The 2026 Crypto Finance Forum, jointly organized by ME Group, WLFI, Bakkt, and HKU's Faculty of Management and Economics Executive Education, is about to kick off. Below is our carefully curated guide to attending the forum and key highlights.

Article author and source: ME News

As the opening event of the global crypto finance sector in 2026, this forum is a powerful collaboration between WLFI, Bakkt, HKU School of Management Executive Education , and ME Group .

This is more than just a conference; it's a top-level resource integration that transcends geographical and industry boundaries: from the innovative power of Web3 represented by WLFI , to the compliance infrastructure symbolized by Bakkt , and the academic depth injected by the University of Hong Kong . If your goal is to cut through the noise and accurately capture the cutting-edge signals of the deep integration of traditional finance and crypto, this high-level closed-door dialogue at the century-old University of Hong Kong will be a crucial part of participants' understanding of the industry in 2026.

In this highly information-dense closed-door dialogue, how can we ensure we don't miss a single key signal? Follow our guidance to explore the core value of this forum.

Event Details

• Event Theme: Crypto Finance Forum
• Event Time: February 12, 2026, 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM (HKT)
• Event Location: University of Hong Kong
• Organizers: WLFI, Bakkt, HKU School of Management Executive Education, ME Group
• Strategic Partners: Nano Labs Ltd (Nasdaq: NA), CoinFound, Tencent Cloud, OneAsset
• Media partners: Foresight News, Odaily, Jinse Finance, PANews, Bitpush, Caihua News Agency
• Previous events: https://www.me.news/CryptoFi
• Registration link: https://www.me.news/events/488

The "Power Restructuring" of Stablecoins

The founding team of WLFI (World Liberty Financial) will be present at the event, marking a strategically significant "Asia debut." WLFI co-founders Zak Folkman, Chase Herro, and Head of Growth Ryan Fang will be gathered in Hong Kong for their first collective appearance on the Asian stage.

As the most watched stablecoin disruptor in the current global crypto market, WLFI is more than just a DeFi protocol; it symbolizes how dollar assets can be reshaped on-chain under the "American crypto New Deal." The team will break down the construction logic of its stablecoin ecosystem and how it redefines the future global payment network through a compliant path. For attendees eager to gain insight into the global compliance landscape and stablecoins, this will be the best window to bypass secondary interpretations, directly engage with the core American narrative, and capture signals of the financial power shift in the next decade.

Compliant infrastructure and institutional entry

Bakkt COO Nicholas Baes will deliver a keynote speech. With ETFs now open and hundreds of billions of institutional funds rapidly entering the market, the compliance and security of infrastructure have risen from "optional" to a core issue determining the upper limit of fund size. Backed by the pure Wall Street pedigree of its parent company, ICE (New York Stock Exchange), Bakkt represents the most stringent compliance standards and credit endorsement in the digital asset field. Nicholas Baes will provide an in-depth breakdown of a seamlessly integrated institutional-grade solution: from "vault-level" asset custody to a global payment network, and the practical implementation of asset tokenization. For investors, this is an excellent window into understanding the technological path of Wall Street's "regular army" and the top-level Web3 strategic logic of traditional financial giants.

Meanwhile, institutional participation is also driving the deep integration of traditional cloud infrastructure and next-generation high-performance blockchain. As a Tencent Cloud Web3 solution architect, Qiu Kai will share how cloud infrastructure provides underlying support for the scaling of Web3, and will also discuss with Yu Yang, Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Hong Kong and a member of the HKMA's CBDC expert team , and Adam from the Solana Foundation Asia Pacific region how to build a secure and efficient Web3 technology foundation within a compliant framework.

On the topic of ecosystem building, Adam from the Solana Foundation Asia Pacific will also share his profound insights: he believes that true integration is not merely an upgrade of the technology stack, but a resonance of ecological culture and value consensus. As a practitioner of this concept, Adam will further elaborate on this judgment at the forum: in his view, this path of returning to real payment scenarios and financial applications is the key to promoting the implementation of the value internet.

The sharing of both will together present a complete technological landscape—only when compliance frameworks, cloud infrastructure, and the blockchain ecosystem work together can they truly meet the value flow needs of the institutionalized era.

Macroeconomic shifts and the "next decade" for digital assets

As compliance frameworks become clearer and institutional infrastructure gradually takes shape, a deeper issue quietly emerges: behind these structural changes, where does the long-term value of digital assets truly lie? In the ever-changing crypto world, Dr. Xiao Feng is not only a witness but also an industry leader and a beacon of thought. As one of the very few "landmark figures" capable of bridging traditional financial logic with the philosophy of blockchain technology, his accurate predictions of industry cycles have always been regarded as a bellwether for the primary market.

Standing at the beginning of 2026, Dr. Xiao Feng will find himself at the intersection of Hong Kong's new regulatory policies and global macroeconomic changes, offering attendees a nuanced analysis. He will move beyond short-term price fluctuations, deeply analyzing the underlying investment value of digital assets and outlining a landscape of industry evolution over the next decade. This is not merely a lecture, but a high-intensity cognitive baptism. For decision-makers seeking to capture long-term trends amidst the noise, Dr. Xiao Feng's insights will serve as a nautical chart, guiding us through macroeconomic tides and anchoring our course for the next ten years.

Building an intellectual high ground for Web3

What kind of epochal resonance will arise when the profound heritage of a century-old university meets the radical wave of Web3? Professor Wang Yang, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, is both a guardian of academic excellence and a pioneer in the commercial arena, deeply bridging the gap between academia and industry as an 'academic architect,' injecting the top-level design wisdom from a century-old university into the Web3 world. Representing the HKU School of Management and Economics, he will delve into how to transform top-tier academic capital into the core fuel driving business innovation. In his blueprint, through the dual empowerment of talent and technological paradigms, Hong Kong is being reshaped into the "nerve center" of the global Web3 industry.

Kong Jianping, Director of Cyberport, will also attend the event. In an era rife with application-layer narratives, Kong represents a grounded, detached perspective that transcends economic cycles. As a hands-on leader deeply rooted in the industry, he focuses on a more decisive physical dimension than code and protocols—computing power and chips. This time, he will lead us back to the industry's "underlying foundations," providing an in-depth analysis of the singularity moment where AI computing power and Web3 converge.

Building a "gravitational field" for crypto finance

As the key organizer behind this stellar lineup, Jessica Yang is not only the head of ME Group but also the creator of the Crypto Finance Forum, a high-end dialogue brand. Jessica has led ME Group to successfully build a fintech ecosystem integrating AI-driven media, branded events, and global information. At this forum, as the host, she will share her unique perspective as a "super connector": how to break down the trust barriers between Wall Street and the crypto world through precise information flow and high-end social networks in an increasingly fragmented global market.

Conclusion

From Wall Street's new compliance policies to the intellectual landscape of Victoria Harbour, from WLFI 's institutional breakthroughs to Bakkt 's infrastructure development, and the profound insights of Dr. Xiao Feng and Professor Wang Yang —this Crypto Finance Forum presents more than just a list of speakers; it's a microcosm of the global crypto finance ecosystem in 2026. In this era of rapid convergence between traditional finance and crypto native technologies, certainty is the scarcest asset. This closed-door dialogue, held within the University of Hong Kong's century-old hall, aims to offer you a holistic perspective that transcends the noise. Here, we will witness the resonance between computing power and capital. On February 12th, let us unite in Hong Kong to reach a consensus on the future.