CONNECT Summary: Liquidity is the next challenge of tokenization, everyday stablecoins

Attendees at Cointelegraph's Singapore CONNECT event explored opportunities in tokenized markets, the future of everyday stablecoin payments, and the evolving landscape for cryptocurrency investors.

Tokenized assets are opening up new trading opportunities across financial markets, but the growing supply of real-world assets (RWA) being brought on-chain is still not matching investor demand, according to Alex Taaff, chief revenue officer at cryptocurrency trading firm GSR.

Speaking on the Liquidity and Market Dispersion panel at CONNECT by Cointelegraph: Singapore Edition on October 9, Taaffe said liquidity is improving in pre-IPO stocks, commodities and global stocks that investors previously had limited access to. However, he said the demand for fully tokenized RWAs has not kept pace with the increase in the number of issued assets.

Panelists (l-r): Rayco Tarrida Ortega, Min Teo, Shiliang Tang, Lingling Jiang, Alex Taaffe. Source: Cointelegraph

Cointelegraph brought together founders, investors, and Web3 industry executives for four panel discussions covering tokenization, stablecoin payments, on-chain trading infrastructure, and venture capital exits, along with startup competition.

"Especially in RWAs and fully tokenized assets, there's a supply and demand imbalance. There's a lot of supply. Every asset manager issuer wants to do capital formation on-chain," Taffe said.

He said that the growing number of asset and blockchain issuers has increased the scattered criticism in the token markets

DWF Lab partner Lingling Jiang agreed that fragmentation remains a challenge, especially when different issuers tokenize the same underlying asset but create separate liquidity pools.

However, Jiang said that cryptocurrency liquidity has improved significantly in recent years, even if the industry has more work to do.

Mike Silagadze, founder and CEO of ether.fi, said during the panel "Stablecoins at Point of Sale: Cards, Wallets and the Race for Everyday Spend" that while stablecoins have made it easier to transfer money across borders, wider adoption depends on whether consumers can use them for everyday spending.

Silagadze pointed to Singapore, where consumers may have USDC but still need the local currency to pay bills, highlighting the gap between blockchain payment infrastructure and everyday financial services.

Ivan Chia, head of communications at USDD, said that if a stablecoin issuer takes the user's perspective into account, "the most important thing for you is the user experience."

"That's the way we want to go, to use a stablecoin, to make it as easy as possible for the user to use a stablecoin, to the point where they think they're using a stablecoin. It's just a regular part of their lives," Chia said.

Panelists (l-r): Ciaran Lyons (Director, Cointelegraph), Ilya Podvinitsyn, Ivan Chia, Mike Silagadze, Ashna Vaghla. Source: Cointelegraph

"The reason nobody uses stablecoin in many parts of the world is because it doesn't connect to your everyday life.

Beyond everyday usability, regulatory hurdles remain, said Ilya Podvinitsyn, co-founder and CEO of FinHarbor. He noted that providers must follow rules that vary across jurisdictions, forcing them to adapt their infrastructure and compliance systems to individual markets.

Ashna Vaghela, chief customer officer at crypto payments provider Mercurio, said that stablecoin payments should be as simple as using Apple Pay, with users able to complete transactions without leaving the app.

"I think it's about invisibility," Vaghla said.

The debate came as the stablecoin's market cap hit $306 billion, up about 2 percent year-on-year after growing 74 percent over the past 12 months.

According to the panels on "What's Still Missing in the Onchain Trading Stack in 2026," crypto trading platforms face challenges in identifying liquidity on blockchain networks and managing counterparty risks.

Austin Fedra, co-founder of DoubleZero, said that transferring liquidity between blockchain networks is more difficult than traditional financial markets. He said that "fragmentation is not just an implementation problem, it's like a data problem," adding that "it's actually very hard to know how much liquidity is actually on the chain."

Panelists (l-r): Alice Liu, Franklin Wang, Miguel Morel, Austin Federation, Eunice Guierta. Source: Cointelegraph

On the risk management side, Miguel Morel, founder and CEO of blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, said that trading companies can use on-chain data to assess counterparty risks, especially in prediction markets, where some participants may have an informational advantage over others.

"If you know who the counterparty is and take less risk, you can offer a tighter spread," Morrell said. This could lead to better prices for customers, he added.

The same blockchain data could help exchanges evaluate customer deposits, allowing them to assess where funds originated and inform compliance decisions, Morrell said.

"Without having to ask for a passport, you can find out where these deposits are coming from," Morrell said. He added that exchanges can use this information to determine whether they are authorized to trade with deposited funds or refer them for compliance review.

According to participants in the discussion "The Exit Problem: How Investors Get Their Money Back," liquidity challenges complicate the exit of venture capital investors.

Pulkit Gupta of Nomad Capital said that liquidity in the crypto markets has been particularly weak in the past three months, with most of it concentrated in the larger cryptocurrencies.

"For me, with altcoins, it's been really hard for us to get out," Gupta said. The venture capital firm has backed several crypto projects with publicly traded tokens, including Movement, Solayer and Brachain.

Panelists (from l-r): David Shengart (Director, Cointelegraph), Andre Nebais, Pulkit Gupta, Alexander Nexaev, Sonya Shaw Source: Cointelegraph

Echoing the shift toward longer-term expectations, OneAsset CEO Sonia Shaw said the market had matured and needed startups to demonstrate stronger business fundamentals. "I don't think the market is like this anymore," he said, recalling an investment he expected to exit within six months.

Shaw described the move away from rapid exit as a positive sign of market maturity.

Funders VC partner Alexander Nechaev highlighted the challenges posed by the speed of change for products and markets.

"The rapid pace of change makes the expertise and ability of founders central to investment decisions," Nechaev said. Change and how founding teams manage uncertainty was established later in the day during a pitch event, supported by Funders VC.