has finalised its crypto rulebook and opens its authorisation gateway at the end of this month. And even in the US, the SEC and CFTC are pressing ahead with rules under their existing powers. In the words of my colleague Imogen, the European Blockchain Convention was a “crypto reg dream.”
Beyond the focus on regulation, the conference made me think about the purpose of events like these. They’re an excellent platform to show the world what you and your business are doing, but the deals floor was buzzing with entrepreneurs pitching to investors who were visibly excited.
But at a convention like this, one taking place at a crucial moment for the industry, with regulation swinging like a pendulum and the world wondering where it will settle, collaboration matters more than ever. It came to life in the questions asked on stage, in one panellist’s excitement for another’s work, and in the closing questions moderators posed at the end of each panel. The wording varied slightly, but the tone was the same: What can we look forward to? How do we move forward? Which metrics should we use to measure success in digital assets ten years from now?
EBC highlighted a special kind of collaboration: a forward-looking one.
Until next time,
Sofia
