HSC Conference Ho Chi Minh City 2026 to Gather Leading Digital Asset Operators, Allocators, and Infrastructure Builders
Key Takeaways
- •The HSC Conference will take place on August 15, 2026, in Ho Chi Minh City, bringing together founders, executives, policymakers, and investors from the cryptocurrency and institutional finance sectors.
- •Vietnam was chosen as host due to its consistently high placement in Chainalysis' Global Crypto Adoption Index and the government's formal legal recognition of digital assets as property.
- •Tether's USDT stablecoin reached approximately $187–190 billion in market capitalization in 2026, accounting for roughly 58% of total stablecoin liquidity worldwide.
- •SCVentures, Standard Chartered's innovation arm, became GSR's first external strategic shareholder in May 2026 and joined a $355 million funding round for Digital Asset in July 2026 alongside a16z crypto and Shinhan Financial Group.
- •The GOE Alliance, comprising Tether, Ava Labs, Sky Mavis, Republic, and Onchain Academy, was formed to build stablecoin infrastructure across Vietnam following the country's formal recognition of digital assets.

The HSC Conference, scheduled for August 15, 2026, in Ho Chi Minh City, will assemble a prominent group of participants spanning cryptocurrency, institutional finance, and emerging technology. The event aims to examine the trends and opportunities shaping the next phase of digital asset adoption across Southeast Asia and beyond.
The choice of Vietnam as host reflects the country's outsized role in global crypto adoption, where it has consistently ranked among the top nations in Chainalysis' Global Crypto Adoption Index, driven by high grassroots usage and a deepening developer base. Founders, executives, policymakers, and investors will convene at the intersection of blockchain infrastructure, tokenization, and on-chain financial markets, with particular attention to Vietnam's expanding role in the regional digital economy — a positioning reinforced by the government's formal recognition of digital assets as property, a legal milestone that has created a foundation for regulated infrastructure buildout.
Notable participating organizations include HashKey Group, Nuvei, Tether, Ondo Finance, Bitstamp, Ledger Enterprise, OpenEden, Dragon Capital, Hashgraph, Birdeye, Republic Advisory, Kanga Global, Orderly, and SCVentures, along with other entities involved in institutional and digital finance.
HashKey Group
Operating across Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, and Bermuda, HashKey Group has established what it describes as Asia's most comprehensive licensed digital asset operation, encompassing trading platforms, asset management, tokenization, and infrastructure services. In 2026, its Dubai subsidiary secured VARA approval to offer regulated cryptocurrency perpetual futures, its exchange platforms were consolidated into a unified multi-jurisdictional application, and institutional staking services were launched in partnership with BitGo.
Nuvei
Nuvei has positioned itself at the intersection of stablecoin infrastructure and AI-driven payments. The company obtained its MiCAR Crypto-Asset Service Provider license in December 2025 and participated as an early pilot partner in Visa's stablecoin merchant settlement program. In July 2026, Nuvei completed a live agentic payment proof of concept with Visa, with plans to launch its protocol-agnostic execution layer in the second half of 2026.
Tether
USDT reached approximately $187–190 billion in market capitalization in 2026, accounting for roughly 58% of total stablecoin liquidity. In Southeast Asia, Tether has played a central role in the GOE Alliance — a coalition comprising Tether, Ava Labs, Sky Mavis, Republic, and Onchain Academy — formed to develop stablecoin infrastructure across Vietnam following the country's formal recognition of digital assets as property. The alliance reflects a broader regional pattern in which stablecoins have become a primary vehicle for cross-border settlement and savings in markets where access to dollar-denominated financial instruments has historically been constrained.
Birdeye
Birdeye provides real-time intelligence on token activity, liquidity, and wallet behavior across decentralized ecosystems. The platform aggregates data from over 400 decentralized exchanges and serves more than 4,000 enterprise data clients, having established itself as the leading crypto trading data provider on Solana while expanding into institutional market intelligence. Founded in Vietnam with a global footprint, Birdeye contributes a builder's perspective on the data infrastructure required by the on-chain economy at scale.
Republic Advisory
Republic Advisory functions as the strategic and tokenization arm of Republic, one of the world's largest alternative investment platforms. The firm designs token economies and deploys digital assets in collaboration with Web3 ventures, covering token design, governance, and corporate treasury strategy. In Vietnam, Republic has been engaged in building the country's Web3 foundation through policy and legal advisory, including its participation in the GOE Alliance alongside Tether and Ava Labs.
SCVentures
SCVentures, Standard Chartered's innovation and venture arm, has emerged as a significant traditional finance player in the digital asset sector through direct capital deployment. In May 2026, it made a strategic investment in GSR, becoming the firm's first external strategic shareholder since its founding in 2013. In July, SCVentures participated in a $355 million funding round for Digital Asset, creator of the Canton blockchain network, alongside a16z crypto and Shinhan Financial Group. These moves are part of a wider pattern of global banks deepening their exposure to digital asset market infrastructure through minority stakes and joint ventures rather than building proprietary platforms from scratch.
A Comprehensive Cross-Section of Capital, Infrastructure, and Institutional Expertise
The conference will feature a broad range of operators, builders, and capital allocators representing distinct segments of the maturing digital asset economy in Southeast Asia.
Capital allocation and investment perspectives will be presented by Dragon Capital, Onigiri Capital, FXHB Asset Management, and The Spartan Group, along with HSC Asset Group. The AI investment outlook will be addressed by GenAI Fund.
Institutional finance and regulated infrastructure will be represented through Nuvei and SCVentures, whose speakers lead digital asset strategy and fintech investment across APAC. Bitstamp by Robinhood will participate in the liquidity panel, offering an exchange perspective on institutional-grade trading in a fragmented, multi-venue landscape.
Blockchain infrastructure and protocol development will be covered by Hashgraph, Monad, Metis, Orderly, and Solana Superteam Vietnam, each bringing distinct viewpoints on scalability and developer adoption. Varmeta and DCP Co., Ltd. will contribute enterprise blockchain deployment experience.
The tokenization and real-world asset segment features Centrifuge, Ondo Finance, and OpenEden, each approaching on-chain asset infrastructure from different angles — credit markets, yield-bearing instruments, and regulated tokenized funds. Their joint appearance on the Tokenization Era panel is expected to be among the event's most substantive discussions, at a time when tokenized treasuries and money-market instruments have drawn accelerating interest from asset managers seeking on-chain exposure to dollar yields.
Custody infrastructure will be addressed by Cactus Custody and Ledger Enterprise, representing institutional-grade custody architecture and hardware security for self-sovereign asset management.
Stablecoin and payments topics will be explored through Tether and IDRX, with 1inch providing a DeFi liquidity perspective and CoinTracking offering a compliance and analytics viewpoint.
Rounding out the programme, SotaTek and OpenMax will lead the Vietnam-focused AI discussion alongside GenAI Fund. Policy and advisory expertise will be provided by TOTM Labs, Republic Advisory, APAC DAO, and RMIT University Vietnam, covering regulatory frameworks, market-entry strategy, and academic research.