KBW 2025 in Seoul: At the Crossroads of Regulation, Institutional Adoption, and AI-Driven Innovation in Digital Assets

Main Points：

• KBW 2025 brings together U.S. policymakers, Asian innovators, financial institutions, and regulators to explore the intersection of digital assets, regulation, and artificial intelligence.
• Institutional adoption is accelerating, in part due to new regulatory clarity (e.g. frameworks for stablecoins, bank custody, digital asset treasuries).
• Emerging frameworks like Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) are reshaping infrastructure, compliance, and cross-border capital flows.
• Stablecoins remain central to ongoing regulation and financial innovation globally.
• Tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) shows promise but faces liquidity, regulatory, and market-structure challenges.
• The U.S. regulatory environment is evolving rapidly under acts like the GENIUS Act, clarity around crypto regulation, and steps toward enabling traditional financial institutions to hold crypto.

Introduction: KBW 2025 as a Strategic Convergence Point

Korea Blockchain Week (KBW), organized by FactBlock, is returning in September 2025 in Seoul under a theme that emphasizes the convergence of policy, institutional participation, regulation, artificial intelligence, and digital assets.

For the first time, senior Washington, D.C. officials—including White House representatives—are participating, reflecting South Korea’s rising role as a bridge between U.S. regulatory frameworks and Asia’s fast-moving blockchain and AI ecosystems. This coming together of regulators, venture capitalists, protocol teams, and traditional financial entities suggests that we are entering a structurally new phase for how digital assets are governed, adopted, and integrated.

Regulation and Policy: Clarifying the Rules of the Game

U.S. Regulatory Reform & Stability-Focused Legislation

One of the most significant recent developments is the passage of the GENIUS Act, which creates a uniform federal framework for stablecoins in the U.S. It mandates that issuers back stablecoins with high-quality liquid assets and requires transparency around reserves. Alongside it, other bills like the CLARITY Act and Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act signal growing legislative attention to digital assets, particularly stablecoins and digital payment systems.

Another major change is regulatory clarity around custodial treatment of digital assets. The rescinding of SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121) and its replacement with SAB 122 removes a key obstacle for banks and large financial institutions to custody customer crypto assets without having to put them entirely on-balance sheet, which had been expensive and restrictive.

Global Regulatory Trends: MiCA, Stablecoin Bills, Tokenization Law

Beyond the U.S., other jurisdictions are moving fast. The European Union’s MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) came fully into effect in 2025, helping to bring more legal certainty to stablecoins, service providers, and tokenization. Hong Kong is also pushing forward with stablecoin regulation and attracting institutional crypto business via new licensing, tax incentives, and robust oversight of custody and trading.

Countries like Vietnam are enacting laws to recognize and regulate virtual and crypto assets, launching pilot programs, regulatory sandboxes, and AML/CFT frameworks. Pakistan has created the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) to license and supervise virtual asset services.

Institutional Adoption & Market Structural Shifts

Institutional Players Entering Digital Assets

2025 has seen rapid acceleration in institutional adoption. Traditional banks, asset managers, and institutional investors are edging in, driven by demand, regulatory clarity, and improvements in infrastructure (custody, auditing, risk controls). The presence at KBW of banks, stablecoin issuers, protocol developers, and regulators underscores this transition.

Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) & Compliance Innovation

New models like Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) are being explored, which represent how institutional entities manage digital assets as part of treasury operations, entailing new compliance, risk management, and infrastructure demands. At KBW, part of the agenda is how DATs and similar frameworks are altering cross-border capital flows, market infrastructure, and regulatory compliance.

AI + Blockchain: Co-evolution of Code, Governance, Capital

KBW 2025 explicitly calls attention to the convergence of AI and blockchain, not as separate themes but as deeply interconnected. This includes how AI can assist in things like compliance automation, transaction monitoring, and possibly even governance of decentralized protocols. There are side-events such as AI WORLD: Unlimited Scalability and workshops combining generative AI, smart contracts, and Web3 infrastructure.

Tokenization & Stablecoins: Features and Frictions

Stablecoins as Infrastructure, Not Just Innovation

Stablecoins are no longer a fringe phenomenon; they are becoming foundational to payments, remittances, DeFi, and cross-border finance. Academic studies estimate stablecoin market caps in excess of US$230 billion as of May 2025, and regulatory frameworks like MiCA, the GENIUS Act, and bills in Hong Kong are framing stablecoins as regulated financial infrastructure.

These frameworks typically emphasize reserve backing, transparency, auditing, and oversight. The design details (custodial vs algorithmic, degree of decentralization, governance) continue to matter deeply for risk and regulatory acceptance.

Tokenization of Real-World Assets: Promise vs Reality

Tokenization of RWAs (real-world assets)—real estate, private credit, bonds, etc.—is growing, but liquidity remains a serious obstacle. Empirical studies show many tokenized assets suffer from low trading volumes, long holding periods, and limited secondary market activity. Barriers include regulatory gating, custody and valuation challenges, whitelisting requirements, and lack of mature decentralized trading venues.

Nonetheless, the potential is large: enabling fractional ownership, programmable settlement, global reach. Some platforms and initiatives are pushing forward with hybrid structures or compliance-friendly innovations to unlock more liquidity.

What to Expect from KBW 2025 and Near-Term Implications

• Bridges being built: Expect dialogues and perhaps new cooperative initiatives combining Washington’s regulatory insights with Asian innovation. Cross-jurisdiction standardization (for stablecoins, tokenization, compliance) could be on the agenda.
• Institutional participation accelerating: More banks, funds, and legacy financial institutions possibly committing to offering digital asset products (custody, tokenized asset exposure, stablecoin infrastructure) as regulation becomes clearer.
• Compliance & infrastructure innovations: Technologies for KYC/AML, auditability, proofs of reserve, zero-knowledge systems are likely to be more deeply discussed or showcased. Tools to manage risks of custody, governance, cross-chain operations will be in focus.
• Liquidity and market structure for tokenized assets: Ways to improve secondary trading, decentralized vs centralized market venues, regulatory visibility, standardization of valuation and reporting will be key concerns.
• Stablecoins regulation as litmus test: How stablecoins are regulated under various regimes (U.S., EU, Asia) will serve as a test for how flexible, yet safe, digital finance can become.

Comparative Trends & Insights Not in the Original KBW Article

To give more context beyond the KBW announcement, several trends in 2025 inform what’s likely to emerge at or after the event:

1. U.S. Stabilization in Policy: The U.S. government has passed landmark bills, with the GENIUS Act being central. Together with other legislative and regulatory reforms, U.S. policy is shifting from ambiguity to a more structured, stable legal framework for crypto and digital assets.
2. Institutional Custody & Accounting Changes: With SAB 121 rescinded (replaced by SAB 122), banks and financial actors are getting clearer guidance on how to treat digital assets and custody. This reduces friction for larger scale adoption.
3. Regulators Embracing Innovation More Proactively: Officials like Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman have publicly urged regulators to adopt a more open, cooperative mindset toward blockchain, AI, and crypto, moving away from being overly risk-averse.
4. Global Regulatory Competitiveness: Jurisdictions in Asia like Hong Kong and Vietnam are creating regulatory frameworks to attract institutional capital, tokenization business, stablecoin issuance, custody services, etc. This creates competitive pressure and opportunities for cross-border projects.
5. Academic & Infrastructure Research Supporting Stablecoins & RWAs: Recent academic work (e.g. stablecoin taxonomy, performance benchmarking; liquidity challenges in tokenization) points out that design and market structure matter a lot. These research insights could influence the technological, governance, and regulatory discussions at events like KBW.

Case Study in Regulation & Innovation: Stablecoins & Tokenization

To illustrate what structural changes look like, consider stablecoins and RWAs:

• Under stablecoins: regulatory frameworks are converging on requiring reserve backing, audits, transparency, and defined governance. They are increasingly viewed not just as speculative or fringe tools but as infrastructure for payments, commerce, remittances, etc.
• Under tokenization of RWAs: the technology exists, legal and infrastructure tools are improving, but liquidity remains a hurdle. Without active secondary markets and flexible legal/regulatory regimes, many of the economic benefits remain theoretical.

These domains are ideal for those seeking new earnings sources or building products: bridging the gaps (between tech and regulation, between initial token issuance and tradable liquidity, between AI tools and governance) offers opportunity.

Conclusion: What This Means for Builders, Investors, and Practitioners

KBW 2025 represents more than just a conference—it symbolizes a shift in the digital asset ecosystem. For people looking for the next crypto project, business model, or investment opportunity, a few take-aways:

• Look for projects that align with emerging regulatory frameworks—especially stablecoins, tokenized assets, AI tools for compliance, or governance. The projects that best comply will have advantage in institutional adoption.
• Infrastructure (custody, auditing, reporting, compliance tools) is in a growth phase. Building reliable, standards-oriented infrastructure can be a sustainable business.
• Cross-border regulatory understanding will be a differentiator. Being aware of EU MiCA, U.S. acts, Asia-Pacific regulatory trends gives strategic insights.
• Liquidity remains one of the toughest challenges. Even with tokenization, if assets aren’t easily tradable, the market value is limited. Innovation in secondary markets, exchange-folded models, and hybrid systems will matter.
• AI integration—especially for risk management, monitoring, governance—is increasingly central. Projects that can combine blockchain with AI safely, transparently, and in a compliant way are likely to gain traction.

Korea Blockchain Week (KBW) 2025 in Seoul marks a pivotal moment for the digital assets industry. For the first time, senior U.S. policymakers—including White House representatives—will be in attendance, underscoring Seoul’s evolving role as a bridge between U.S. regulatory regimes and Asia’s fast-emerging Web3, blockchain, and AI ecosystems. Organized by FactBlock, KBW sets out to explore the intersection of regulation, institutional adoption, AI, and digital assets amid global structural change.

At its core, KBW 2025 will highlight how institutions—banks, stablecoin issuers, protocol teams—are navigating new frameworks like Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) and evolving compliance regimes to reshape market structure, capital flows, and governance. The conference will serve as a global stage where traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized systems converse, and where the convergence of capital, code, and governance is increasingly visible.

Simultaneously, the regulatory landscape globally is accelerating. In the United States, the GENIUS Act has been passed to solidify stablecoin regulation, and policy changes like rescinding SAB 121 are easing barriers for institutional adoption. In Europe, MiCA is now functioning in full effect, placing regulatory oversight on stablecoins, service providers, and tokenization processes. Asia is not standing aside—Hong Kong, Vietnam, Pakistan, among others, are crafting laws, licensing regimes, and regulatory authorities to foster innovation while protecting investors and maintaining compliance.

On the technical and market front, stablecoins and tokenization of real-world assets remain central opportunities. Stablecoins are increasingly seen as programmable financial infrastructure (for payments, cross-border transfers, etc.), not just speculative tools. Meanwhile, RWAs present major promise—fractional ownership, global access, programmable settlement—but still confront challenges: low liquidity, regulatory uncertainty, valuation opacity, and lack of mature secondary markets.

At KBW 2025, expect deep dives into compliance innovation (KYC/AML, proofs of reserve, zero-knowledge proofs), institutional trust (custody, auditing, reporting), and how AI can augment governance, risk detection, and protocol oversight. For investors and builders, products aligned with regulatory clarity, liquidity-friendly design, and cross-chain compatibility will likely stand out.

In sum, KBW 2025 is much more than a gathering—it is a marker of how digital assets, regulation, AI, and institutional finance are coalescing into a framework that may define the next era of Web3. Projects that understand and engage with regulation, that solve infrastructure and liquidity bottlenecks, and that combine AI and blockchain with governance in mind are likely to lead.