“That in and of itself as a value prop is mind-blowing to many in TradFi,” he said.

Still, the speakers acknowledged institutional adoption remains constrained by legacy financial infrastructure and regulation. White said banks continue to build crypto products cautiously while waiting for clearer regulatory guidance.

“There’s not a traditional finance Wall Street company we’ve talked to that has said this isn’t something they’re thinking about,” she said.

Babylon Labs’ Boris Alergant argued institutions are increasingly focused on capital efficiency rather than simply bitcoin price appreciation. He said Babylon’s bitcoin-backed lending products are designed to let investors borrow against native bitcoin holdings without relinquishing custody through wrapped assets or centralized intermediaries.

The panel also highlighted a growing divide between regulated U.S. markets and offshore crypto ecosystems. De Bode said permissionless innovation in decentralized finance will likely continue to flourish outside the United States, even as banks adopt more controlled blockchain-based systems domestically.

“I don’t see a world in which everything that happens offshore finds a home in the U.S.,” he said.

Despite the bifurcation, panelists broadly agreed that the two systems will eventually converge as institutional capital and crypto-native liquidity deepen.

AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

More For You

Lily Liu, President of Solana Foundation, at Consensus Miami 2026 (CoinDesk)

At Consensus Miami 2026, Solana Foundation President Lily Liu argued that stablecoin adoption by firms like Western Union validates Solana’s role as financial infrastructure for both human and machine economies.

What to know:

  • Lily Liu said Western Union adopting Solana for stablecoin payments reflects the network’s speed, low costs and neutrality as financial infrastructure.
  • Liu argued blockchain rails are essential for AI agents and “machine-to-machine” commerce because traditional card networks cannot support micropayments economically.
  • She said crypto’s next major evolution could be “internet…

About the Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Stories