HSC Conference Ho Chi Minh City: Why Smart Capital Is Betting On Infrastructure Over Hype In AI And RWA
On August 15, HSC Conference held its newest version in Ho Chi Minh City, bringing collectively senior voices from throughout monetary establishments, expertise corporations, and the enterprise capital world to debate blockchain infrastructure, digital belongings, and the way forward for on-chain monetary markets.
One of the standout periods was “Who Gets the Next Billion: Infrastructure, AI, and RWA,” moderated by Dominic Cox of 1inch. The panel featured Kate Wang of Oniiri Capital, a Singapore-based blockchain fund backed by Japanese credit score big Credit Saison; Alice Truong, VP of Digital Assets at world funds processor Nuvei; and Tony Tran, Ph.D., of TOTM Labs, an AI and blockchain enterprise builder energetic throughout Southeast Asia.
Rather than providing a simple optimist’s roadmap, the panel lower via the noise — interrogating what remains to be blocking institutional capital from coming into crypto, why the guidelines for funding has essentially modified since 2021, and the place the true worth of AI and RWA tokenisation lies beneath the hype. Infrastructure, they concluded, is the reply to nearly each query the business is asking proper now.
The Barriers: Ambiguity Over Regulation
The panel broadly agreed that the present atmosphere is outlined not by a scarcity of capital, however by a disaster of confidence. Kate described a “VC winter” pushed much less by dangerous initiatives than by more and more selective LPs. “There’s no lack of capital,” she stated. “It’s actually in regards to the institutional belief.” Alice drew a pointy line between innovation and operational actuality — her desire is for initiatives that construct bridges between legacy infrastructure and the aspirational future, not the longer term itself. Tony supplied maybe the sharpest commentary: buyers should not afraid of regulation, they’re afraid of not realizing what will probably be. “They don’t afraid of the regulation. They actually afraid of the paradox.”
The New Checklist: Execution Over Narrative
The panel agreed that the period of narrative-driven investing is firmly over. Kate famous that in 2021, startups may elevate huge sums on pitch decks alone; at this time, Oniiri Capital scrutinises crew expertise, gross margin, burn fee, and sensible exit multiples. Alice added a dimension she argued founders constantly overlook: the exit technique. From an institutional perspective, any capital deployment requires a transparent path to restoration — whether or not via integration, acquisition, or extraction.
Institutional Infrastructure: Risk Control and Reporting
When pressed to outline “institutional-grade infrastructure” — a phrase that has turn out to be a advertising and marketing staple — Alice supplied a grounded reframe. It just isn’t primarily a expertise query. “Technology will be constructed. You can use AI at this time to construct any infrastructure.” What establishments really want is danger management and reporting. Risk management means fallback planning: if a custody API fails, what occurs to an organization that has already left conventional finance behind? Reporting means seamless integration with compliance dashboards throughout a number of jurisdictions. “If your product can not resolve that reporting, it’s going to be very difficult for me to persuade my operation crew to make use of the product.”
AI: Build the Boring Stuff
On AI, the panel converged on an identical message. Alice cautioned in opposition to chasing flashy functions: “Build the boring stuff. The boring stuff just isn’t boring. The boring stuff could make you some huge cash.” Infrastructure-level AI — enhancing transaction monitoring, automating compliance, enhancing operational effectivity — is the place she sees sturdy returns. Tony raised the accountability problem of agentic AI: who’s accountable when an AI agent makes a dangerous monetary choice? He pointed to Vietnam’s AI legislation, efficient this 12 months, as a notable regional improvement inserting obligation on builders and founders.
RWAs: Institutional Use Cases First
RWAs generated probably the most divergence. Alice was probably the most sceptical, figuring out two unresolved issues — accessibility and interoperability — that she believes undermine the broader tokenisation narrative. The one use case she discovered genuinely compelling was tokenised deposits for establishments: intraday liquidity administration between monetary counterparties, primarily a modernised repo market. Kate agreed that distribution stays the central unsolved downside in RWAs. Tony noticed near-term viability primarily in commerce finance and cross-border settlement, with extra advanced consumer-facing tokenisation coming later.
The $1 Billion Question
Asked the place they might allocate a hypothetical billion, all three selected infrastructure — the invisible layer that makes every thing else doable. Alice’s reply was probably the most particular: the subsequent wave of agentic AI wants two issues builders haven’t but supplied: rule-based transaction controls, and the flexibility to reverse AI-made errors. “Then the top person feels protected, and there can be a increase of agentic AI.” The panel’s consensus was clear — earlier than the subsequent billion flows into crypto’s most enjoyable functions, the foundational layer must be constructed, trusted, and made compliant.
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