TOKEN2049 Dubai brought together the biggest names in crypto

As the dust settles on TOKEN2049 Dubai, one emerging narrative is how quickly the US macroeconomic situation is impacting crypto.

With rising interest rates and a strong dollar creating a different environment for institutional capital, several U.S. and European funds are setting up full-fledged operations in Dubai.

They are seeking greater regulatory clarity and operational freedom, which the UAE provides.

This move is fostering a new regional ecosystem with a focus on financial infrastructure, evident in the rapid innovation in trading, lending, and both on-chain and off-chain yield strategies.

“The growth in institutional demand is becoming more measurable, although it’s uneven across different segments,” says Eowyn Chen, CEO of Trust Wallet. “We’re seeing increased volume and experimentation, especially in payments and liquidity provisioning. However, product-market fit is still being developed in certain areas, such as stablecoins and self-custodial wallets.”

“The dual opportunity—both in markets like the UAE and the US—makes this a pivotal moment for building the right regulatory and infrastructure foundations to translate demand into durable volume,” Chen adds.

Institutions’ preferences are significantly different from those of crypto natives. Most transactions are concentrated in BTC and stablecoins, while the proportion of transactions for other cryptocurrencies is significantly lower than the market average. Of course, crypto native institutions are still trying to profit from altcoins. Still, most professional investment institutions view BTC more as a macro asset (i.e., ‘digital gold’) independent of the crypto market and make asset allocations and transactions based on this property.

For altcoins, due to the high liquidity risk, price volatility risk and market manipulation risk, most institutions will avoid holding altcoin exposure, except for market makers.

“We are seeing a shift in narrative from speculative hype to a focus on institutional maturity, regulatory alignment, and long-term infrastructure development,” says Vivien Lin, Chief Product Officer at BingX.

“What truly stood out wasn’t just the announcements, but the convergence of builders, policymakers, and capital in a way that made Dubai feel less like a venue and more like a melting pot for shaping the future of Web3.”

Instead of the usual enthusiasm for the next meme coin, the main conversations were focused on the utility of blockchain technology, the convergence of DeFi and CeFi, and ultimately, which region or entity would take the lead in shaping the global Web3 landscape.