NewsCryptoHSC Conference Convenes Institutional Digital Asset Leaders in Ho Chi Minh City to Address RWA, Stablecoins, and Infrastructure

HSC Conference Convenes Institutional Digital Asset Leaders in Ho Chi Minh City to Address RWA, Stablecoins, and Infrastructure

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Key Takeaways

  • The HSC Conference in Ho Chi Minh City will bring together leaders from major financial and digital asset firms including HashKey Group, OpenEden, Tether, Nuvei, and Standard Chartered's SC Ventures to discuss institutional finance and digital asset convergence.
  • The event focuses on three core themes—real-world asset tokenization, stablecoin infrastructure, and blockchain ecosystems—that have progressed from speculative experimentation to institutional deployment.
  • Vietnam has consistently placed in the top tier of Chainalysis' Global Crypto Adoption Index, reflecting Southeast Asia's position as one of the world's most active regions for digital asset adoption.
  • Standard Chartered's SC Ventures launched a dedicated $250 million digital asset fund backed by Middle East investors in 2026, with its most recent investment in tokenization infrastructure firm Digital Asset.
  • OpenEden's tokenized U.S. Treasury fund has surpassed $260 million in assets under management and received dual investment-grade ratings from S&P Global (AA+) and Moody's, marking a significant institutional milestone for on-chain fixed income products.
HSC Conference Convenes Institutional Digital Asset Leaders in Ho Chi Minh City to Address RWA, Stablecoins, and Infrastructure

The HSC Conference, set to take place in Ho Chi Minh City, will assemble a prominent lineup of speakers addressing the convergence of institutional finance and digital assets across Southeast Asia — a region that has consistently ranked among the world's most active for digital asset adoption, with Vietnam placing in the top tier of Chainalysis' Global Crypto Adoption Index for consecutive years. The event focuses on real-world asset tokenization, stablecoin infrastructure, and the broader blockchain ecosystem, three pillars that have moved from speculative experimentation to institutional deployment as global financial firms commit capital to tokenized products and on-chain settlement rails.

Headline speakers include Ben El-Baz, Managing Director and Head of International Markets at HashKey Group — a founding member of one of Asia's most comprehensively licensed digital asset institutions. Jeremy Ng, Founder and CEO of OpenEden and a former Goldman Sachs executive, will also speak; Ng is recognized for launching the world's first dual-rated tokenized U.S. Treasury fund. Queenie Le, Regional Expansion Lead APAC at Tether, joins the roster as a central figure in the stablecoin's Southeast Asian expansion. Together, these speakers reflect the full stack of institutional digital asset activity — from regulated exchange and custody infrastructure to tokenized money market instruments and stablecoin-driven payments.

Additional speakers include Alice Truong, Vice President and Head of Digital Assets APAC at Nuvei, and Alex Toh, Executive Director of Fintech Investments at SC Ventures — Standard Chartered's venture arm, which is currently deploying a dedicated $250 million digital asset fund. They will be joined by Rania Rahardja, APAC Director at Ondo Finance; Kha Nguyen, Co-Founder and CEO of Birdeye; Will Ross of Dragon Capital; Ran Yi, Co-Founder of Orderly; and representatives from Ledger, Bybit, The Spartan Group, Cactus Custody, 1inch, IDRX, and RMIT, among others. The breadth of the roster — spanning Tier 1 banks, regulated exchanges, DeFi infrastructure builders, and local payment players — underscores how digital asset markets in the region are maturing beyond retail trading into multi-layer institutional ecosystems.

Alice Truong, Vice President and Head of Digital Assets APAC, Nuvei

Alice Truong leads Nuvei's digital asset strategy and partnerships across the Asia-Pacific region, collaborating with exchanges, financial institutions, payment service providers, and regulators to enable compliant crypto payments, stablecoin settlement, and cross-border transactions. Nuvei obtained its MiCAR Crypto-Asset Service Provider license under the EU's harmonized regulatory framework in December 2025 and participated as an early pilot in Visa's stablecoin merchant settlement program. In June 2026, Nuvei announced a definitive agreement to acquire Payoneer for $2.75 billion, significantly expanding its cross-border payments footprint.

Jeremy Ng, Founder and CEO, OpenEden

Jeremy Ng, a former Goldman Sachs executive, co-founded OpenEden to connect regulated traditional finance with decentralized markets through tokenized real-world assets. The firm's flagship TBILL tokenized U.S. Treasury fund has grown more than 1,000x since launching in 2023, surpassing $260 million in assets under management as of September 2025. It is the first product of its kind to receive dual investment-grade ratings from both S&P Global (AA+) and Moody's. In August 2025, BNY was appointed as investment manager and custodian, representing a significant institutional endorsement of on-chain fixed income. Backed by Ripple and Anchorage Digital, Ng has scaled OpenEden's total value locked to $531 million across TBILL and USDO, a regulated yield-bearing stablecoin backed by tokenized Treasuries.

Ben El-Baz, Managing Director and Head of International Markets, HashKey Group

As a founding member of HashKey Group, Ben El-Baz has served as Head of Global Licensing and managing director of the firm's licensed global exchanges, leading strategic initiatives across licensing, partnerships, and blockchain applications. El-Baz guided HashKey's entry into key regulated markets including Bermuda, the EU, and Dubai within a single year, establishing the firm as a full-spectrum ecosystem spanning exchange, custody, asset management, and venture capital. In March 2026, he led the launch of HashKey Pro, an institutional omnibus trading platform designed for banks, brokers, and asset managers in the UAE.

Queenie Le, Regional Expansion Lead APAC, Tether

Queenie Le serves as APAC expansion lead at Tether, where she focuses on financial inclusion and expanding the stablecoin's presence across emerging markets through partnerships and community-driven adoption initiatives. USDT holds a $184 billion market cap in 2026 — more than double its nearest competitor — functioning as the de facto digital dollar across much of the region. Le has played a central role in the GOE Alliance, a coalition comprising Tether, Ava Labs, Sky Mavis, Republic, and Onchain Academy, established to build stablecoin infrastructure across Vietnam following the country's formal recognition of digital assets as property.

Alex Toh, Executive Director, Fintech Investments, SC Ventures

Alex Toh has been part of Standard Chartered's innovation and venture arm, SC Ventures, since 2018. His previous roles include Director of Startup Investments at Telenor and Manager of Innovation at MetLife's LumenLab. In 2026, SC Ventures launched a dedicated $250 million digital asset fund backed by Middle East investors, focused on digital assets within the financial services sector. The fund's most recent investment was in Digital Asset, a tokenization infrastructure firm, in July 2026.

Additional Speakers and Agenda Participants

Leonard Hoh, President of Bitstamp by Robinhood, will participate, reflecting the growing intersection of traditional retail brokerage and institutional crypto infrastructure. Rania Rahardja, APAC Director at Ondo Finance, will contribute expertise in real-world asset tokenization and on-chain yield products. Ran Yi, Co-Founder of Orderly, is building decentralized order book infrastructure that supports liquidity across the DeFi ecosystem.

The agenda also features Will Ross, Chief Marketing and Distribution Officer at Dragon Capital — Vietnam's largest independent asset manager — and Takatoshi Shibayama, Head of APAC at Ledger Enterprise, specializing in hardware security and institutional self-custody infrastructure. Ivan Postavskyy, Tokenization and Investment Operations Manager at Centrifuge, works at the operational frontier of bringing real-world credit assets onto public blockchains.

On the stablecoin track, Nathanael Christian, Co-Founder and CEO of IDRX — the Indonesian rupiah-backed stablecoin issuer — is working to localize compliant digital currency infrastructure across Southeast Asia. Carney Mak, Partner at FXHB Asset Management, will bring a traditional asset management perspective on the post-stablecoin payments landscape. Harry Bui, Analyst at The Spartan Group, will contribute institutional research insights.

Further speakers include Jeffrey Tchui, Executive Director and Head of APAC at Hashgraph; Tom Ngo, CEO of Metis; Edwin Lau, BD Southeast Asia Lead at Monad; and Daniel Lee, CEO of Cactus Custody. On the venture and advisory side, Laura Nguyen, Partner at GenAI Fund, and Catarina Quynh, Vietnam Lead at Republic Advisory, will address the convergence of AI investment and market entry strategy in Vietnam.

Additional founders, investors, developers, and industry participants are expected to join the event for discussions and networking.