UAE Institutional Leaders Convene in Abu Dhabi as Digital Asset Strategy Accelerates Across Global Finance

Abu Dhabi hosted senior leaders from global finance, digital asset infrastructure and regulators on May 13, 2026, for the inaugural Digital Assets Forum Abu Dhabi (DAFME 1), a new institutional gathering focused on the integration of digital assets into regulated financial markets. Backed by Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and held inside Abu Dhabi’s international financial centre ecosystem, the forum arrives as institutional allocators, custodians and market infrastructure providers increasingly evaluate tokenised real-world assets, stablecoin and payment infrastructure, regulated custody and other digital-asset solutions.

“Across our London editions, we have seen how regulatory certainty directly unlocks institutional participation,” said Victoria Gago, Co‑Founder of Digital Assets Forum. “What is taking place in Abu Dhabi and across the Gulf represents a structural shift in global finance. Capital formation, infrastructure development, and policy leadership are increasingly converging here. The UAE is demonstrating how governments and financial institutions can actively shape the future architecture of digital markets.”

DAFME 1 builds on three institutional editions of the Digital Assets Forum in London, which together brought nearly 2,000 senior executives from banks, asset managers, hedge funds and market infrastructure providers. The Abu Dhabi edition is explicitly geared toward institutional decision-makers rather than retail audiences and is organised by the European Blockchain Convention, the series’ founder.

Confirmed participants and institutional focus

Organisers have confirmed a lineup of senior institutional speakers and executives representing regulators, custodians, trading firms and digital-asset platforms. Confirmed participants include:

• Christoph Richter, Head of Digital Assets & AI — Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)
• Sebastian Widmann, Head of Dubai — Komainu
• Karl Naim, Group Chief Commercial Officer — XBTO Middle East
• Yan Ma, Executive Director — Spartan Group
• Catrina Wang, General Partner — Portal Ventures
• Elliot Andrews, CEO — Aspen Digital
• Rachel Conlan, Global Chief Marketing Officer — Binance

ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) is a central institutional backer for the forum. The FSRA has established a structured licensing regime for virtual-asset activities — including exchanges, custodians, asset managers and brokers — which organisers say provides a regulated environment for institutional deployment. The UAE’s broader strategy, which includes central bank digital currency initiatives and tokenisation programmes, was cited as reinforcing the country’s role as a connecting capital marketplace for Europe, Asia and Africa.

Agenda and format

DAFME 1’s agenda revolves around a set of institutional themes: UAE digital asset regulation in a global context; institutional portfolio allocation and alpha generation; stablecoins, payments and CBDC developments; integration between traditional finance (TradFi) and DeFi; real‑world asset tokenisation; the evolution of crypto ETFs; liquidity, custody and market infrastructure; and institutional risk and governance frameworks.

The forum’s format is curated and outcome-driven, featuring institutional main-stage discussions, closed-door executive sessions, dedicated 1:1 meeting areas and private briefing and partnership rooms. Organisers said the objective is institutional alignment, capital deployment and infrastructure coordination for 2026 and beyond, with additional institutional speakers and sovereign ecosystem participants to be announced in the coming weeks.