Regulation, tokenization and Web3 transformation of legacy finance — Merge Madrid recap
The Merge event, held in Madrid from Oct. 7 to 9, featured an intense agenda covering a wide range of topics — from the status of the digital euro to MiCA standards — with a clear focus on the future of custody. The program opened with an exclusive first day for speakers and business ticket holders at the Palacio de Santoña, followed by two main conference days at the Palacio de Cibeles.
The first day featured speakers from Binance, Ripple, Banco de España and many other leading names from both crypto-native and traditional finance sectors. “It was so refreshing to hear banks not thinking about if they were going to jump into blockchain, but when,” said Nolvia Serrano, chief innovation and strategy officer at TR Capital.
And this wasn’t an isolated sentiment. “I would love to see more banks leveraging stablecoins for cross-border payments,” said Cassie Craddock, EU managing director at Ripple, during a panel with Hidden Road, a global credit network.
Uniquely European
The second and third days featured an intense program, with panels running simultaneously across three stages — the Binance Main Stage, CAM Builders Stage and Business Stage. While most panels and keynotes were held in English to make them accessible to a broader audience, part of the program was in Spanish, and many participating companies had their headquarters in the EU or Latin America.
It is notable that many companies presented at the event, including Bybit, BitGo and CryptoFinance, have recently undergone regulatory developments. While people could still argue whether regulatory standards align with Web3’s original principles, it is evident that an increasing number of projects are operating within frameworks that enable collaboration with TradFi.
Tokenization took center stage across several panels. The topic was thoroughly discussed from the perspective of real-world use cases in Spain, opportunities, threats, lessons learned and the ways tokenized equities are bridging crypto and TradFi.
As Alessandro Bergamaschi, Solidity developer at Javis Network, later shared:
“In the next phase of the blockchain sector [development], we will find an increase in real-world asset projects, especially for stocks and fund tokenizations. And this will be an important step for bringing users of TradFi into the Web3 sector.”
The future of custody
During the panel centered around the future of custody, Eric Piscini, CEO at Hashgraph, responded to a question from Lisa Filardi, PR lead at Formula, on how to maintain the balance between custody as a professional service and the empowerment of individuals through self-custody. Piscini began by explaining that no one wants to have all their money with them and held by them at all times — it’s simply not secure. As the sector matures, professional custody services become not only relevant but essential.
Luis Ayala, LatAm managing director at BitGo, raised the question of what would happen to one’s crypto funds if something happened to them — and how to ensure that their children, for instance, would receive those assets. As noted by Aliya, senior vice president of business development at Sygnum Bank, many straightforward questions in traditional finance remain far less clear in Web3.
Participants’ perception and takeaways from project representatives
Lukas De Bebedetti, chief operating officer at Block Travel, shared: “We connected with a lot of people. It was productive because everyone here at the event is interested in building partnerships or doing business. It was a really productive experience for us.”
TR Capital’s Nolvia Serrano commented: “One of the biggest differences for us is that [earlier] El Salvador was not known for the best things — but now it’s very inspiring to see how the perception of the country has changed because of the Bitcoin Law, and that we’re very futuristic in thinking about digital assets.”
“For us, it’s a big changer — El Salvador, for the first time, is on the map for something good,” continued Serrano: “As Salvadorians, this makes us very proud — that we’re taking a chance and betting on Bitcoin and blockchain.”
Attracting both fresh and seasoned crypto enthusiasts, Merge fostered an atmosphere of inspiration.
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