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ADGM: 1 day ago
ADGM’s Registration Authority (RA) and Hashed Open Research (HOR), a Hashed policy think tank, have co-authored a new policy report synthesising insights from the “Web3 Leaders Roundtable,” convened in partnership with Hashed during Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) 2025.
The closed-door roundtable convened approximately 40 senior decision-makers from global financial institutions, regulators, and infrastructure firms, including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), BlackRock, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Franklin Templeton, Circle, Consensys, Solana Foundation, the European Commission, and the Government of Liechtenstein. Discussions focused on the convergence of AI and blockchain-based financial infrastructure, as well as practical bottlenecks shaping institutional adoption of digital assets.
AI Agents and Blockchain Infrastructure: Building Trusted Financial Systems at Scale
Participants discussed the rise of AI systems in financial activity, including the implications of increasingly autonomous decision-making and execution.
Participants noted that machine-to-machine activity could outpace infrastructure designed primarily for human-led workflows, increasing demand for secure, transparent systems that operate at scale. The report emphasises verifiable records and robust governance, with blockchain-based systems increasingly viewed as a foundation for trusted settlement
The roundtable also highlighted that tokenisation has moved beyond digitising existing assets into redesigning market structure, including issuance, distribution, and settlement.
Examples included DTCC’s stated aspiration to tokenize the entirety of the U.S. capital markets, and early adoption bridges such as tokenised gold products attracting flows from traditional gold ETFs. Participants also noted that prudential and accounting treatment for stablecoins and other digital settlement assets can shape adoption at scale, and that personal AI agents (“digital twins”) may become a key interface for participation in the digital economy.
Regulatory Uncertainty Remains the Primary Bottleneck for Institutional Adoption
The report notes that regulatory uncertainty remains a primary barrier to wider institutional adoption.
Challenges highlighted included risk-weighted asset charges for certain digital-asset exposures under Basel capital rules, which can reach up to 1,250%, overlapping AML and KYC requirements across jurisdictions, and unresolved accounting and tax treatment.
The report frames stablecoins and real-time settlement as the most validated and practical pathways toward scaling on-chain financial infrastructure. However, for tokenization to deliver real value and structural market upgrades, it also highlights the need for the existence of strong secondary market liquidity and reliable redemption mechanisms – otherwise, tokenization risks remaining a technical wrapper.
The report also notes that overly prescriptive regulation early in market development can inhibit experimentation before risks and control points are observable, underscoring the importance of balanced frameworks that provide clarity and trust while allowing room for innovation.
H.E. Rashed Al Blooshi, Chief Executive Officer of ADGM Registration Authority (RA), said, “This report reflects ADGM’s commitment to convening global perspectives that help shape the future of finance. As AI and blockchain become increasingly embedded in financial systems and participate directly in economic activity, governance cannot be an afterthought. The report highlights the control points that matter most in practice, including identity, permissions, auditability, and rights clarity, so that innovation can scale responsibly and remain aligned with market integrity. The focus must remain on building systems that are trusted, well-governed, and designed to operate at scale.”
"This was an occasion where global leaders from regulators, institutional investors, and infrastructure builders came together to discuss how capital market structure should be redesigned and who should lead that redesign, addressing substantive policy directions at the intersection of AI and blockchain," said Simon Seojoon Kim, CEO of Hashed. "We hope this report serves as a concrete reference for the design of digital financial infrastructure."
The full report is available on the ADGM website here and the Hashed Open Research website –www.hashedopenresearch.com.
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