ROUNDTABLE: Banks Entering Digital Assets - Stablecoins, Custody & Trading

In 2026, Digital Assets have moved from strategy to execution. Major financial institutions around the globe are actively building Custody, Trading and Payment Infrastructure to address capabilities across various use cases such as Stablecoins, Tokenized Assets, Crypto, and Agentic Finance.
This year at NBC2026, we invite banking and financial executives, decision-makers and operational compliance to a closed-door roundtable with best practice and a view on how institutions are approaching custody, trading and stablecoins.
The Roundtable will address the following challenges that each will be presented by different experts, for then a discussion to share best practice and insights on how to navigate and turn challenges into executable opportunities.

CustodyChoosing the right custody modelHow do you choose the “right” digital asset custody model and make trade-offs impacting: time-to-market, control over infrastructure, operational risk, regulatory oversight, and the institution’s ability to expand into services such as staking, tokenization, or stablecoin-based payments.
Governance vs. operational speedHow do you design custody governance frameworks (multi-approval workflows, whitelisting, transfer limits) that satisfy internal controls and regulators, while still enabling near real-time trading, collateral movement, and treasury operations?

TradingPrincipal trading vs Capital constraintsGiven increasing capital and risk constraints, is principal trading in digital assets actually scalable for banks—or will market structure shift toward agency models?
Settlement risk in hybrid modelsWhen custody is separated from execution (e.g. off-exchange custody with on-exchange trading), how should banks manage counterparty and settlement risk

StablecoinsThe Role of Banks within StablecoinsWhere can banks position themselves and add value in the stablecoin value chain? Possibilities from issuance, reserve management, on-off ramping, custody, payments orchestration, and much more.
Distributions as the bottleneckIs the primary challenge for stablecoins in Europe no longer issuance—but distribution through regulated exchanges, banks, and payment rails? Which use cases (e.g. payments, trading) should banks focus on to foster adoption?

The objective is to provide a candid, peer-level forum to stress-test approaches, share hard-won lessons, and identify practical paths forward.
The discussion will be moderated by Magnus Jones and Jakob Mikkel Hansen from Nordic Blockchain Association and is co-hosted by Ledger Enterprise and Bitvavo.
Due to limited seating, participation is by confirmation only. We welcome all registrations of interest and will confirm selected attendees.
📍 On-site at Nordic Blockchain Conference
📅 Day 1, May 26
⏰ 13:00 CEST