At the event in CONNECT in Singapore, guests discussed the opportunities in the tokenization market, the future of stablecoins for daily payments, and the ever-changing environment for crypto investors.

GSR, the chief revenue officer of an encrypted trading company, stated that tokenized assets are opening up new trading opportunities for financial markets. However, the supply of real-world assets (RWA) that are brought onto the blockchain continues to increase and has not yet matched the demand from investors.

On October 9th, during a discussion on liquidity and market fragmentation at the Cointelegraph Singapore edition of CONNECT, Taaffe stated that the trading liquidity of stocks, commodities, and global equities is expected to improve, as these assets were previously limited in accessibility to investors. However, he noted that the demand for fully tokenized RWA has not kept up with the increasing scale of issuance.

Cointelegraph brought together the founders, investors, and industry executives of Web3 to hold four roundtable discussions on tokenization, stablecoin payments, on-chain transaction infrastructure, and venture capital exits, and also organized a startup pitch competition as a complement.

Taaffe said, 'When it comes to RWA and fully tokenized assets, there is an imbalance between supply and demand. The supply is very high. Every asset management issuer wants to move capital formation onto the blockchain.'

He stated that an increasing number of asset issuers and blockchains have further dispersed the liquidity of the tokenization market.

DWF Labs Partner Lingling Jiang agrees that fragmentation remains a challenge, especially when different issuers tokenize the same underlying asset but create separate liquidity pools for each.

However, Jiang indicates that although there is still much work to be done in the industry, the liquidity of cryptocurrencies has significantly improved in recent years.

The adoption of stablecoins depends on daily payments.

In a discussion titled "Stablecoins at Points of Sale: Cards, Wallets, and the Competition for Everyday Consumption," ether.fi founder and CEO Mike Silagadze stated that although stablecoins make cross-border transfers easier, their broader adoption depends on whether consumers can use them for their everyday expenses.

Taking Singapore as an example, Silagadze points out that consumers may hold USDC but still need to pay bills in local currency, highlighting the gap between blockchain payment infrastructure and everyday financial services.

USDD The person in charge of dissemination, Yvonne Chia, stated that if stablecoin issuers consider things from the user's perspective, 'what is most important to you is the user experience.'

Chia said, "This is the direction we want to move forward in: to make it as easy as possible for users to hold and use stablecoins, until they don't even think about using them at all. It should just become a normal part of their lives."

Silagadze said, "The reason why stablecoins are not used in many places is that they are simply not integrated into people's daily lives."

In addition to daily usability, regulatory barriers still exist. FinHarbor, co-founder and CEO of Ilya Podoynitsyn, stated that service providers must comply with different rules in various jurisdictions, which forces them to adjust their infrastructure and compliance systems for each market.

The chief customer officer of the encrypted payment service provider Mercuryo, Ashna Vaghela, stated that stablecoin payments should be as simple as using Apple Pay; users should be able to complete transactions without leaving the application.

Vaghela said, "I think that's the whole point; to become invisible."

At the time of the discussion, the market value of stablecoins was $306 billion, an increase of about 2% compared to the same period last year, and they had grown by about 74% in the previous 12 months.

On-chain transactions face challenges of liquidity fragmentation and risk management.

In a discussion titled "What is Still Missing from the On-Chain Transaction Stack by 2026," participants noted that crypto trading platforms face challenges in identifying available liquidity across blockchain networks and in managing counterparty risks.

DoubleZero, co-founder with Austin Federa, stated that transferring liquidity between different blockchain networks is still more difficult than in traditional financial markets. He said, "Fragmentation is not just an execution issue; it's more of a data problem." He added, "In fact, it's very difficult to figure out exactly how much real liquidity exists on the chains."

In terms of risk management, Arkham Intelligence, the founder and CEO of blockchain analytics company Miguel Morel, stated that trading companies can use on-chain data to assess counterparty risks, especially in predictive markets, as some participants may have an information advantage over others.

Morel said, "If you know who is on the other side and the risk you undertake is smaller, then you can quote a narrower spread." He added that this can bring better prices to customers.

Morel indicates that the same blockchain data can also help exchanges assess customer deposits, determine the source of funds, and make compliance decisions based on that information.

He said, "Without needing a passport, you can tell where these deposits come from." He added that exchanges could use this information to decide whether to allow the use of these deposited funds for trading or to submit them for compliance review.

As the market matures, crypto investors face more difficult exits.

In a discussion titled "The Exit Dilemma: How Investors Can Get Their Money Back," participants noted that liquidity challenges have made it more complicated for crypto risk investors to exit their investments.

The Pulkit Gupta of Nomad Capital indicates that the liquidity in the crypto market has been particularly weak over the past three months, and most of this liquidity has concentrated in larger cryptocurrencies.

Gupta said, "For me, it's really difficult to get out of the altcoin market." This venture capital firm has invested in several crypto projects with publicly traded tokens, including Movement, Solayer, and Berachain.

OneAsset CEO Sonia Shaw responded to the shift in market expectations for a longer-term outlook. She stated that the market has matured, and startups now need to demonstrate stronger business fundamentals. She recalled an investor who expected to exit within six months and said, "I don't think the market is still like that now."

Shaw describes this shift from quick exits to longer-term holdings as a positive sign of market maturity.

Partners Funders VC and Aleksandr Nechaev emphasized that the rapid pace of product and market changes has brought challenges to the industry.

Nechaev said, "The rapidly changing pace makes the founders' professional capabilities and execution skills the core of investment decisions." Later that day, during a pitch competition, the topic of change and how the founding team responds to uncertainty was also mentioned again. This pitch competition was supported by Funders VC.