UAE Institutional Leaders Convene in Abu Dhabi as Digital Asset Strategy Accelerates Across Global Finance
Senior leaders from world finance, digital asset infrastructure, and regulatory establishments will convene in Abu Dhabi on May 13, 2026, for the inaugural Digital Assets Forum Abu Dhabi (DAFME 1) — a brand new institutional gathering centered on the accelerating integration of digital belongings into regulated monetary markets.
The launch of DAFME 1 comes at a defining second for institutional adoption throughout the Gulf area. The Middle East and North Africa has quickly emerged as one of many fastest-growing digital asset markets worldwide, supported by sovereign funding methods, regulatory readability, and large-scale monetary innovation initiatives led by the United Arab Emirates.
As world monetary establishments more and more search regulated environments for digital asset deployment, the UAE has positioned itself on the intersection of capital formation, technological infrastructure, and forward-looking policymaking.
Following three profitable institutional editions of Digital Assets Forum in London — bringing collectively practically 2,000 senior executives from banks, asset managers, hedge funds, and market infrastructure suppliers — the discussion board expands into Abu Dhabi amid rising world capital migration towards the area.
“Across our London editions, we’ve seen how regulatory certainty instantly unlocks institutional participation,” stated Victoria Gago, Co-Founder of Digital Assets Forum.
“What is going down in Abu Dhabi and throughout the Gulf represents a structural shift in world finance. Capital formation, infrastructure growth, and coverage management are more and more converging right here. The UAE is demonstrating how governments and monetary establishments can actively form the long run structure of digital markets.”
Institutional Leadership and Confirmed Speakers
Confirmed institutional individuals embrace senior executives from regulators, funding companies, custodians, and world digital asset platforms:
- Christoph Richter, Head of Digital Assets & AI — ADGM
- Sebastian Widmann, Head of Dubai — Komainu
- Karl Naim, Group Chief Commercial Officer — XBTO Middle East
- Yan Ma, Executive Director — Spartan Group
- Catrina Wang, General Partner — Portal Ventures
- Elliot Andrews, CEO — Aspen Digital
- Rachel Conlan, Global Chief Marketing Officer — Binance
Additional institutional audio system and sovereign ecosystem individuals will likely be introduced in the approaching weeks.
Backed by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)
DAFME 1 is backed by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and can happen inside Abu Dhabi’s worldwide monetary centre ecosystem.
Through its Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), ADGM has established one of many world’s most complete regulatory frameworks for digital belongings, offering structured licensing regimes for exchanges, custodians, asset managers, brokers, and institutional infrastructure suppliers.
The UAE’s broader nationwide technique — spanning central financial institution digital forex initiatives, tokenisation programmes, and public-private innovation partnerships — reinforces the nation’s ambition to grow to be a worldwide capital market connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Sovereign wealth funds, regional banking teams, and institutional allocators throughout the area are actively evaluating:
- Tokenised real-world belongings (RWA)
- Stablecoin and fee infrastructure
- Institutional digital asset funds
- Regulated custody and market infrastructure
—all inside a government-supported and compliance-driven framework.
Key Institutional Themes
Digital Assets Forum Abu Dhabi will study the strategic questions shaping institutional markets, together with:
- UAE digital asset regulation in a worldwide context
- Institutional portfolio allocation and alpha technology
- Stablecoins, funds, and CBDC developments
- Integration between conventional finance (TradFi) and DeFi
- Real-world asset tokenisation
- The evolution of crypto ETFs
- Liquidity, custody, and market infrastructure
- Institutional danger and governance frameworks
A Curated, Outcome-Driven Institutional Format
Digital Assets Forum Abu Dhabi is designed as a extremely curated executive-level atmosphere centered on decision-makers reasonably than retail participation.
The programme contains:
- Institutional main-stage discussions
- Closed-door govt periods
- Dedicated 1:1 assembly areas
- Private briefing and partnership rooms
The discussion board’s goal is obvious: institutional alignment, capital deployment, and infrastructure coordination for 2026 and past.
About Digital Assets Forum
Digital Assets Forum is a worldwide institutional occasion collection connecting conventional monetary markets with digital asset innovation.
The Abu Dhabi version marks the discussion board’s growth into the Middle East following established editions in London.
The collection is organised by the European Blockchain Convention, launched in Barcelona in 2018, now recognised as one in all Europe’s main platforms bringing collectively monetary establishments, policymakers, and infrastructure suppliers advancing blockchain adoption in mainstream finance.
The publish UAE Institutional Leaders Convene in Abu Dhabi as Digital Asset Strategy Accelerates Across Global Finance appeared first on Metaverse Post.
