A panel discussion on crypto's 2026 outlook featuring leaders from Stellar, KuCoin, Fidelity, and fintech startups. Topics covered agentic payments, tokenized real-world assets, stablecoin regulation, institutional adoption, and the need for regulatory clarity.
Henry Arslanian moderated a panel at Paris Blockchain Week featuring Raja Chakravorty (Stellar), Sabina Liu (KuCoin), Scott Shea (NEXT), Salvador Yanez (Movantis), and Marta Reyes (Fidelity). Key discussions included agentic payments facing challenges around identity, authorization, compliance, and liability; tokenized real-world assets eclipsing $2 billion on Stellar with institutional demand growing; narrow banking as an alternative to fractional reserve systems; and the tension between traditional finance and crypto rails. Panelists emphasized that regulatory clarity through acts like the Clarity Act is essential for mainstream adoption, that traditional players will likely dominate tokenized asset distribution, and that interoperability between TradFi and crypto infrastructure remains a critical unsolved problem.