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Day 1 - Mainstage Sessions

From Capitol Hill to on-chain games, these four mainstage sessions from Day 1 at Consensus 2025 revealed how crypto policy, infrastructure, and creative applications are taking shape across finance, regulation, and culture — with more sessions still to come.

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SERGEY NAZAROV, CHAINLINK – U.S. Lawmakers Are Listening: Now’s the Time to Lock In Rules That Work.
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Sergey laid out Chainlink’s three strategic goals in DC: protect DeFi’s global legitimacy, unlock institutional tokenization, and harden financial infra with proof-based standards. He was candid about the stakes: “The U.S. is a super regulator... what it decides ripples globally.” He urged the industry to capitalize on this narrow policy window before competing nations set precedent. Chainlink’s edge? Technical credibility. Their agenda includes educating Congress on proof of reserves, cross-chain security, and automated compliance as key pillars of digital financial infrastructure.

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• Chainlink is already live with Fidelity International and announced a deal with JPMorgan.
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• Advocates for U.S. adoption of standards like proof of reserves and cross-chain interoperability.
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• Warns that institutional adoption hinges on resolving SEC vs. CFTC oversight and market structure.
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• Called on industry to “take advantage of this brief window” before global competition overtakes.

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✅ LedgerNotes: Controllers and auditors should track developments around proof-of-reserve standards and automated compliance. If these become part of formal U.S. regulatory frameworks, audit trails and on-chain attestation will shift from optional to expected. Smart contract-based compliance will need to interface directly with subledger logic.

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LIAM HORNE, WORLD FOUNDATION - Advisor: Stablecoins are already money for the Global South; AI agents may be next.

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Liam Horne traced the evolution from Ethereum rollups to real-world payments, sharing that stablecoin usage isn’t theoretical—it’s happening. “Today, actually, one in three people in Buenos Aires also have the World app.” He sees this as a preview of how AI-driven financial agents will emerge. If identity can be verified at scale (via World ID), then low-cost stablecoins could be permissionlessly spent by AI agents executing financial tasks, not humans. The infrastructure has to be ready for this automation leap.

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• World App runs on Optimism and is live in U.S. cities like San Francisco and Miami
  
  
• 25M+ users globally have verified with World ID via iris scan
  
  
• Buenos Aires: 1 in 3 residents used stablecoins by 2023; now the same ratio has World App
  
  
• Sees future where “you’re chatting to some chatbot… doing hundreds of payments through agents”
  
  

✅ LedgerNotes: If stablecoin usage by unbanked users accelerates via agent-driven automation, finance teams may need to classify microtransactions across dozens of counterparties. The compliance layer—especially around proof of identity and transaction origination—could become crucial for internal controls (and AML audits). The shift toward non-human payment initiation may impact reconciliations, transaction metadata, and documentation practices.

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ADAM LEAMAN, ZERO HASH – Chief Client Office: Regulated rails are powering stablecoin flows behind the scenes.

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Adam Leaman explained how Zero Hash operates in the background as a settlement, custody, and liquidity layer enabling apps like Kashi to handle stablecoin payments. “We are the plumbing behind that.” With clients ranging from neobanks to prediction markets, the goal is to support stablecoin and fiat interoperability under a regulated structure. He emphasized that compliance isn’t optional—it’s the foundation: “We’re a compliance-first company… trying to do things the right way and in a fully transparent way.”

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• Supports regulated payments infrastructure used by Web3 apps and institutions
  
  
• Stablecoin rails power consumer apps like Kashi via APIs for credit and payments
  
  
• Emphasized executive alignment on compliance and transparent operations
  
  
• Infrastructure handles settlement between stablecoins and fiat within a legal framework
  
  

✅ LedgerNotes:  For finance teams in crypto enterprises, understanding where fiat–stablecoin conversion happens—and under which entity’s regulatory perimeter—affects how transactions are classified and audited. If regulated settlement providers are embedded into front-end apps, back-office teams need visibility into API-driven flows for reconciliation. This setup may introduce questions about subledger access, recordkeeping, and audit trails across third-party platforms.

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ADRIENNE A. HARRIS, NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES – Superintendent: Regulation Works Better When It's Tough, Transparent, and Tested.

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New York's Superintendent Adrienne Harris detailed how DFS evolved from an opaque, under-resourced office to a globally respected crypto regulator with 60 full-time virtual currency staff. “There were maybe three people in the crypto unit. Now we have 60 people that are dedicated to virtual currency every day, all day.” 

By enforcing clarity and raising the bar, she believes DFS helped stop unfit entities like FTX from entering New York. BitLicenses are still hard to get—but that’s intentional. Good rules, she argued, aren’t the enemy of growth—they’re the condition for it.

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• DFS denied licenses to FTX, Voyager, and Celsius due to failed internal risk standards.
  
  
• The BitLicense process is “tough but fair” after introducing manuals, pre-app meetings, and clearer guidance.
  
  
• DFS stablecoin guidelines mandate full backing and clear redemption rules.
  
  
• DFS feedback has shaped nearly every Congressional draft of crypto or stablecoin legislation.
  
  

✅ LedgerNotes: While this session didn’t directly address accounting rules, Harris’ emphasis on transparent and consistent regulatory guidance—especially on stablecoin backing, rehypothecation, and redemption timing—may shape future audit requirements. For controllers, this reinforces the need to align with DFS-approved frameworks, especially when reporting on NY-regulated stablecoins or custody models.

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NATHAN McCAULEY, ANCHORAGE DIGITAL – Compliance Is the Catalyst, Not the Constraint.

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Nathan made the case that regulatory clarity it’s strategy. From demoing Anchorage tech to the SEC in 2018 to holding a national trust charter today, he’s long bet on embracing rules early. “We actively want to seek regulation… under the careful eye of the regulator.” With stablecoin legislation close to bipartisan approval, McCauley sees an opening: establish dozens of digital asset banks—not just one. He also addressed the DHS probe rumor head-on, calling the Barron’s report BS and reaffirming Anchorage’s clean standing.

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• Anchorage was built “to be regulated”, their early demos went straight to the SEC.
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• Current focus: pushing bipartisan stablecoin bill and scaling the digital banking charter model.
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• Envisions a future with “dozens, if not hundreds” of digital asset banks.
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• Dispelled speculation from Barron’s article: “There is no investigation into us. That is unambiguously clear.”

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✅ LedgerNotes: The framing of digital asset banks under OCC supervision and stablecoin legislation will shape how custodial crypto assets are recorded, held, and reported. Controllers should monitor how these developments impact treatment of held assets, chartered custody providers, and crypto-to-fiat liability reconciliation.

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JOSEPH SPIRO, DTCC DIGITAL ASSETS – Digital Assets Product Director: Stablecoins and tokenized cash are becoming core to smart contract–driven collateral systems.

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Joseph Spiro shared results from DTCC’s “Great Collateral Experiment,” where tokenized assets like USDC and euro stablecoins were used for real-time collateral settlement. “Digital assets really are the perfect use case for collateral management,” he said. By combining variation margin, repo, and coupon processing into one programmable system, DTCC demonstrated that smart contracts could unlock 24/7, cross-border efficiency—without siloed clearing processes or time-zone constraints.

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• DTCC acquired tokenization firm Securrency to launch its digital assets division
  
  
• Experiment used USDC, Finality cash token, and SocGen’s euro stablecoin
  
  
• Net asset pools combined public and private chain assets for unified clearing
  
  
• Smart contract–based coupons sent directly to wallets from tokenized bonds
  
  

✅ LedgerNotes: Tokenized stablecoins used for margin, settlement, and interest payout could introduce multiple debit-credit flows that blur the lines between collateral, payment, and income. Accountants may need to separate coupon events from principal settlement flows and verify the source of stablecoin receipts in interoperable, multi-chain pools. These flows must be time-stamped, source-attributed, and classified correctly to pass audit scrutiny.

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JELENA DJURIC, NOBLE – CEO: Stablecoins won’t be dominated by banks—they’ll be programmable, branded, and yield-generating.

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Jelena Djuric introduced USDN, a yield-bearing stablecoin backed by U.S. Treasuries and built for composability. Unlike USDC or USDT, she says USDN enables distributors—like remittance firms or apps—to control how yield is split with users. “You could have a Walmart dollar… They should be able to settle in their own stablecoin.” Her outlook isn’t an oligopoly. It’s thousands of programmable dollars distributed by companies, not just financial institutions.

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• USDN is a Treasury-backed stablecoin built using the M0 stack
  
  
• Yield is programmable—distributors can retain or pass it to users
  
  
• Sees future of branded stablecoins issued by merchants and creators
  
  
• Regulation may soon recognize private stablecoins as payment instruments
  
  

✅  LedgerNotes: Programmable yield-bearing stablecoins challenge standard revenue recognition rules. Controllers may need to track when and how yield is retained vs. passed through, especially when stablecoin issuers differ from distributors. Audit trails must reflect yield attribution logic, including business-specific distribution triggers and collateral source (e.g., T-bills), to comply with fair value and revenue standards.

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BO HINES, WHITE HOUSE – The U.S. Is Building the Cleanest Crypto Regulatory Environment—Fast.

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Bo Hines gave the most detailed look yet into the U.S. government’s digital asset playbook. From stablecoin legislation to a national Bitcoin reserve, the White House is “moving at tech speed” to reframe crypto as a strategic financial pillar. He confirmed that the Treasury is tasked with consolidating seized crypto assets and crafting a budget-neutral accumulation strategy. “Bitcoin is digital gold. Period. We want as much as we can possibly get.” Hines also invited industry feedback directly via the Office of Public Liaison—an open door for founders, compliance leads, and accounting execs to shape the outcome.

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• U.S. executive order mandates a national crypto reserve, with Treasury and Commerce overseeing asset management.
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• Goal: pass both the Genius Act (stablecoins) and market structure legislation before August recess.
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• 200+ industry meetings have shaped the White House’s legislative and rulemaking blueprint.
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• Future summits will focus on verticals like exchanges, mining, and payments to guide sub-sector regulation.
  
  

✅ LedgerNotes: The U.S. government’s approach to sovereign-held digital assets—particularly the creation of a national Bitcoin reserve—could shape future standards around classification, fair value measurement, and disclosures. The frameworks being defined by Treasury and Commerce could eventually influence how custodians and auditors approach crypto asset assurance and internal controls. Stablecoin legislation may also bring clearer rules for reserve backing, reconciliation, and liquidity accounting.

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Hilmar Pétursson, CEO, CCP Games – MMOs Are Running Economic Experiments That DeFi Hasn’t Caught Up To Yet.

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At Consensus 2025, CCP’s Hilmar Pétursson explained how EVE Online evolved into a 22-year live simulation of market dynamics, with real behaviors like hostile takeovers, offshore trading, and war bond issuance—all player-driven. Now with EVE: Frontier, CCP is going fully on-chain: user-created smart contracts will mod the game in real time, and assets will be tradable by design. The big move? Hiring a former central banker to co-architect the next-gen virtual economy. “It’s a dystopic, capitalistic, murder-death hellscape… and cooperation is required.”

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• Players issue war bonds, run black markets, and self-regulate value within a closed economy.
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• CCP abandoned dev-created items after players rioted over “non-player made” starter packs.
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• EVE: Frontier introduces on-chain modding and asset ownership via Ethereum-based contracts.
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• A former Icelandic central banker now co-leads in-game monetary design for CCP’s blockchain launch

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✅ LedgerNotes: While this session doesn't address enterprise reporting directly, the move to on-chain in-game economies—where players trade assets and issue debt—raises key questions for gaming studios. Controllers in these companies may soon need to track and classify real-money equivalents from onchain transactions. Tokenized in-game assets, and user-modified smart contracts could blur the lines between digital goods, revenue, and liabilities.

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Raine Maida, CEO of FanDrop – Web3 Still Has a Trust Problem, But the Vision for Artists Is Real.

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Raine Maida, lead singer of Our Lady Peace and founder of FanDrop, offered a candid view on Web3’s promise and pitfalls from an artist-entrepreneur’s lens. After launching an IP-protection platform with Sing and exploring NFTs, Maida hit a wall with fan trust: “They started asking, ‘Is this a rug?’” He’s since paused minting but remains bullish on blockchain’s role in solving music industry pain points—especially fan data ownership, royalty transparency, and resale protections via smart contracts.

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“Shares, likes, and follows do not pay for the gas in our tractor trailers.”

• FanDrop enables direct-to-fan relationships with portable fan data.
• Blockchain-powered ticketing could eliminate fraud, cap price gouging, and enforce resale royalties.
• Platforms like BeatDapp use blockchain to detect fraud in global music streaming.
• Web3’s failure was in the tech and its complexity: “Asking fans to get a wallet was a friction point.”

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✅ LedgerNotes: This session doesn’t touch accounting or financial reporting directly. However, it highlights operational changes that could eventually impact revenue streams and backend processes for music companies. For example, NFT-based ticket resale with built-in royalties could create complexities around deferred revenue, revenue recognition timing, and tracking off-chain vs. on-chain royalties. Still, these implications weren’t addressed explicitly in the session.

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Day 2 - Mainstage Sessions

From stablecoins as payment rails to tokenized real-world assets, Day 2 at Consensus 2025 spotlighted the shifting foundations of crypto utility. Finance, gaming, and liquidity markets each took center stage—with new models for transaction flow, jurisdictional leadership, and infrastructure design redefining what adoption could actually look like.

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JOHN WU, AVA LABS – Stablecoins, RWAs, and Gaming Will Drive the Next Wave of Real Adoption

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John Wu laid out three trends that are “finally scaling”: Bitcoin as a store of value, stablecoins unlocking payments, and real-world assets cutting costs through tokenization. “Stablecoin is going to unlock a lot of use cases… gaming companies are just waiting for regulatory clarity.” Avalanche is betting big on gaming (e.g., MapleStory and Gunzilla) and RWAs, using microtransactions and open-source tooling to push toward utility. Regulation, Wu argued, is the next unlock—starting with U.S. stablecoin laws.

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• Avalanche supports 10M+ daily transactions from games like MapleStory and Gunzilla.
  
  
• MapleStory's token hit $3B market cap on launch day; Nexon stock added $2B.
  
  
• Avalanche's RWA deals include Apollo and Fanact treasury products.
  
  
• AI agents could trigger automated payments via stablecoins for tasks like travel booking.
  
  

✅ LedgerNotes: If stablecoin legislation passes, transaction volume for micro-payments and gaming assets may spike. Real-world asset tokenization could introduce valuation and custody challenges. Accountants may need to reconcile blockchain-based royalty rewards, off-chain asset rights, and AI-driven payment triggers. All of which require updated fair value, accrual, and audit procedures.

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Lucas Matheson, CEO, Coinbase Canada – Canada needs crypto leadership at the federal level, not just regulation.

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Lucas Matheson called out Canada’s absence of national crypto leadership and outlined six policy actions to ensure it doesn't fall behind global peers. He stressed the urgency of appointing a federal crypto coordinator, creating a national strategy, and regulating stablecoins as money—not securities. “We have a square peg, round hole, legal definitional problem in Canada,” he said, referencing the overlap of 13 securities regulators. His core message: Canada has technical talent, but without political champions, crypto adoption will stall.

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• Advocated for a federal task force within 100 days and a clear crypto asset taxonomy.
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• 15% of Canadians are underbanked—crypto could improve access to financial tools.
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• Stablecoins traded 3x the volume of Visa last year; Canada lacks a CAD-denominated stablecoin.
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• Coinbase invested in QCAD to offer a compliant Canadian stablecoin option.

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✅ LedgerNotes: The session highlights Canada's need to classify crypto assets, especially stablecoins, within a modern financial framework. This directly affects tax treatment, payment reconciliation, and custodial practices for institutions. Controllers operating in or with Canada may soon face jurisdiction-specific rules requiring reclassification of assets previously treated under generic securities law.

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Yat Siu, Animoca Brands – President: Financial literacy, not UX, is holding Web3 back

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Yat Siu compared the current state of Web3 to the internet in 2003—early in promise, but stalled by a literacy gap. He argued that widespread adoption won’t come from better wallets or user interfaces, but from “financial literacy.” According to Yat, “Every person who's in Web3 is quite financially literate… the ones who tend to reject it are the ones who actually don't have a good relationship with money.” His forecast: in 2–3 years, we could hit an inflection point, if education scales.

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• Only ~15% of Americans directly own equities—Web3 adoption is facing the same curve.
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• Blockchain gaming sees ~7M daily active users, most of today’s on-chain utility.
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• Animoca has over 573 portfolio companies; new focus areas include reputation (Mochaverse) and education (Open Campus).
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• The student loan market is $3T—putting even 10% of that on-chain would 4x DeFi’s TVL.

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Jason Atkins, AORUS – Chief Commercial Officer: Altcoin volatility isn’t due to lack of users—it’s due to poor liquidity provisioning.

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Jason Atkins argued that deep, reliable liquidity already exists for major assets like Bitcoin—"Billion dollars in a day. Easy."—but altcoins lag due to a mismatch between onboarding and infrastructure. Without professional market makers in place, new users face slippage, bad fills, and ultimately churn. He emphasized that liquidity isn’t just about volume—it’s about execution quality. “If you build the greatest product in the world… but it’s a miserable experience, you’ll lose them straight away.”

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• AORUS provides hundreds of millions in daily BTC liquidity, enabling tight spreads even at large size.
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• Poor altcoin liquidity results in “volatility” and slippage, not price discovery.
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• AORUS deployed devs and venture capital into Bearchain to support ecosystem liquidity from day one.
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• Meme coins suck liquidity from other tokens; institutional interest is short-lived when retail dies off.
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✅ LedgerNotes: Controllers should pay attention to how liquidity impacts price execution and fair value classification. Poorly liquid assets may have highly variable valuations depending on time-of-day or exchange venue. Accountants may also need to note that liquidity fragmentation (especially in altcoins) affects NAV precision, especially if relying on a single source for mark-to-market pricing. Audit trails tied to decentralized market venues may require additional reconciliation steps.

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Kevin O'Leary, O'Leary Ventures – Chairman: The real crypto breakthrough isn’t Bitcoin—it’s regulated stablecoins replacing SWIFT.

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Kevin O’Leary delivered a focused thesis: stablecoins are the biggest threat to legacy finance, not Bitcoin. “If I had a wallet here in Robinhood Canada, and I had one in the U.S., and I want to transfer $100,000—done. Full audit trail. Two basis points. Maybe.” With the Stablecoin Act gaining traction, he argued that a U.S.-regulated dollar-backed stablecoin would instantly trigger international regulatory alignment and gut the FX industry’s bloated wire fees.

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• Traditional FX systems are “60 years old” and riddled with fees and delays.
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• A compliant stablecoin system would eliminate wire fees, middlemen, and processing lags.
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• Stablecoin adoption in retail (e.g. POS purchases) would remove credit card fees for merchants.
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• Regulatory clarity on stablecoins would catalyze broader digital asset classification efforts.

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✅ LedgerNotes: Accountants and auditors would need to adjust internal controls, FX treatment, and reconciliation procedures around wallets used for payment rather than custody. If stablecoins gain wide regulatory acceptance, their use may replace fiat bank rails in accounting systems—requiring new wallet-based tracking for AP/AR, clearing, and intercompany eliminations. Full audit trails embedded in these payment flows could simplify—but also complicate—audit scoping if multiple jurisdictions are involved.

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SMOKEY BERA, BERACHAIN – Co-Founder: Proof of Liquidity ties blockchain security directly to real user activity.

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Smokey Bera described Berachain’s core mechanism—Proof of Liquidity (PoL)—as a model that aligns blockchain incentives with actual liquidity behavior. Rather than securing the network with stake alone, PoL uses real liquidity provisioning as the basis for security and emissions. “The most savvy institutions I know on chain are probably the most mercenary ones, too.” His thesis: liquidity must be earned by applications that generate sustained user behavior and revenue, not just token incentives. The future, he argued, lies in chains that bootstrap “sticky” capital through app-level profitability.

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• PoL underwrites chain security using LP activity, not just stake
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• Berachain’s second-largest holder of PYUSD after Ethereum mainnet
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• Ecosystem design prioritizes sticky liquidity from profitable, retained users
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• Yield-bearing tokens may face unclear regulation as potential securities

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✅ @LedgerNotes: Proof of Liquidity introduces a model where staking rewards are tied to liquidity behaviors, not just validator uptime. This could complicate accounting: are rewards income, fee rebates, or DeFi-derived staking income? Additionally, as yield-bearing tokens gain traction, their treatment under GAAP/IFRS remains uncertain. Accountants should watch for new token types that don’t fit cleanly into traditional yield or revenue categories.

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Day 3 - Mainstage Sessions

Consensus 2025 closed with a series of sessions that exposed the fault lines between regulatory clarity and innovation. Canada’s coordinated—but rigid—approach was dissected across three panels, while discussions around Bitcoin lending, tokenized gold, and on-chain data markets introduced new asset categories that accounting and audit teams may soon need to grapple with.

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MICHELLE ALEXANDER, ONTARIO SECURITIES COMMISSION – Associate VP: Canada regulates crypto platforms based on custody and delivery, not asset classification.

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Michelle Alexander explained how Canadian regulators assert jurisdiction over crypto platforms (CTPs) even if the underlying assets aren’t securities. The key distinction: if there’s no immediate delivery, the platform’s control over client assets creates dependency and risk—triggering securities oversight. “Ownership… is merely a book entry on the books and records of the CTP.” That dependency, she said, exposes users to insolvency and fraud risks that require regulatory safeguards.

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• Crypto platforms fall under OSC jurisdiction if custody lacks immediate delivery
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• Risks include insolvency, fraud, and reliance on platform execution
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• Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) ensures alignment across provinces
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• Platforms were encouraged to self-report in 2021 or face enforcement

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✅ LedgerNotes: This approach forces crypto platforms to treat book-entry custody like broker-dealer activity. From an accounting perspective, that means recognizing off-chain assets held on behalf of clients and applying internal controls to custody, insolvency risk, and fair value disclosures. Controllers must also assess whether platform arrangements meet recognition thresholds for liabilities or segregated funds, depending on jurisdictional interpretation.

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ZANNE LASRADO, CIRO – Vice-President: Canada sidestepped the asset classification debate by treating crypto contracts as securities activity.

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Suzanne Lasrado outlined Canada’s regulatory shortcut: rather than debate whether Bitcoin or Ether are securities, regulators classified crypto contracts—the custody and user agreements between platforms and clients—as securities dealings. “What you have entered into is a contract. That’s the crypto contract.” This enabled rapid onboarding of platforms under existing securities laws. Today, five CTPs are registered with CIRO, with more under review, thanks to this framework’s clarity and enforceability.

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• CIRO regulates crypto asset dealers, not the assets themselves
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• Platforms are viewed as engaging in securities activity through custody contracts
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• First registrations: Fidelity (2021), Coinsquare (2022), Crypto.com (2024)
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• Registration timelines have shortened as guidance and expectations matured

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✅ LedgerNotes: This framework means that custody, delivery mechanisms, and user agreements may trigger revenue recognition, liability disclosure, and client asset reporting. Firms holding crypto on behalf of others may face dealer-style obligations—auditors will need to verify control, segregation, and compliance under evolving interpretations of securities law.

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MORVA ROHANI, CANADIAN WEB3 COUNCIL – Executive Director: Canada’s crypto rules offer clarity, but stifle innovation through one-size-fits-all enforcement.

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Morva Rohani praised Canada’s early regulatory clarity, but warned it comes at the cost of experimentation. Stablecoins and payment rails, she argued, don’t fit neatly into securities law. “Sometimes we are trying to really… fit a square peg in a round hole.” She called for bespoke frameworks and more transparency around sandbox programs, especially as builders face delays in launching viable payment and lending products under current rules.

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• Stablecoins classified as securities limit fintech and payments innovation
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• Builders face friction when rules are applied without adaptation to new use cases
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• Regulatory sandboxes lack transparency, measurable outcomes, or scaling support
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• Jurisdictions like the U.S. are now moving faster, raising competitiveness concerns

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✅ LedgerNotes: While not accounting-specific, Morva’s comments highlight operational friction for financial workflows involving stablecoins and crypto-based payments. Controllers and finance teams relying on stablecoins for treasury or payroll may face classification inconsistencies—especially if local rules treat stable-value assets as securities. These designations could affect how liabilities, revenue, and compliance risks are reported on financial statements.

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JOHANN KERBRAT, ROBINHOOD – Head of Robinhood Crypto: Global crypto rollout depends on tokenization clarity and stablecoin rails.

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Johann Kerbrat shared how Robinhood is expanding its crypto footprint through acquisitions (WonderFi, Bitstamp), betting on tokenization of private equity and real estate to unlock access for retail investors. He emphasized: “Right now it's very much reserved for, like, the 1%, 10% of the U.S. population.” Kerbrat underscored that both product design and market structure reforms must align. Robinhood’s wallet is now live in 100+ countries, used not just for swapping, but for DeFi participation in underbanked regions.

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• Canada’s WonderFi acquisition brings Robinhood a CERO-licensed, fully regulated entry point.
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• Tokenization raises questions on whether the underlying asset must be registered.
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• Stablecoin bill may trigger “hundreds of stablecoins,” leading to fragmentation.
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• Wallet adoption spans over 100 countries with active DeFi and gaming use cases.

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✅ LedgerNotes: While not directly tied to accounting workflows, the session hints at real-world asset tokenization becoming part of retail portfolios. This could introduce complexities in how assets are recorded—especially fractionalized private equity and real estate. The growth of stablecoins used for institutional settlement may also require finance teams to adapt treasury reconciliation practices and evaluate fair value classifications across jurisdictions.

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LUKASZ WICHER, ASYMMETRIC – Investor: Bitcoin lending will only scale if bridges evolve from custodial wrappers to verifiable, trust-minimized infrastructure.
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‍‍Wicher called Bitcoin the “pristine piece of collateral” but noted it’s mostly untapped due to bridge risk and technical limitations. “There is no other cryptocurrency out there that is better suited as a pristine piece of collateral.” He outlined three unlock paths: CeFi lending (already proven and failed), wrapped BTC on EVM chains (custodial), and native L2s leveraging new opcodes and BitVM. He expects measurable progress in the next 6–12 months, driven by adoption of Gen-3 bridges, MPC networks, and opcode-level enhancements.

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• Wrapped BTC remains custodial, limiting trustless collateral potential.
  
  
• Gen-2 and Gen-3 bridges could reduce security assumptions.
  
  
• L2s on Bitcoin may enable native lending with Bitcoin-backed stablecoins.
  
  
• CeFi’s failure highlights demand, but future must be verifiable and on-chain.
  
  

✅ LedgerNotes: Wicher’s analysis suggests that BTC-based loans may enter treasury workflows sooner than expected. Wrapped BTC must be treated cautiously—controllers should track source-chain provenance, assess fair value accuracy, and verify bridge audit trails. Accounting standards may evolve to address cross-chain asset recognition and capital reserve treatment for BTC collateral.

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JAZ GULATI, GARDEN – Co-Founder: Bridge exploits may not be Bitcoin’s biggest risk—social coercion and off-chain influence are harder to detect and stop.
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Gulati warned that technical bridge exploits have already cost the industry $3B+, but the long-term threat is institutional pressure—what he called “non-technical existential risk.” “What’s to say these more influential actors won’t just bypass the code?” He emphasized the need to defend protocol integrity against miner collusion or regulatory capture. His team at Garden is focusing on verifiable smart contract code and minimal trust bridge architectures, while cautioning against rapid rollouts that trade off security for speed.

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• $3B+ in cumulative losses from bridge exploits.
  
  
• Human-level risk (coercion, social engineering) may soon outweigh code flaws.
  
  
• Garden avoids shortcuts in favor of verifiability and multi-audit validation.
  
  
• Centralized influence could bypass consensus through Bitcoin Core actors.

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SUNNY RAY, MATADOR – President: Bitcoin as a programmable base layer could unlock tokenized gold and financial inclusion for unbanked markets.
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‍Ray described Matador’s dual strategy: building a public Bitcoin treasury (target: 1,000 BTC) and launching tokenized gold on the Bitcoin blockchain. Drawing from his experience launching India’s first crypto exchange, he sees Bitcoin as the future backbone for real-world asset infrastructure. “We’re marrying the oldest money with the newest form of money.” His broader thesis is that Bitcoin’s security and neutrality make it a better settlement layer for RWA markets than Ethereum or newer chains.

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• Bitcoin treasury strategy modeled after MicroStrategy and MetaPlanet.
  
  
• First product: gold tokens built natively on Bitcoin.
  
  
• Views Bitcoin as neutral, base-layer rails for RWAs.
  
  
• Believes BTC infrastructure is catching up to Ethereum’s programmability.

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✅ LedgerNotes: Tokenized gold is interesting from a capital formation perspective, but unless adopted for treasury collateral or recorded on enterprise ledgers, it remains speculative. Finance teams tracking BTC may monitor this as an indicator of maturing RWA use cases on Bitcoin, but current accounting relevance is limited.

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AUSTIN FEDERA, DOUBLEZERO – Co-Founder: Public internet latency is now the biggest bottleneck for blockchain scalability.

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Austin Federa introduced DoubleZero as a new fiber-based network built to address blockchain’s physical layer bottlenecks. “We're building a parallel high-performance internet,” he said—specifically designed for validator throughput, not web browsing. While L1 and L2 chains chase software speed, Federa argued the real constraint is internet jitter, not blockspace. DoubleZero offloads validation tasks (e.g., signature filtering) to FPGA hardware and replicates packets via multicast, mirroring what HFT firms already use.

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• DoubleZero offers deterministic latency with zero jitter across global nodes.
  
  
• FPGA-accelerated filtering reduces validator congestion during high-volume events.
  
  
• Hardware multicast lowers bandwidth by replicating data close to end validators.
  
  
• Prioritized routing allows trading firms to pay for fastest paths—like in finance.
  
  

✅ LedgerNotes: If adopted, DoubleZero's infrastructure could significantly reduce validator overhead and affect how block builders and relayers manage transaction propagation. For crypto-native accounting teams, expect operational data (latency logs, packet prioritization fees) to become part of performance attribution and possibly gas cost allocations.

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ANNA KAZLAUSKAS, VANA – Cofounder and CEO: We're not running out of compute—we’re running out of quality data, and users might own the fix.

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Anna Kazlauskas warned that the public internet’s usable AI training data is nearly exhausted. “If you've posted on Reddit, you've probably already helped contribute to AI models.” Her platform, Vana, offers a crypto-native approach: turning user data into programmable, ownable assets. Through “data DAOs,” individuals export their cross-platform data (Spotify, Reddit, Tesla, VSCode) and pool it for use in training foundation models—controlled by governance and paid via VRC20 data tokens. Think: labor union meets dataset treasury.

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• Public AI datasets (like Common Crawl) are nearly tapped out—15T tokens already used.
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• Data DAOs issue VRC20 tokens to contributors, which platforms burn to access data.
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• Collective One, a user-owned foundation model, is trained with DAO-controlled data.
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• Data remains in secure enclaves—solving the “double spend problem” for data.

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✅ LedgerNotes: While not directly tied to crypto accounting, the financialization of user data via VRC20 tokens and governance mechanisms introduces a new on-chain asset class. Controllers and auditors should watch how these tokens are valued, collateralized, and monetized—especially if used in DAO treasury reports or AI service contracts. As DAOs evolve, data-as-currency could blur lines between IP ownership and digital asset treatment.

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ZAK FOLKMAN & ZACH WITKOFF, WORLD LIBERTY FINANCIAL – Co-Founders: The next phase of stablecoins may focus less on displacing USDC and more on replicating dollar rails across blockchains.

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The co-founders of World Liberty Financial presented a case for cross-chain stablecoin infrastructure designed to extend U.S. dollar access. They cited demand from regions traditionally reliant on non-USD settlements and proposed a digital mechanism for routing global transactions through stable dollar rails. “All you need to access USD1 is a smartphone.” Key points included integration with Chainlink’s CCIP protocol and ambitions to interoperate with traditional financial institutions. The discussion also touched on stablecoin use in underserved markets and a broader push toward tokenizing hard assets like real estate and minerals.

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• Claims of USD1 usage on CEXs and in retail booking platforms.
  
  
• USD1 is now bridgeable between Ethereum and BSC via CCIP; Tron next.
  
  
• Long-term vision includes RWA support (e.g. real estate, minerals).
  
  
• Framed as alternative rails for global U.S. dollar access without banking intermediaries.

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✅ LedgerNotes While the panel did not provide reporting mechanics or technical disclosures, the infrastructure narrative points to a direction where stablecoins may serve settlement and collateral roles across jurisdictions. Accounting teams tracking multi-chain dollar liabilities or cross-border payments should assess how bridge-enabled stablecoins affect reconciliation processes, wallet audit trails, and reporting of fiat-pegged assets.
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SERGEY NAZAROV, CHAINLINK – Co-Founder: Automating compliance could lower global costs and reduce arbitrary debanking—if oracles can validate the right facts.

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Sergey Nazarov proposed a “hyperautomation” model for financial compliance that eliminates manual gatekeeping by replacing it with codified on-chain logic. “You codify all the conditions under which debanking can happen.” His vision includes smart contracts governing access, fed by oracles verifying off-chain facts like asset value, OFAC status, or identity. Nazarov argued this would both reduce compliance costs and remove discretionary enforcement, positioning it as a strategic advantage for U.S.-issued digital assets on global markets.

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• Proposed on-chain, contract-based compliance logic.
  
  
• Requires oracles to validate identity, asset state, and legal standing.
  
  
• Goal is to eliminate manual review and reduce false account closures.
  
  
• Estimated $500B/year global cost of compliance could drop significantly.
  
  

✅ LedgerNotes: Codified compliance frameworks may introduce new auditor responsibilities—such as verifying oracle accuracy and contract logic tied to financial access. If adopted, this model could affect how finance teams prepare compliance attestations, monitor wallet eligibility, or justify access permissions in multi-entity reporting. Particularly relevant for stablecoins used in enterprise treasury or cross-border payments.

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