Cregis summit in Singapore weighs institutional onchain infrastructure

At the Institutional Onchain Finance Summit 2026 in Singapore, stablecoins, cross-border payments, compliance and operational security took prominence as executives examined the infrastructure needed for the next phase of institutional adoption.

The summit took place on Oct. 6 as part of TOKEN2049 Week and was co-hosted by Cregis, FOMO Pay, Stable and Width. It gathered executives from digital asset infrastructure, payments, financial services, stablecoins and cybersecurity.

Jason Ma, Cregis’s COO, opened the summit with a keynote called A Solid Foundation for Your Business on Chain. He described how Cregis built its infrastructure around the operational needs of digital-asset businesses, covering wallet infrastructure via Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS), fund-flow orchestration via Rails, and custody and governance capabilities. The company’s Wallet-as-a-Service and Payment Engine products serve various enterprise digital asset operations.

Attention then shifted to cross-border payments, one of the most established stablecoin use cases.

A panel moderated by Chiara Munaretto, cofounder of Stablecoin Insider, examined where stablecoins solve practical pain points in cross-border transactions. The panel included Leandro Noel (Founder and COO of Avenia), Andres Kim (Regional Expansion Lead at Tether), Eddie Hui (Co-President and COO of MetaComp), and Zack Yang (Co-Founder of FOMO Pay).

Recurring concerns included cost, settlement speed and predictability. Traditional cross-border payments often involve multiple intermediaries, variable fees and poor visibility into transfer status. Stablecoins provide 24/7 settlement and onchain visibility.

The panel avoided presenting stablecoins as a substitute for local payment systems. Andres Kim noted that in South Korea domestic payment infrastructure stays crucial, while stablecoins offer an extra rail for cross-border transfers. Leandro Noel described stablecoins more broadly as a possible “global ledger,” letting firms link markets without duplicating financial infrastructure across jurisdictions.

Stable CEO Brian Mehler gave a keynote titled “Global Payments, Made Stable,” focusing on the payment infrastructure for that use case and outlining Stable’s approach to stablecoin-based payments and global money movement.

Adoption introduces additional complexity. With more issuers and jurisdictions launching stablecoins, businesses encounter an increasing variety of assets, networks and liquidity pools. Zack Yang observed that stablecoins can streamline fragmented payment operations, but the stablecoin market is itself becoming more fragmented.

That fragmentation heightens compliance pressure as stablecoins penetrate further into payment flows. Width CEO and Co-Founder Chye Kit Chioh discussed the topic in his keynote The Future of Compliance 2027 and Beyond: AI, Automation, and the Shift to Real-Time Risk Intelligence, emphasizing automation and real-time risk management.

The fragmentation issue also arose in the stablecoin panel. Cross-border transactions often cover local payment systems, stablecoin conversion and several regulatory jurisdictions, requiring closer coordination between banks, payment providers, stablecoin companies and regulators. Panelists additionally urged regulators to acquire more hands-on experience with real-world stablecoin use cases.

A second panel looked at security challenges for institutional onchain activity, moderated by Alevtina Labyuk, Chief Strategic Partnerships Officer at BeInCrypto. Participants included Michael Chen (Non-Executive Director at 1exchange), Jason Jiang (Chief Business Officer at CertiK), Dmytro Matviiv (CEO of HackenProof), and Alexandra Wang (Head of Partnerships at ZAN). They discussed how security risks now go far beyond smart contract code.

The panelists agreed that audits are now a baseline necessity but only offer a point-in-time snapshot. Key management, access controls, signing policies, vendor oversight and incident response are gaining equal importance. Jason Jiang emphasized continuous monitoring, anomaly detection and fund tracing, while Michael Chen concentrated on operational controls for transaction authorization and asset management.

AI agents raised new questions about authorization and accountability. Although AI can enhance monitoring and automate financial decisions, the panelists noted that institutions will need clear boundaries on what an agent can do, especially with irreversible transactions. The conversation also underscored the need for better traceability, dispute resolution and fund recovery as institutional involvement increases.

The summit also examined the wider architecture for institutional finance. Injective CEO and Co-Founder Eric Chen presented Injective's Institutional Stack, describing Injective's infrastructure approach for institutional financial applications.

Across the two panels and four keynotes, a consistent theme appeared: stablecoins are entering payments, compliance is becoming intertwined with transaction flows, and institutional security is spreading into everyday operations.

For companies that use digital assets, the practical challenge is integrating these capabilities into existing financial and operational systems while retaining control over payments, compliance, security and treasury functions.

Founded in 2017, Cregis currently serves over 4,000 businesses in more than 50 countries, with cumulative transaction volume exceeding $300 billion. Its infrastructure encompasses enterprise wallets, payments and fund-flow operations, as the company continues to extend its capabilities for institutional asset management and governance.