Where Markets Meet: Buyside Perspectives on Digital Asset Allocation and Strategy

At Talos's Institutional Day 2025 during Token2049 in Singapore, we convened a panel of leading buyside voices to examine the rapid evolution of digital asset allocation among global institutional investors. Moderated by Rashu Jindel, Sales Director APAC at Talos, the discussion featured:

• ‍Michael Prendiville, Co-Founder & CEO, Jelly C‍
• Darius Sit, Founder & CIO, QCP‍
• Shiliang Tang, Managing Partner, Monarq Asset Management

Across regions and investment mandates, the panelists described a shift from digital assets as an “alternative” to an increasingly necessary component of institutional strategy. Below are the key themes and insights from the session.

Why institutions are allocating now

What changed in the last 18–24 months:

• ETF approvals (BTC and ETH) created legitimacy, liquidity, and clear entry points for U.S. investors.
• Geopolitical catalysts—such as U.S. conversations around strategic Bitcoin reserves—prompted governments and sovereign wealth funds to explore digital assets.
• Regulatory clarity in the US flipped the perception from “career risk to allocate” to “career risk not to allocate.”
• Post-2022 counterparty risk fixes (e.g., off-exchange settlement, institutional custody) rebuilt confidence.

While the US has accelerated, markets like Australia remain gated by pending regulation and the need for recognized benchmarks.

What sophisticated allocators are looking for

Sovereign wealth funds vs. hedge funds:

• Hedge funds focus on onboarding, credit risk, and execution mechanics.
• Sovereigns emphasize regulation, cybersecurity, wallet management, operational controls and infrastructure resilience.

Institutional concerns also include:

• Regulatory uncertainty around DeFi (especially in the US).
• Insurance requirements and advisory permissions (notably in Australia).
• The need for benchmarks to justify allocations and measure performance.

How institutions actually execute their first trade

A few infrastructure elements consistently come up:

• Custody first: The mandate is to protect assets before pursuing returns.
• Institutional-grade providers: Segregated custody, enterprise wallet security, and regulated partners.
• Execution quality: Aggregators and connectivity that mirror traditional market workflows.
• Platform consistency: Institutions want crypto rails to feel like FX or equities—standardized, integrated, and operationally familiar.

What’s next: Predictions for the year ahead

• Michael Prendiville: Growing migration of payments, FX, and real-world assets onto blockchain rails; stablecoins as everyday payment tools.
• Darius Sit: Bitcoin and stablecoins become standard settlement collateral, used broadly across financial markets—not just for speculation.
• Shiliang Tang: A competitive race for user access. Platforms like Robinhood may challenge crypto-native exchanges by offering crypto within a broader, already-trusted trading experience.

Digital assets have moved from the fringes to a strategic allocation category. Institutions are not at the end of this transition; by all accounts, they are still at the beginning.