Join Ledger Notes for TOKEN2049 Dubai 2025

Day 1 - Token2049 Dubai 2025

TOKEN2049 Dubai revealed how crypto’s infrastructure, exchange models, and coordination layers are evolving. From modular L1s and stablecoin-backed ecosystems to AI wallets and DeFi trading rails, speakers outlined what’s working—and what still needs fixing. The throughline: scalability now depends on better UX, aligned incentives, and agent-ready systems.

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ADENIYI ABIODUN, MYSTEN LABS – Co-Founder: Sui’s Strategy: Building Infrastructure Layers Beyond the L1
🎥 [Watch the full keynote session here]

• Adeniyi Abiodun outlined Mysten Labs’ broader vision for Sui: not just an L1 blockchain, but a set of coordinated infrastructure protocols. “An L1 alone doesn't solve that problem for you,” he said, referencing the need for primitives like secret management, storage, and compute to support internet-scale applications. The update covered recent protocol launches—Walrus (storage), SEAL (key management), and Mississetti (consensus)—and efforts to streamline onboarding, including a wallet-integrated gaming device and native stablecoin integrations.

• • Sui’s TVL reached ~$1.7B, with 3x transaction growth since last year.
  • Mississetti consensus delivers ~400ms end-to-end finality; a V2 update is expected to increase throughput 2.5x.
  • DeepBook, a central limit order book protocol, has seen ~$6B in cumulative trade volume.
  • A new protocol, IKA, will enable control of assets on Solana and Bitcoin via Sui, without bridges.

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PAOLO ARDOINO, TETHER – CEO: Tether’s Asset Strategy Is Expanding Beyond Stablecoins—Toward Infrastructure and Resilience
🎥 [Watch the full keynote session here]

• In a wide-ranging keynote, Ardoino positioned Tether as more than a stablecoin issuer—outlining a multi-pronged strategy focused on financial inclusion, hard-asset reserves, and open-source infrastructure. “We distributed less than 5% of profits to shareholders,” he noted, explaining that most profits are retained to fund energy, biotech, and AI research. Tether now holds over $120B in U.S. Treasuries, 100K+ BTC, and 50 tons of gold, and is expanding into non-custodial tokenization, telecom, and wallet SDKs. The stated goal: resilience in the face of centralization and infrastructure fragility.

• • $13B in 2024 profits; <5% distributed—majority reinvested in infra and R&D
  • Now the 18th-largest holder of U.S. Treasuries—surpassing Germany
  • 400M+ users globally, ~37% use USDT as savings
  • Hedron (tokenization), Tether Gold, and Wallet SDKs aim to remove custodial lock-in

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Tracy Jin (MEXC), BC Wong (KuCoin), Luuk Strijers (Deribit) Exchanges Focus on Infrastructure, Compliance, and Wallet Security Ahead of the Next Market Cycle
🎥 [Watch the full keynote session here]

• This TOKEN2049 panel reinforced a shared theme: centralized exchanges are scaling up by investing in backend infrastructure, regulatory alignment, and safer user access models. BC Wong, CEO of KuCoin, shared that the company “shifted all marketing costs to backend construction” following a major 2020 breach. Luuk Strijers of Deribit described their institutional-first model, supported by seven certified custody partners and a focus on performance. Tracy Jin outlined MEXC’s new DEX Plus product—designed to offer on-chain token access without requiring wallets or seed phrase management.

• • Deribit processes ~80% of crypto options volume; focuses on BTC/ETH derivatives
  • KuCoin employs 1,000+ staff, with 90% in engineering and infrastructure roles
  • MEXC supports 4,000+ tokens and is piloting DEX Plus to combine CEX UX with DEX access
  • Custody, wallet tooling, and AI product rollouts now face early-stage regulatory involvement

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Evgeny Gaevoy (Wintermute), Yu Hu (Kaito), Mert Mumtaz (Helius) Builder Mindshare Isn’t Gone—But Crypto’s Incentive Design Is Holding It Back.🎥 [Watch the full keynote session here]

• This panel dissected whether crypto is still attracting top builders—or losing them to sectors like AI. The consensus: infrastructure has improved, but incentives are fractured. Mert Mumtaz emphasized that today’s regulatory climate is no longer existential, allowing founders to focus on execution. Yu Hu highlighted a deeper concern—launching a token too early leads to long-term misalignment, and token handling post-TGE often distracts teams. Evgeny Gaevoy called for more blueprints: “We need positive examples people can copy.”

• • Crypto’s regulatory environment is more stable than during prior cycles
  • Yu Hu warned that milestone-based vesting is rare, hurting sustainable team incentives
  • Tokenization remains a powerful flywheel, but mishandling can reduce retention and traction
  • Liquidity-first models are cannibalizing long-term value creation if misaligned

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Leah Jonas (Bit2GPT), Jensen Huang (Virtuous Protocol), Ben Zhou (Bybit) AI Wallets Are Coming—But the Real Shift Is in Commerce and Coordination
🎥 [Watch the full keynote session here]

• This panel explored how AI wallets and autonomous agents are set to reshape how transactions happen on-chain. Leah Jonas emphasized the need for privacy-preserving, task-specific agents, noting, “We designed guardrails—every action requires intent and user signature.” Jensen Huang proposed a new thesis: that autonomous business tokens (ABTs) could represent the collective output of clusters of agents. Ben Zhou remained cautious, distinguishing bots from true AI and questioning whether agents can outperform humans in directional trading. All agreed: the coming wave is less about bots replacing humans, and more about enabling scalable agent-driven commerce.

• • Bit2GPT is building AI wallets with local models and prompt-signed transaction approvals
  • Virtuous Protocol envisions tokenizing the output of agent collectives as autonomous businesses
  • Bybit uses AI for product discovery, internal tooling, and translation—not trading strategy
  • AI trading volume on DEXs is increasing, but remains limited to arbitrage and automation

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KANE WARWICK, Founder of Infinex | ANTONIO JULIANO, Founder of dYdX | CINDY LEOW, Co-Founder of Drift: Perps Are Poised to Flip CeFi—But Only If UX and New Use Cases Lead the Charge
🎥 [Watch the full keynote session here]

• This panel dissected DeFi’s uneven progress against CeFi: lending has surpassed CeFi volumes, but spot and perp markets still lag. The consensus? Derivatives will be the next to break through—if user experience, throughput, and novel use cases evolve fast enough. “Parity is just the start,” said Antonio Juliano. Cindy Leow argued Solana’s composability allows DeFi-native features like yield-bearing collateral to outpace CeFi. Kane Warwick warned that without abandoning maximalism and embracing real UX, DeFi won’t cross the chasm.

• • Lending has already flipped CeFi, reaching 65% of market share
  • Perp volume now accounts for 15% of Binance-level volume—growing fast
  • dYdX now processes 5,000–10,000 TPS gas-free on its appchain
  • Drift integrates prediction markets and real-world spending tools into its perps layer

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Dan Morehead – Founder & CEO, Pantera Capital: Crypto’s Multi-Decade Bull Run
[Find the session on Day X 🕒 0:07–18:03]

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Dan Morehead urged the audience to zoom out from the daily noise: “We’re still in the beginning. The majority of institutions literally have zero exposure to this space.” He compared the blockchain trajectory to early internet infrastructure—slow, clunky, but inevitable. With $250B in stablecoin demand and 250M+ wallets in use, Morehead argued that financial inclusion and stateless assets like Bitcoin could reshape capital markets more than any single nation’s monetary policy.

• Bitcoin has grown three orders of magnitude since Pantera's first fund in a $1B market.
  
• Stablecoin market demand is already ~$250B and growing amid global volatility.
  
• Monthly active crypto wallets hit 250M, with 2.5B users projected in under a decade.
  
• Pantera backs tokenization leaders like Figure ($40B in mortgages) and Ondo (>$1B in treasuries).
  
  

Accounting Perspective: While not explicitly addressed, the institutional use of stablecoins and tokenized assets could prompt accounting teams to evaluate when these holdings qualify as cash equivalents, financial instruments, or off-balance sheet exposures. If adoption continues, guidance around classification, valuation, and liquidity disclosures may need updates.

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Raoul Pal (CEO, Real Vision) & Diogo Mónica (President, Anchorage Digital): Undercapitalized Alpha: Why Crypto Still Offers Outsized Opportunity
Watch the full session at this link →

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Raoul and Diogo argued that crypto remains fundamentally undercapitalized, especially in early-stage equity and post-token markets. “Stablecoins are no longer a crypto thing" Diogo noted, pointing to how successful primitives get rebranded as infra. Raoul emphasized that “liquidity explains 90% of Bitcoin’s price action,” but the real signal is a maturing market where venture, hedge funds, and institutional rails are aligning around real revenue and product-market fit—not just narratives.

• $64B raised by crypto VCs in 2021 vs. only $12B managed by hedge funds today
  
• Emerging on-chain IPOs blend equity rights with token liquidity under SEC oversight
  
• Tokenized RWAs (e.g. treasuries, mortgages) showing 3x YoY revenue growth
  
• Network effects (active users × value transacted) now eclipse TVL as valuation anchors
  
  

✅ Accounting Perspective: As stablecoins and tokenized assets flow through exchanges and fintechs, finance teams should track where revenue is earned and how it maps to staking, custody, or fee income. Transparency here will affect audits and income classification.

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HAIDER RAFIQUE, OKX – Chief Marketing Officer: Compliance-First Crypto Will Outlast Speculation
Watch the full session in this link 🕒 0:07–13:03

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Haider Rafique pulled no punches about OKX’s evolving strategy: betting on long-term compliance and real-world utility over short-term speculative gains. “Five years from now, I don’t think the industry will look like what it looks like today,” he said, highlighting OKX’s full licensing in UAE and Singapore as a deliberate constraint—limiting which tokens can be listed but building long-term trust. The company’s shift toward a self-custody wallet, integrated with 130+ chains, and partnerships with firms like MasterCard, reflect a plan to become the access layer to the next billion users—not just another high-volume exchange.

• OKX Wallet spans 130+ chains and has grown 20x in two years.
  
• OKX holds regulatory licenses in Singapore and UAE, with banking partnerships.
  
• “Eventually, the retail demand... is going to run out,” Rafique warned.
  
• The firm refuses to build its own stablecoin, citing conflict of interest concerns.
  
  

✅ Accounting Relevance: Controllers handling digital assets through OKX face dual challenges: reconciling high-volume exchange data across licensed markets and managing multi-chain self-custody wallet activity. The OKX Wallet’s integration with 130+ blockchains increases fragmentation, making CSV exports insufficient without subledger support. To ensure accurate recognition, classification, and fair value reporting, finance teams should work alongside OKX’s data team and crypto accounting platforms to match raw transaction feeds with price data and compliance controls.

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MATTHEW WHITE, VARA – CEO: Regulation Must Match the Speed of Innovation

Watch the full session in this link 🕒 3:56 – 8:22

White explained how Dubai’s regulatory approach wasn’t just reactive—it was engineered for speed, clarity, and flexibility. “We chose to be product agnostic and technology agnostic,” he noted, emphasizing VARA’s activity-based model that lets new business types fit into regulation without red tape. Dubai’s secret sauce? Proactive coordination between regulators and founders to avoid lagging behind the market. Instead of defining tokens, VARA defines what businesses do—and adapts from there.

• VARA operates under Dubai’s “D33” vision to double its economy by 2033 through new economies like virtual assets.
• Its regulatory perimeter is intentionally broad: “nothing that doesn’t fall within that.”
• Principles-based, activity-based regulation allows for business model flexibility.
• VARA designed its rulebook in collaboration with market participants to keep pace with innovation.

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✅ Accounting Relevance: Moderate. VARA’s activity-based framework offers more predictable classification routes for digital asset businesses—from token issuance to brokerage. Accountants working with Dubai-based clients should understand which activities trigger regulatory reporting vs. internal controls, especially when cross-border operations are involved.
Watch the full session with the link in the comments.

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Sandeep Nailwal (Polygon), Keone Hon (Monad), Shuyao Kong (MegaETH) SCALE VS. DECENTRALIZE? The next billion users won’t wait for perfect blockchains.
Watch the full session in this link → 🕒 0:00–27:01

This panel tackled crypto’s most urgent trade-off: should we prioritize decentralization (a.k.a. openness and resilience) or performance (faster, cheaper transactions)? Keone backed Ethereum’s pivot to improve Layer 1 throughput using “blobs” (a way to store extra data cheaply). Shuyao argued decentralization is outdated—users care about apps that work. Sandeep pushed for a middle path: Ethereum should remain a secure “settlement layer,” while fast apps run on specialized chains. All agreed: to onboard a billion users, we’ll need clear rules, lower fees, and less ideological baggage.

“Trustlessness is greater than decentralization,” said Sandeep. “With ZK (zero-knowledge) tech, you can verify everything without needing a thousand computers to agree.”

• Ethereum now processes ~1M transactions/day, but that’s not scaling fast enough for global use.
• Layer 2s are using other data providers—Ethereum must define how to keep its “ecosystem” together.
• Builders prefer chains with low fees and fast confirmations—even if they sacrifice decentralization.
• Future growth may come from purpose-built chains for each use case, with Ethereum as the secure backend.

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✅ Accounting Relevance: For financial controllers, this shift impacts how crypto ecosystems settle and verify activity. If more transactions move off Ethereum L1 onto faster chains or L2s, accountants must track assets across multiple layers. This adds reconciliation complexity and could affect audit trails. Expect growing need for reporting across chains, especially if settlement and execution separate.

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ERIC TRUMP, TRUMP ORGANIZATION – The Modern Financial System Is Built on Redundancy, Not Resilience
Watch the full session in this link [🕒 3:10 – 30:55]

Trump called out legacy banks for clinging to outdated processes that serve only the elite. “Why is it that it takes Chase Manhattan 90 days to issue somebody a loan?” he asked, contrasting paper-based banking with crypto’s real-time, borderless capabilities. The conversation highlighted World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin, which aims to offer transparency, auditability, and accessibility as alternatives to opaque, fee-ridden fiat systems. The message was clear: traditional finance is slow, costly, and politically fragile—crypto is its inevitability.

• USD1 stablecoin will be backed 1:1 with short-term treasuries and cash equivalents.
• The coin is being natively integrated into Tron with hundreds of millions to be minted initially.
• USD1 was used to settle a $2B investment from MGX into Binance.
• Monthly attestation and audit reports will be published to ensure stablecoin transparency.

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✅ Accounting Relevance: Moderate
USD1 is pitched as a fully collateralized, audited stablecoin with monthly attestation reports. If it gains traction, finance teams may need to reconcile USD1 balances and verify reserve reports against third-party audits. The emphasis on treasury backing implies lower volatility and accounting treatment similar to cash equivalents. However, more detail is needed to assess reporting requirements for integrations into DeFi and PoS systems.

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BAM AZIZI, MESH – Co-Founder & CEO: Stablecoins move more money than Visa, but merchants still can’t handle them.

[Watch the full session in this link🕒 0:07–16:49]

Bam Azizi argued that payments are due for another reset, and stablecoins are leading the shift. “Stablecoin is the hottest topic on the planet,” he said, citing usage data that shows $27.6T in volume—exceeding Visa and Mastercard combined. But he acknowledged a core problem: “It’s not ready for prime time.” Merchants still struggle with stablecoin custody, regulatory licensing, and technology integration. Azizi presented Mesh Pay as a response, emphasizing one-click UX and stablecoin settlement through existing wallets.

• Speaker stated stablecoins processed $27.6T last year, vs. $11.6T (Visa) and $6.45T (Mastercard).
• Less than 1% of the global money supply is in stablecoins, per Azizi’s remarks.
• He described crypto UX as fragmented—citing QR scanning, gas fees, and network selection as hurdles.
• Demo showed payment from Coinbase (USDC on Base) to Trust Wallet via Apple Pay interface.

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✅ Accounting Relevance: This session focused on crypto-to-stablecoin payments, which may impact how controllers reconcile revenue. When merchants receive stablecoins instead of fiat, accountants must trace wallet-based inflows, verify timing and counterparties, and account for FX implications. These shifts could increase the complexity of financial reporting and tax treatment around revenue recognition.

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AUSTIN FEDERA, DOUBLEZERO – Co-Founder
High-speed blockchain needs a new internet—and crypto’s the only way to fund it
Watch the full session in this link → [13:08 – 21:34]

Austin Federa explains why Solana’s speed isn’t a code problem anymore—it’s a connectivity problem. “The public internet gives you reach, but not performance.” Trading firms solve this with private fiber. Blockchain can’t. DoubleZero uses tokens to crowdsource fiber routes from contributors and deliver multicast routing to validators and sequencers, closing the bandwidth gap without centralized control.

• Public internet = high reach, low performance. Private fiber = fast but exclusive.
  
• DoubleZero contributors earn tokens for sharing bandwidth from private links.
  
• Supports validator + sequencer networks on chains like Solana, Sui, Aptos, Monad.
  
• Multicast packet replication lowers latency by 10x vs. current Merkle-based propagation.
   

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ABHAY KUMAR, HELIUM – Protocol Lead AT&T offloads mobile traffic through crypto-powered hotspots—users don't know that.

Watch the full session in this link → 3:42 – 7:06]

Helium isn’t just a wireless network—it’s a shadow telecom grid run by regular users. Abhay Kumar explained how Helium helps carriers like AT&T reduce CapEx by routing traffic through 98,000+ user-deployed hotspots. Coffee shops, malls, and hotels install low-cost devices, creating dense 5G coverage without new towers. “900,000 phones connected to the Helium network—and had no idea they were using a crypto-powered network.” Helium abstracts away the crypto, letting telcos access lower costs and higher coverage invisibly.

• AT&T uses Helium’s decentralized network to offload mobile data in dense micro-locations.
  
• Deployers earn tokens for contributing wireless infrastructure—hotspots cost ~$300.
  
• Users’ phones connect seamlessly; no wallet, app, or manual setup required.
  
• Helium Mobile offers low-cost plans by leveraging idle wireless capacity.
  
  

✅ Accounting Relevance:  Accounting teams supporting large Helium infrastructure deployers—not the individuals, but firms scaling coverage—must track token rewards as revenue tied to network uptime and usage. These tokens are subject to fair value accounting and potentially income recognition under GAAP/IFRS.

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PAOLO ARDOINO, TETHER – CEO Stablecoin adoption is shifting from trading desks to real-world payments and trade finance
Watch the full session in this link →10:48 – 13:06]

Paolo Ardoino outlined how USDT usage has moved beyond crypto markets. Today, 37% of users treat Tether as a savings vehicle in countries with volatile fiat, and 30% use it for payments and remittances. This shift was driven by younger users during COVID, especially in emerging markets where cash dollars were hard to obtain. On the institutional side, USDT is gaining adoption in cross-border commodity trade, replacing slow wire transfers with 20-second settlement—especially in oil and agricultural deals.

• USDT use: ~67% for savings, remittances, and payments; ~33% remains tied to crypto trading
• Trade finance (e.g., $45M oil deal) is a growing institutional use case
• Remittances supported by USDT are reducing FX costs for emerging markets
• Tether's volumes are expanding where local currencies depreciate rapidly
  
  

✅ Accounting Relevance: The accounting treatment of stablecoins remains unsettled—jurisdictions vary in treating them as cash equivalents, inventory, or financial instruments. Accountants must track whether USDT was used for settlement, savings, or inventory acquisition, and apply the appropriate measurement basis. Additionally, FX tracking is required even for “pegged” stablecoins, especially during volatility or illiquid exchange moments. Auditable pricing sources and valuation methods must be consistent with internal controls and local standards.

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GUY YOUNG, ATHENA LABS – CEO: Decentralized stablecoins may look like payments, but behave more like structured products
Watch the full session in this link →13:41 – 14:37]

Guy Young positioned Athena’s stablecoin as serving a different user base than fiat-backed stablecoins like Tether. While USDT is widely used in emerging markets for savings and payments, Athena’s USD-stable asset is more appealing to institutional traders who value yield from ETH staking and basis trades. “In 2024, the backing of USDT earned 18% annualized—our product leans into that model, but structured as yield-bearing.” Institutions view these stablecoins not as cash, but as investment-linked instruments tied to performance in crypto derivatives markets.

• Athena’s USD issuance creates indirect demand for USDT in perpetual swap markets
• Key use case: dual-purpose collateral that earns yield while being deployed
• Institutions onboard based on risk-adjusted return, not dollar-for-dollar price stability
• TradFi investors understand the strategy as analogous to cash-and-carry trades
  
  

✅ Accounting Relevance: DeFi-native stablecoins backed by ETH staking and derivatives challenge conventional asset classification. These tokens may resemble structured products more than currency equivalents. For financial controllers, determining whether such instruments fall under fair value, amortized cost, or inventory treatment depends on both use and jurisdiction. Institutions using these assets as yield-generating collateral must monitor embedded risk exposure and maintain clear records of how yield is derived, especially for audit and tax compliance. 

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ROB HADDOCK, DRAGONFLY – General Partner. Compliance gaps, not demand limit B2B stablecoin growth
Watch the full session in this link → 21:04 – 23:06]

Rob Haddock described how institutional interest in stablecoins is real but constrained by operational barriers—especially in cross-border B2B payments. While faster than SWIFT, current stablecoin rails lack the compliance stack large firms rely on. “I need better, I need things like better reconciliation. I need better compliance. I need fraud.” He argued that institutional use will require these systems to resemble traditional finance in reversibility and trust. Growth also hinges on economics—issuers may need to share yield or value with their institutional partners to drive volume.

• Institutions want stablecoin speed but expect chargebacks, escrow, and fraud handling
• The $200T/year B2B payments market is seen as the next frontier
• Most stablecoin infrastructure today lacks PSP-level confidence features
• Long-term growth could require yield sharing or business model changes
  
  

✅ Accounting Relevance: Stablecoin-based B2B payments introduce new reconciliation risks. Without atomic settlement or integrated compliance, finance teams must manually verify counterparties, transaction timing, and FX deviations. Reward sharing models, if introduced, would further complicate income classification. Controllers should prepare for audit trails that span on-chain and off-chain metadata with varied legal enforceability across jurisdictions

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Jeremy Allaire, Circle – CEO: Stablecoins now rival card networks in payment volumes, with infrastructure evolving to handle real-world utility.
Watch the full session in this link → 0:07 – 18:04

Jeremy Allaire declared that “mainstream adoption of stablecoins is not coming — it’s here.” With nearly 20% of Visa-measured real economic volume now involving stablecoins, and USDC processing $6 trillion in Q1 2025 alone, Allaire unveiled Circle Payments Network (CPN) as the next phase. CPN introduces governed, modular, and extensible on-chain rails to rival SWIFT and correspondent banking models. “We believe this infrastructure can be used in the background or in the foreground,” he said, positioning stablecoins as the invisible engine of global settlements.

• USDC grew 150% YoY, outpacing Tether 3:1 in 2024–2025.
  
• Circle cites a $60T TAM in cash + deposits, with $100T+ cross-border flows as initial focus.
  
• CPN offers plug-and-play modules like refunds, confidential transactions, and delivery SLAs.
  
• Over 30 launch partners already onboard, including 5 global systemically important banks.

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✅ Accounting Relevance: Moderate.
This session touches on cross-border stablecoin payment routing, service-level agreements, and programmable refunds/confidentiality modules—elements that may soon shape how corporate accountants handle FX conversion, counterparty risk, and recordkeeping of payment provenance. If adopted at scale, the need to reconcile fiat-stablecoin-fiat flows will increase pressure on audit trails and internal controls across multinational crypto-native teams

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