Consensus Hong Kong 2026 Draws 11,000 Attendees, Underscores Regulatory Push

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. BitPinas has no commercial relationship with any mentioned entity unless otherwise stated.

📬 Get the biggest crypto stories in the Philippines and Southeast Asia every week — subscribe to the BitPinas Newsletter.

Consensus Hong Kong 2026 concluded on Feb. 12 after drawing 11,000 registered attendees from more than 122 countries and regions, as policymakers and industry leaders used the event to signal continued momentum around digital asset regulation and institutional adoption.

Key Details

Organizers said the three-day conference at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre generated an estimated HK$300 million in economic impact. Roughly half of participants came from Asia, with the rest traveling from overseas markets including the United States, China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the United Kingdom and South Korea.

Senior executives accounted for 62% of attendees, according to the organizers.

Hong Kong Officials Reaffirm Web3 Strategy

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu opened the conference and reiterated the government’s commitment to building a regulatory framework to support what he described as steady and sustainable development of the city’s web3 ecosystem.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, delivering a keynote address, said authorities would work with regulators and industry participants to develop high-impact use cases as artificial intelligence and blockchain converge, while managing emerging risks.

In a Day 1 recap, BitPinas reported that Chan disclosed Hong Kong banks had begun offering tokenized deposit services, reaching HK$29 billion by last year. He also said a limited number of new licenses would be issued in March, with more to follow later.

Julia Leung, chief executive of the Securities and Futures Commission, also discussed regulatory clarity and emphasized its role in attracting institutional players to Hong Kong.

Institutional Adoption and Market Structure in Focus

The 2026 agenda featured more than 350 speakers and centered on institutional adoption, stablecoins, tokenization and what organizers described as the emergence of “Internet Capital Markets.” The program also spotlighted the so-called machine economy, examining links between AI agents, robotics and on-chain execution.

• Speakers included Lily Liu of the Solana Foundation, Richard Teng of Binance, Justin Sun of TRON, Anthony Scaramucci of SkyBridge Capital and Charles Hoskinson of Input Output.
• Scaramucci discussed the U.S. regulatory environment and prospects for a market structure bill, while Thomas Farley of Bullish joined him in a fireside chat.

In a product announcement, Intercontinental Exchange said it would launch cryptocurrency futures contracts based on seven CoinDesk Indices benchmarks, including the CoinDesk 20 and CoinDesk 5, as well as contracts tied to Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP and BNB.

Panels also focused on real-world asset tokenization. Executives from Securitize and Ondo Finance discussed distribution challenges for tokenized products, while Peter Mintzberg, chief executive of Grayscale Investments, said education remains central to long-term adoption.

Developers, Startups and Ecosystem Events

More than 1,000 developers and 240 startups participated in the EasyA Consensus Hackathon and CoinDesk PitchFest.

• Alex Scheer of zkMe Technology Limited won PitchFest, while hackathon winners included FoundrAI, SentinelFi and PumpStop, projects focused on autonomous AI agents, on-chain risk analysis and non-custodial trading tools.
• On Feb. 11, the Solana Foundation debuted Solana Accelerate APAC alongside the main event, drawing additional builders and policymakers to discussions on payments, decentralized finance and AI infrastructure.

Organizers said more than 400 side events were held throughout the week across Hong Kong, extending the conference beyond the main venue.

Michael Lau, chairman of Consensus, said the event would next head to Miami from May 5–7 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

This article is published on BitPinas: Consensus Hong Kong 2026 Draws 11,000 Attendees, Underscores Regulatory Push

What else is happening in Crypto Philippines and beyond?