Bitfire Group hosts a roundtable sharing session at the 2026 Hong Kong Institutional Digital Wealth Management Summit Forum: Institutional Asset Management Innovation and Asset Allocation Practices in the New Cycle

Source: Bitfire Day·2026 Hong Kong Institutional Digital Wealth Management Summit

Content compilation: Techub News

On April 23, 2026, the “Bitfire Day·2026 Hong Kong Institutional Digital Wealth Management Summit” hosted by Bitfire Group was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. The roundtable forum themed “Innovation in Institutional Asset Management and Asset Allocation Practices in the New Cycle” gathered diverse industry perspectives to explore how traditional institutions can allocate digital assets within a compliant framework, the integration path of traditional finance and native crypto institutions, and how AI technology empowers future asset allocation.

Moderator: Alma, Founder of Techub News

Roundtable guests:

OSL Strategic Partnership Director Kevin Law

Deloitte China Business and Operations Transformation Director Xu Qianqian

Bitfire Asset Management Partner Emma Zhu

Huaxia Fund Hong Kong Strategy Director Chen Junwei

Byteplus HK Tech Director Sophia Jin

Alma, the moderator, pointed out that the roundtable guests cover multiple dimensions including trading platforms, asset management institutions, traditional finance, and technology services, aiming to jointly analyze the key pathways for traditional institutions entering the digital asset market.

In the new cycle: how can traditional institutions build compliant, professional digital asset allocation systems?

Xu Qianqian from Deloitte China first discussed the global regulatory environment. She observed that under the new cycle, regulation is becoming more in-depth, detailed, and clear, while macroeconomic uncertainties, upgraded client demands, and technological iterations are also superimposed.

She offered three key suggestions:

Build a comprehensive compliance governance framework: Digital assets involve custody, taxation, accounting, financial reporting, information disclosure, and KYC, requiring clear compliance boundaries and risk control management systems.

Integrate digital assets into the overall product management system: They should not be viewed as isolated innovative products but integrated into the full product lifecycle.

Prioritize middle and back-office capabilities: Risk control, data governance, cybersecurity, and operational models in the backend determine the sustainability of front-end configurations.

Kevin Law from OSL shared experiences serving traditional institutions. Institutions are most concerned with compliance, security, and trustworthiness. OSL provides a regulated trading environment, USD insurance guarantees, and mature risk control layers to help institutions utilize blockchain technology in complex operations while effectively reducing risks. Many institutions start from business opportunities but prioritize regulatory compliance and risk controllability.

Chen Junwei from Huaxia Fund emphasized from practical experience that compliance is the “lifeline” and starting point of all digital asset businesses. Huaxia collaborates with licensed platforms like OSL to launch the first batch of spot Bitcoin/Ethereum ETFs in Hong Kong, with a particular focus on investor protection (such as insurance mechanisms). When traditional institutions allocate digital assets, they usually extend from existing capabilities rather than building from scratch; backend compliance training and system construction are especially important.

Emma Zhu, partner at Bitfire, combined her background in traditional finance and industry experience to point out that compliance is a threshold that must be crossed early. The biggest challenge lies in time costs (licensing applications may take months to two years) and the gap between licensed business models and market demand. However, Hong Kong’s regulation is gradually shifting from strict to open, expanding the compliance space. Native crypto institutions are also seeking compliant routes globally, while traditional institutions are adding blockchain asset classes within their existing frameworks. Both types of institutions are learning from each other, and the gap is narrowing.

Traditional Institutions vs. Crypto Native Asset Managers: Differences, Integration, and Complementarity

Chen Junwei from Huaxia Fund shared that on-chain investors pursue high timeliness and innovative experiences, while off-chain institutions focus on compliance and stability. Huaxia’s digital asset funds denominated in HKD, USD, and RMB successfully attract both types of investors, achieving on-chain and off-chain complementarity. Product design prioritizes different investor needs, providing on-chain experiences through product mapping.

Emma Zhu from Bitfire believes that the Bitfire team, with backgrounds in traditional finance and crypto native sectors, acts as a “translator,” connecting the two sides. Traditional personnel are disciplined but sometimes lack innovative imagination; crypto native entrepreneurs are highly entrepreneurial and execution-oriented but need to adapt to institutional requirements for security, stability, and auditability. Industry strategies have shifted from early subjective high leverage to neutral strategies (annualized returns around 4%-10%), with institutions favoring value-investment-style holding of major coins and demanding stable yield products. Both sides are merging: crypto natives are moving toward compliance, and traditional institutions are learning innovation.

Kevin Law from OSL stated that service needs differ between the two types of institutions. Traditional institutions want to introduce new services (like index products) within familiar compliance frameworks and enhance trust through insurance and collateralized financing; crypto native institutions seek to incorporate on-chain assets into financial systems and facilitate settlement support. Both sides need industry-wide efforts to standardize accounting treatment and financial reporting.

AI Era: Future Trends and Product Visions in Asset Allocation

Emma Zhu from Bitfire is optimistic about tokenization. The US is about to enable 24/7 on-chain trading of stocks with T+0 settlement, and in the future, if liquidity in foundational assets like funds and complex derivatives is sufficient, on-chain markets and diverse strategies can form. Bitfire launched Hong Kong’s first compliant digital asset management service and brought in experts to focus on the first year of integrating crypto into traditional asset allocation frameworks. Ordinary investors’ thresholds will lower, investment targets will become more open, and liquidity and asset classes will expand significantly. In ten years, this market will be as seamless and natural as today’s stock trading.

Compliance, professionalism, integration, and innovation drive the new cycle

The roundtable forum concluded successfully amid lively discussions. Guests unanimously agreed that the core of institutional asset management innovation in the new cycle lies in maintaining compliance bottom lines, strengthening professional middle and back-office functions, and leveraging technology. Traditional and crypto native institutions need to complement each other’s strengths and establish common language. AI and tokenization will reshape asset allocation, offering more inclusive and diverse options.

From compliance entry to asset allocation practices, from underlying technology to product design, the insights shared by the guests provide multi-dimensional thinking for institutional digital wealth management. As emphasized in the dialogue, this year marks an important year for crypto’s integration into traditional asset frameworks. Hong Kong, as an international financial hub, will continue to lead the deep integration of digital assets and traditional wealth management within a compliant framework, creating new opportunities for global institutional investors.