Tokenisation 2026

Open finance and its enemies: Must tokenisers choose progress over revolution?

14 October 2026

1 Day Event: 09.00 to 20.30 London Time

The Aon Centre, The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, London EC3V 4AN

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Moments from the Event

On 14 October 2026, Future of Finance hosted Tokenisation 2026: Open Finance and Its Enemies: Must Tokenisers Choose Progress over Revolution? at the Aon Centre in London, bringing together senior figures from financial services, asset management, technology and regulation to examine why tokenisation has yet to scale and what is needed to unlock its potential. Discussions explored the search for a killer application, retail versus institutional adoption, the influence of the cryptocurrency industry, and the role of regulation and market infrastructure in driving wider adoption. Speakers also examined which use cases are delivering tangible value and how tokenisation can move beyond experimentation towards commercial scale.

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About the Event

This event brings together leading voices from across global markets to examine why tokenisation has yet to scale and what is required to unlock its full potential. The litany of benefits – 24/7 trading, faster, cheaper settlement, reduced intermediation, smaller ticket sizes, programmability, composability, a greater choice of asset classes - has grown stale with repetition. The currently dominant mode of tokenisation can never deliver such benefits, prompting questions about who the enemies of tokenisation are and what motivates them. The killer app for token markets is network effects, now being sought through links with the cryptocurrency markets, but they refuse stubbornly to gain momentum. Whether a cryptocurrency industry tainted by financial crime can ever be a positive influence over token markets is contested passionately. Retail investors are seen as the key to scale, while advocates of institutional money argue the opposite. Despite the liberalisation of laws and regulations, there is no agreement on what pro-tokenisation regulations look like. What is clear is that the tokenisation models which will succeed exist already and have only to master the secret of scale.

Order of the Day

09.45 to 09.50: Welcome Address: Future of Finance

09.50 to 10.00: Host Welcome Address: Ed Pugh, Client Director at Aon

10.00 to 10.15: Keynote Address & Debate: ‘Replicating Legacy is Squandering the Promise of Tokenisation: We are Building a Faster Horse’ – Presentation by Dr Ian Hunt, Co-author

10.15 to 11.00: Keynote Address & Debate: Panel Discussion and Audience Q&A – David Kemp (GAM Investments), Jamie Bell (Financial Conduct Authority), Charles Kerrigan (CMS UK) and Steve Whyman (Mole Advisory)

11.00 to 12.00: Panel 1 - Where is the killer app in tokenisation?

12.00 to 13.00: Panel 2 - Is the future of tokenisation retail or institutional?

13.00 to 14.00: Lunch and Networking

14.00 to 15.00: Panel 3 - Is the cryptocurrency industry helpful or unhelpful for tokenisation?

15.00 to 16.00: Panel 4 - What do pro-tokenisation regulations look like?

16.00 to 16.20: Coffee Break and Networking

16.20 to 17.30: Panel 5 - From DLT to Real-World Value | Research Presentation & Open Discussion

17.30 to 20.30: Networking Drinks and Dinner

Audience

Asset managers, asset owners, issuers, custodians, exchanges (digital asset, stock and cryptocurrency), brokers and broker-dealers, tokenisation providers, blockchain protocols, fund platforms, private banks, FMIs (CSDs, CCPs, ICSDs), regulators and policymakers, and legal and compliance professionals.

All tickets are subject to approval. If your purchase is not approved, you will receive a full refund with no deductions. Refund requests may be made up to seven days before the event date. By purchasing a ticket, you agree to these terms.

Chatham House Policy

All panels are held under the Chatham House Rule to encourage open and candid discussion. All participants are free to use the information shared, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of speakers or attendees may be revealed.

To maintain this environment, sessions are not officially recorded or filmed, and no official event recordings are provided. Following each event, we will share key takeaways on our website and social media.

Panels & Key Discussion Topics

Host Welcome Address by Ed Pugh, Client Director at Aon

Ed Pugh

Aon

09.50 to 10.00

Keynote Address and Debate: ‘Replicating Legacy is Squandering the Promise of Tokenisation: We are Building a Faster Horse’

David Kemp

GAM Investments

Jamie Bell

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Charles Kerrigan

CMS UK

Dr Ian Hunt

Independent

Steve Whyman

Mole Advisory

10.00 to 11.00

as Moderator

Where is the killer app in tokenisation?

Sam Edwards

State Street

John Willock

Blue Ocean Technologies

Nick Magliocchetti

ST0x

Rupert Poland

Aon

Emma Lovett

J.P. Morgan

1. Tokenisation is manifestly not scaling. What single thing would do most to increase activity? 2. Why don't successful pilot tests lead to greater commercial success? 3. Is tokenisation trapped in a chicken-and-egg paradox, in which you can't have liquidity without issuance (assets to trade) but you can't have isssuance without liquidity (ability to exit to cash)? 4. The efficiency gains of tokenisation are clear, so is the lack of adoption a deadlock paradox, in which issuers, investors and intermediaries are waiting for one of their number to make a major commitment before they follow suit? 5. Have the benefits of fractionalisation, programmability, composability and atomicity been demonstrated in practice as opposed to theory? 6. Are the traditional stock exchanges building tokenisation platforms defending existing franchises, expediting the integration of token and security markets, or galvanising the tokenisation of traditional securities markets? 7. Could the killer app for tokenisation be providing a cheaper, better alternative to the traditional IPO? 8. Might non-native tokens scale more quickly than native tokens because they do not need the permission of the issuer or regulatory clarity? 9. Is convergence between traditional and tokenised markets a delusion because it requires users to support two separate market infrastructures?

PANEL 1

11.00 to 12.00

Keith Bear

as Moderator

Is the future of tokenisation retail or institutional?

Ryan Hayward

Barclays

Pilar Estrada

Allfunds

Jasmine Burgess

Blockstream Capital Partners

Liz Lawson

T. Rowe Price

James Finch

Mobius

1. The lesson of cryptocurrency is that retail pioneers and institutional follows, but retail continues to dominate. Why should security and fund tokens be different? 2. Will the propensity of tokenisation to democratise and disintermediate defeat institutions or be defeated by institutions? 3. Retail participation in Nasdaq stocks is increasing. Is the Nasdaq emphasis on equity tokens as a means of increasing issuer engagement with investors aimed at retail investors? 4. Is the “insumer” model, in which consumers double as investors in a corporate brand, a viable application of tokenisation? 5. Why is it difficult to tokenise alternative asset classes for retail distribution? 6. What additional benefits does tokenisation bring to fractionalisation of assets? 7. Could tokenising the earnings of successful popular artists and sports stars unlock scale in the token markets? 8. How useful is tokenisation as a tool for traditional asset managers to distribute products to Millennial and Gen Z investors? 9. Is tokenisation of flows of value the key to creating personalised investment portfolios for retail investors?

PANEL 2

12.00 to 13.00

Dominic Hobson

as Moderator

Is the cryptocurrency industry helpful or unhelpful for tokenisation?

Jake Moilanen

Ironlight

Avishay Yanai

Soda Labs

Felix Haynes

Coinbase

Mac Mahalingam

Amazon Web Services

Mark D. Garabedian, CFA

Wellington Management

1. What can eradicate the popular confusion of security and fund tokens with cryptocurrencies? 2. Do tokenisation enthusiasts underestimate the barriers - as opposed to the benefits - created by the cryptocurrency-style user experience? 3. Lack of interoperability is a baleful legacy of the cryptocurrency industry. Could the security and fund token industries have avoided it? 4. Does the relative success of tokenised money market funds (TMMFs) mean the cryptocurrency markets are distorting the tokenisation of funds? 5. Corporate treasuries and spot cryptocurrency ETFs are a primary source of both stability and volatility in the cryptocurrency markets. Is their impact on the case for tokenising securities and funds positive or negative? 6. Is contagion risk from cryptocurrency markets inhibiting investment in security and fund tokens? 7. In terms of liquidity provision, do automated market makers represent an advance on central limit order books (CLOBs)? 8. How damaging to institutional engagement with tokenised securities is the use of cryptocurrency and Stablecoins by financial criminals? 9. Is it desirable - or even possible - for tokenisation to break the link with blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency industry?

PANEL 3

14.00 to 15.00

Dominic Hobson

as Moderator

What do pro-tokenisation regulations look like?

Ciarán McGonagle

McGonagle Advisory

Timm Reinsdorf

Particula

Matt Ong

Ctrl Alt

Hannah Meakin

Norton Rose Fulbright

1. Is the lack of "native" tokens a function of regulatory uncertainty, institutional timidity or lack of investment in adequate technology? 2. Would security and fund tokens be more successful if, instead of embracing regulation, they offered a path around regulation? 3. Global token businesses want global regulatory standards, but neither convergence nor competition between jurisdictions can deliver common regulatory standards. Must token entrepreneurs resign themselves to needing (and paying for) multiple regulatory licences? 4. Does the cost of securing a regulatory licence limit innovation by reducing competition? 5. In terms of their ability to promote innovation, are regulatory sandboxes useless ? 6. Should regulators eschew the pursuit of regulatory certainty in favour of more flexible, principles-based regulation? 7. Should tax authorities offer token issuers and investors incentives to issue and invest? 8. Does the combination of tokenisation and AI make existing regulatory techniques redundant? 9. Could tokenisation facilitate a drastic simplification of regulation that leads to a better balance between innovation and investor protection?

PANEL 4

15.00 to 16.00

Dominic Hobson

as Moderator

From DLT to Real-World Value | Research Presentation & Open Discussion With the Audience

Adi Ben-Ari

Applied Blockchain

Martin Lawrence

The ValueExchange

Dr Ian Hunt

Independent

Mike Manning

Ava Labs

A presentation of The ValueExchange’s DLT in the Real World 2026 research (https://thevx.io/research-insights/key-findings/dlt-in-the-real-world-in-2026-key-findings), followed by an open discussion with the panel and audience exploring where DLT is delivering real-world value, which use cases are gaining traction, and what is needed to move from deployment to scale. Points of discussion: 1. Where is DLT delivering the most tangible value for firms today? 2. Which use cases are moving beyond experimentation and into meaningful institutional adoption? 3. Why is tokenised collateral emerging as a leading use case, and what is driving its growth? 4. Are firms seeing measurable improvements from live DLT platforms compared with traditional infrastructure? 5. What is still preventing successful DLT deployments from scaling across the market? 6. How are Stablecoins and tokenised deposits changing the role of digital money in institutional markets? 7. What needs to happen for DLT adoption to move from individual use cases to broader market infrastructure? 8. Where will we see the most significant real-world impact from DLT over the next two years?

PANEL 5

16.20 to 17.30

Dominic Hobson

as Moderator

Keynote Speaker(s)

David Kemp

Group Management Board, UK CEO, Global Head Legal and Compliance

GAM Investments

Jamie Bell

Head of Capital Markets

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Charles Kerrigan

Partner

CMS UK

Dr Ian Hunt

Author and Advisor

Independent

Steve Whyman

Founder & Director

Mole Advisory

Sponsor Speaker(s)

Adi Ben-Ari

Founder & CEO

Applied Blockchain

Avishay Yanai

Co-Founder and CEO

Soda Labs

John Willock

Chief Revenue Officer

Blue Ocean Technologies

Nick Magliocchetti

Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer

ST0x

All Panel Speakers

In Alphabtetical Order

Heading 6

Moderator(s)

Heading 6

Moments from Our Latest Event in the Series

On 14 October 2025, Future of Finance hosted Tokenisation 2025 at the Reed Smith offices in London, bringing together senior figures from banks, asset managers, FMIs, regulators, and technology providers to explore the question, “Where and When Will It Scale?” The discussions tackled the industry’s most pressing challenges, from the value of current use-cases to the role of sandboxes, legacy constraints, jurisdictional competition, and whether market forces or the State will ultimately drive tokenisation forward.

See the Highlights & Event Details