Deng Chao, CEO of HashKey Capital, stated at the Bitcoin Asia 2026 conference in Hong Kong that the digital asset industry is shifting from its crypto-native and institutional phases into a new stage: the “capital markets era”.

According to Deng Chao, this new phase has three main characteristics: tokenized securities, 24/7 payments (24/7 settlement), and global distribution. He argued that the next generation of financial infrastructure will be built around round-the-clock markets, programmable on-chain settlement, and global liquidity networks.

The foundation for this view is the success of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. According to Deng Chao, integrating digital assets into familiar traditional financial products and infrastructure is the key to attracting capital from major distribution channels such as RIAs (registered investment advisors), private banks, and other institutions.

In other words, the CEO’s argument is that in crypto’s early phase, participants were primarily the crypto-native community; in the subsequent phase, institutions began to participate. However, the current and future phases are no longer just about “institutional participation,” but rather crypto itself being packaged into standardized capital market products, competing directly within traditional financial frameworks.

Two points make this perspective more noteworthy than a typical conference remark:

  • First, it comes from an Asian investment fund rather than Western funds, which dominated the early ETF narrative. HashKey Capital is one of the most active crypto funds in Asia, headquartered in Hong Kong, and its CEO’s focus on capital market infrastructure highlights an industry-wide consensus on the next growth path: not novel technology, but distribution and settlement infrastructure.

  • Second, this assessment coincides with several recent market signals: continuous inflows into U.S. Bitcoin ETFs (with August 26 alone attracting a net $232 million), major retail brokerages like Charles Schwab expanding their crypto offerings, and Bitcoin surpassing the $80,000 mark. The “capital markets era” accurately describes a phase where institutional capital, rather than the crypto community, serves as the primary market driver.

Of course, this remains the strategic perspective of an investment fund rather than definitive data. Yet when both the West and Asia point in the same direction, it signals where crypto is headed over the next few years.