Steve Vallas

Chief Executive Officer

Blockchain APAC

Driving strategic growth and regulatory clarity within the digital asset sector is the core focus of Steve Vallas, CEO of Blockchain APAC. With a background as a qualified lawyer and management strategist, Steve guides enterprises through the evolving blockchain landscape. His leadership extends to key roles as APAC Policy Advisor for the GBBC and Director at the Association for Women in Cryptocurrency, reflecting a commitment to global industry development.

Steve’s influence extends globally, with a proven track record of shaping policy and fostering robust regulatory frameworks across key international markets. In Australia, he engages with bodies such as ASIC, Treasury and the RBA, while internationally his work has included meetings, roundtables, events and speaking roles in the US, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE. This involves direct engagement with leading international authorities and partnerships with diverse global organisations. His deep cross-jurisdictional experience is critical for navigating a rapidly changing global environment.

His unique perspective, cultivated through lifelong economic study and early adoption of emerging technologies, enables him to translate complex blockchain concepts into actionable strategies, ensuring innovation is responsibly integrated into the global economy. Steve remains dedicated to advancing a clear and sustainable future for digital assets.

Speaking at

2:00–3:30pmWed 24 JunGFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 3, Ground FloorOpenModerator
Blueprint for Digital Assets

Digital Money Meets Traditional Finance: Treasury, Cash Management, and Liquidity

GFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 3, Ground FloorOpenModerator
About this session

Stablecoins have crossed $300 billion in circulation. Tokenized deposits are live at various global banks. Yet for all the headline numbers, the hard question remains unanswered: how do programmable money instruments actually integrate with the treasury operations, correspondent banking relationships, and payments infrastructure that keep traditional finance running?
This session convenes senior practitioners from banks, corporates, and digital asset firms to examine the real friction points - legal, operational, and technical - where digital money collides with TradFi plumbing, and where the integration is showing progress. Participants will discuss strategies to scale the integration of digital assets within traditional operations, including updating risk management frameworks, adhering to regulatory requirements, and architecting interoperability across systems.
12:00–1:30pmThu 25 JunGFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 2, Ground FloorOpen
Blueprint for Digital Assets

Building a Practitioner's Guide for Tokenization in Finance: Working Group Members Convening

GFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 2, Ground FloorOpen
About this session

The problems that constrain tokenization at scale do not belong to one working group, one institution, or one regulatory perimeter. Cross-ledger settlement, stablecoin licensing fragmentation, FMI readiness in developing markets, and the legal enforceability of smart contracts are structurally connected with each a precondition for the next, each requiring actors across infrastructure and regulation to work from the same evidence base.
This session brings both working groups together for the first time in person. Working Group 1 (Interoperability and Infrastructure) and Working Group 2 (Regulation, Trust, and Governance) will each present their problem statements before presenting to the Oversight Panel. The purpose is to establish shared understanding of the initiative's full scope, test framing with peers who approach the same challenges from different vantage points, and sharpen the asks that each working group will direct to the Oversight Panel in the session that follows.
About the initiative
GFTN has launched _Tokenization in Finance: Evidence and Implementation Pathways_, a structured, multi-stakeholder initiative convening two working groups drawn from leading financial institutions, infrastructure providers, and market participants to assemble a practitioner-oriented evidence base spanning spanning digital money and payment rails through to tokenized real-world assets, securities, funds, and capital markets infrastructure. At Singapore FinTech Festival in November 2026, the initiative will publish a practitioner guide designed to give financial institutions a structured basis for sequencing their digital asset strategies, and to equip regulators and finance ministries in emerging and developing economies with implementation pathways they can draw on directly.
2:00–3:30pmThu 25 JunGFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 2, Ground FloorOpen
Blueprint for Digital Assets

Building a Practitioner's Guide for Tokenization in Finance: Oversight Panel Convening

GFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 2, Ground FloorOpen
About this session

Tokenization is reshaping financial infrastructure across many economies. The decisions that are being made now on architecture, standards and governance will determine whether that infrastructure serves developed and emerging and developing economies, or leaves some behind. Ensuring that outcome requires senior public sector voices at the centre of these conversations.
This session brings both working groups and the public sector Oversight Panel together for the first time. Working group leads will present their confirmed problem statements on what the evidence shows, and receive feedback and recommendations that working groups will pursue to build the practitioner's guide that will publish at Singapore FinTech Festival in November 2026.
About the initiative
GFTN is launching _Tokenization in Finance: Evidence and Implementation Pathways_, a structured, multi-stakeholder initiative convening two working groups drawn from leading financial institutions, infrastructure providers, and market participants to assemble a practitioner-oriented evidence base spanning spanning digital money and payment rails through to tokenized real-world assets, securities, funds, and capital markets infrastructure. At Singapore FinTech Festival in November 2026, the initiative will publish a practitioner guide designed to give financial institutions a structured basis for sequencing their digital asset strategies, and to equip regulators and finance ministries in emerging and developing economies with implementation pathways they can draw on directly.

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Hosted by

Steve Vallas

Speaking at

Digital Money Meets Traditional Finance: Treasury, Cash Management, and Liquidity

Building a Practitioner's Guide for Tokenization in Finance: Working Group Members Convening

Building a Practitioner's Guide for Tokenization in Finance: Oversight Panel Convening