Singapore, October 8, 2026 — Hosted by Sharplink, Visa and BlockUnion, and co-hosted by Lido Institutional and ETH HK Hub, the Ethereum Ecosystem Summit convened leading Ethereum builders, financial institutions and industry executives during TOKEN2049 Singapore to discuss institutional adoption and the development of onchain finance.
With more than 1,800 registrations, the summit was one of the most closely followed side events during TOKEN2049 Singapore. Participants spanned protocol development, staking, payments, asset management, custody and applications, bringing together the expertise shaping Ethereum’s next phase of adoption.
Ethereum’s Next Decade
Moderated by Michael Camarda, Chief Development Officer at Sharplink, the fireside chat featured Joseph Lubin, Co-founder of Ethereum, Founder and CEO of Consensys and Chairman of Sharplink, alongside Joseph Chalom, CEO of Sharplink.
Lubin described decentralized trust as a foundation for global coordination. As traditional finance and DeFi converge, he envisaged a more integrated financial system, with Ethereum’s applications extending into identity, data and the wider web. He also discussed how zero-knowledge proofs could reduce redundant computation, coordinate transactions across networks and bring fragmented liquidity together.
Drawing on his work to bring BUIDL onto public Ethereum, Chalom explained why credible neutrality, censorship resistance and decentralization matter to institutions: infrastructure must offer stable rules, open access and reduced reliance on intermediaries that can fail.
Both speakers emphasized user autonomy. Chalom mentioned that agents need persistent identities, accountability and limits enforced through smart contracts. Lubin discussed MetaMask’s development toward an integrated interface for self-custody, payments, asset management, identity and data.
Building Infrastructure for Institutional Adoption
Also moderated by Michael Camarda, the infrastructure panel examined how protocol development, confidentiality, staking and systems integration can address institutional requirements.
Julian Ma, Co-founder of Ethlabs, outlined efforts to bring core protocol development closer to builders and institutions, focusing on faster Ethereum slots, improved interoperability and easier asset movement between mainnet and layer 2 networks.
Mo Jalil, Co-founder of EthSystems, identified confidentiality and compliance as central institutional requirements. EthSystems translates engagement with banks, asset managers and regulators into open-source libraries, specifications and reusable technical resources.
Vladimir Novakovski, Founder and CEO of Lighter, explained how Ethereum’s security supports high-performance trading. Lighter processes orders on its layer 2 network and posts cryptographic proofs to Ethereum to verify that orders were matched correctly.
Will Shannon, Head of Staking at the Lido Ecosystem Foundation, described increasingly detailed institutional assessments of node operators, client diversity, infrastructure resilience, liquidity and custody. He also highlighted stVaults’ flexibility in operator selection and segregated accounting, with optional access to stETH.
Michal Zajac, Global Head of Institutional Business at Nethermind, discussed transaction checks, controls over priority-fee recipients and reporting to internal systems. He also emphasized standardized asset information that existing trading systems can recognize.
Agentic Payments and Programmable Finance
Moderated by Larry Ma, Chief Strategy Officer at SNZ Holding, the panel explored the convergence of stablecoins, tokenized assets and agents, alongside the permissions and trust required for adoption.
Joseph Chalom described agents as a continuous automation layer for onchain finance. By making financial literacy and sustained attention more widely available, agents could help users deploy idle cash and manage portfolios, provided they act in their users’ interests. Dan Rosebery of Visa highlighted the importance of trust, clear permissions and payment authorization in agentic commerce, alongside the role of existing payment networks in supporting merchant acceptance.
Manuel Andreani, Global Head of Prime Sales at Anchorage Digital, stressed that institutional agents must operate within defined compliance, risk and settlement rules, supported by audit trails. He highlighted Know Your Agent, or KYA, and the continuing value of institutions in rule enforcement, liability and customer relationships.
Xiao Xiao, Investment Partner at HashKey Capital, identified corporate treasury management and cross-border payments as early opportunities. He also pointed to infrastructure needs in agent authentication, permissions, fraud detection and risk management.
Lido Introduces Lido Lend
Isidoros Passadis, Chief of Staking at the Lido Ecosystem Foundation, presented the newly announced Lido Lend and Lido’s broader vision of Ethereum as the internet’s core economic and coordination layer.
Initially focused on looping strategies, Lido Lend aims to give lenders greater confidence in withdrawing or redeeming positions under market stress, while reducing the impact of liquidity-driven volatility on borrowers.
Based on a modified fork of Morpho Blue, the proposed protocol would add security safeguards and complement existing lending markets, stETH and Lido Earn. Launch and acceptance by the Lido DAO remained subject to governance votes. Passadis invited institutional feedback to help refine the design.
Tokenization Through Product Utility
Moderated by Henry Chen, Chief Business Officer at SNZ Holding and Partner at BlockUnion, the panel examined tokenization, asset management vaults and enterprise blockchains, including the trade-offs between native issuance and wrapped structures.
Ian Wallis, Director of Digital Assets at Baillie Gifford, argued that onchain funds should evolve as software products. Tokenization must deliver tangible improvements, including faster subscriptions and redemptions, secondary liquidity and collateral utility. He also discussed native issuance that gives token holders a direct legal claim on the underlying fund.
Jim Hiltner, Co-founder of Superstate, described stablecoins as a growing channel for purchasing financial assets. Tokenization can expand investor access, enable new uses for funds and securities, and create more direct relationships between issuers and investors.
Aya Kantorovich, Co-founder and CEO of Upshift, discussed the expansion of vaults beyond overcollateralized lending into Treasuries, equities, debt and thematic portfolios. She anticipated closer collaboration between crypto-native curators and traditional asset managers, emphasizing continued management after products move onchain.
A.J. Warner, Chief Strategy Officer at Offchain Labs, drew on its work with Robinhood to discuss infrastructure tailored to business requirements. Institutions’ decisions to build their own chains should reflect their objectives; for some issuers, shared liquidity and composability may offer greater value.
Research on Digital Asset Markets
Bao Te, Associate Professor at the School of Social Sciences and Assistant Dean of the Graduate College at Nanyang Technological University, presented research on NFT herding, asset risk connectedness and exchange listing premiums.
His studies examined how common signals influence trading behavior, how risk-network relationships differ between cryptocurrencies and equities, and why first listings on higher-rated exchanges can generate abnormal returns, with diminishing premiums from subsequent listings.
Devcon and India’s Developer Ecosystem
Moderated by Shyam Sridhar, Academic Relations Team Lead at the Ethereum Foundation, the discussion examined Devcon’s role in supporting Ethereum’s development in India.
Nethan, Devcon Team Lead at the Ethereum Foundation, highlighted India’s active developer and user communities. He hoped Devcon would improve public and regulatory understanding of Ethereum’s applications and encourage builders to start projects and continue building locally.
Denver Dsouza, Co-founder of Devfolio and Curator of ETHIndia, described the community’s foundations in hackathons and sustained developer activity. He highlighted growing interest in tokenization and institutional applications, and emphasized Ethereum’s role as a technology for building neutral, credible systems.
Connecting Asia with the Global Ethereum Ecosystem
The summit connected protocol innovation with institutional requirements, financial products and community development. Across the discussions, speakers emphasized practical utility, resilient infrastructure and clear mechanisms for trust and accountability.
As host and co-host respectively, BlockUnion and ETH HK Hub provided a platform for collaboration between Asia and the global Ethereum ecosystem. The Hub will continue supporting Ethereum research, institutional adoption and real-world applications through cross-regional events, community building and resource coordination.
About Sharplink
Sharplink (NASDAQ: SBET) is a leading institutional-grade Ethereum treasury platform designed to give public market investors smarter, more productive exposure to ETH. Ethereum underpins the majority of global stablecoin, tokenized real-world assets and decentralized finance settlement. Sharplink was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida. Learn more at: https://www.sharplink.com/.
About BlockUnion
BlockUnion (HK) Limited (“BlockUnion”) is a leading Web3 ecosystem platform in Asia, built on the principle of “Connect to Empower”. With over a decade of investment and project experience in the Ethereum and Web3 ecosystem and a committed presence in Hong Kong and pan-Asia, BlockUnion focuses on community building and connection, ecosystem service and acceleration, technology research and advisory, and innovation investment and incubation.
BlockUnion serves global Web3 ecosystems building their Asia footprint, enterprises and financial institutions adopting blockchain and digital assets, and the regional builder and venture community. Our work includes long-standing support for Chainlink and Xinghuo BIF ( 星火链网 ), and the launch and operation of Hong Kong Ethereum Community Hub in alliance with the Ethereum Foundation. The team pairs institutional capital markets experience with crypto-native expertise, connecting partners across community, ecosystem, capital and policy.
About ETH HK Hub
ETH HK Hub is Asia’s first physical Ethereum community hub, supported by the Ethereum Foundation and jointly operated by BlockUnion, SNZ and ETHTAO. The Hub connects East and West and bridges Web2 and Web3, supporting long-term Ethereum ecosystem growth and adoption through community building and resource coordination. For more information, visit: https://ethhkhub.com
About Lido
Lido is an open-source, liquid-staking middleware that provides a way to participate in the blockchain network validation process and reap rewards for this activity. With a mission to democratize staking, Lido middleware lets users connect with node operators and stake their digital assets without the need to individually maintain hardware. Lido users can interact with various third-party DeFi applications that have independently integrated and support the liquid staking tokens. For further information, please visit https://lido.fi.