McKinsey, Coinbase, Gemini, Moody's and J. Christopher Giancarlo Unite in New York for Blockchain Finance Discussion
New York, NY, Nov. 3, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The third annual Assets on Blockchain (AOB) Conference, held October 29 at the Harvard Club of New York, brought together leaders from traditional finance, blockchain, technology, and regulation to explore the next phase of digital finance: moving beyond tokenization towards functioning, trusted, and liquid global capital markets.
Chaired by Suresh Nichani, Chairman of RealAssets Technologies & Labs and I-Chain Capital, the conference featured representatives from McKinsey & Company, Coinbase, Gemini, Cboe Global Markets, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and Moody's. J. Christopher Giancarlo, former Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), delivered a keynote on financial innovation, regulation, and the modernization of American capital markets.
The conference was supported by Luna PR, a global communications agency specializing in emerging technology and finance, with Founder and CEO Nikita Sachdev serving as conference host and moderator. 361Firm participated as an event partner.
Major Milestone: MOU Between RealAssets Technologies & Labs and The Lynd Company
A significant event was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between RealAssets Technologies & Labs and The Lynd Company, a U.S. real estate organization managing over 17,000 multifamily residential units. The collaboration will explore how blockchain-based financial infrastructure could enhance asset management, capital access, and liquidity in traditionally illiquid real estate markets.
From Tokenization to Functioning Capital Markets
Nichani opened the conference by outlining the industry's evolution through three phases:
2024: Exploring the potential to bring trillions of dollars in assets onto the blockchain. 2025: Driven by regulatory momentum. 2026: Marked by institutional adoption and implementation.
He emphasized that tokenization alone doesn't create liquidity. The real opportunity lies in developing financial infrastructure that connects asset ownership, verified information, regulatory compliance, global capital, programmable transactions, and secondary markets.
RealAssets Technologies & Labs (RTL) is building infrastructure spanning asset onboarding, identity and compliance, self-custody wallets, asset provenance, smart contracts, payments, settlement, and AI-native financial systems. Its vision extends beyond real estate to private credit, private equity, mortgages, infrastructure, energy assets, and other illiquid investments.
Mission: Unlocking Illiquid Assets, Connecting Global Capital, Creating Liquid Markets
RACE: Constructing Blockchain Infrastructure for Global Assets
Krisanth Sivarajh, Head of Tokenization at RACE, explained how blockchain infrastructure could transform fragmented asset markets into interconnected financial ecosystems.
RACE is being developed as a separately governed blockchain infrastructure ecosystem supporting asset onboarding, verification, management, programmable transactions, and settlement. Its proposed architecture integrates blockchain execution, digital identity, self-custody wallets, smart contracts, payments, and asset intelligence.
A key component is the Truth Engine, designed to organize verifiable asset histories, ownership information, and financial records into dependable, machine-readable data. This infrastructure aims to support institutional investors and financial intermediaries, alongside emerging AI agents requiring trusted information, defined permissions, and reliable transaction execution.
RACE focuses on connecting the broader asset lifecycle with eligible investors and global capital markets, going beyond mere token issuance.
McKinsey and Wall Street Highlight Institutional Adoption
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