Welcome to FinTech TV.
I'm on the finance has built an entire ecosystem of trusted partners in banking custody and security to ensure assets are managed reliably.
Now the finance announced that it is soon launching on purpose to allow users outside the US to trade for futures on leading US stocks 24/7.
Joining me here at on the summit in New York City is Armand Khatri, head of ecosystem on the finance.
Armand great to have you here.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Thank you, Remy.
Thank you for Tech.
Well, 2026 is off to quite the start.
So compared to last year's Ono summit, what do you think is different this year?
It's incredible.
Last year we had the dream of launching global markets, our tokenized stocks and ETFs.
We had put blog posts out.
We were probably the first to plant a flag in the ground and say this is something that's coming.
It's going to be the next wave of liquidity and RWAs that go on chain.
But we didn't have the product ready yet, right?
Fast forward a year later, the product is ready.
We're live on Ethereum Maynet, B&B, Solana.
We've seen how these products get adopted by various ecosystems.
We've seen the access that they provided to users who've never had the access to these assets before, and I feel like we're really making.
Waves when it comes to improving the quality and selection of assets that are available on blockchain rails.
So speaking of which, given that we're just starting off 2026 and I'm sure there are a lot of announcements on the horizon, what do you think innovation in this space looks like as we head into the year?
In your intro you mentioned Ando perps, I think that is going to be quite the innovation, because we've seen Perps protocols do really well with crypto native assets, but when they try to do RWA perps, they sort of fall flat.
Perps are still something that I feel like a mass retail audience is.
Familiar with, but maybe doesn't fully understand the benefits of because they're just so inextricably linked to crypto assets.
As they're becoming a little bit more known to be linked with RWAs, I think we could really see the full benefit, once the liquidity is there.
And as retail users trade these and as market makers make these markets, they could fully hedge everything on chain.
So we're going to see much deeper markets and a much better trading experience for RWA perps that just hasn't existed.
So if a user wants to express a 20x long position in a, you know, Fang stock, for instance, there's not going to be a better way to do that except for on chain.
And yeah, so Armand, walk us through this because you gave us that one example, and if we're thinking about markets outside of the US, there are a lot of expectations when it comes to RWAs and even here in the US we think about the major exchanges, the US exchanges getting in on the tokenized asset action.
So tell us about the benefits.
Yeah, I mean the benefits are numerous.
I, I think what we're seeing is this.
Idea of what stablecoins have done for the US dollar, so it starts with that access, we really feel like we could do for securities.
So accessibility is a big thing.
A lot of people say, well, you know, if I want to open up a brokerage account, I have so many options here in the United States, and that's true.
It is as easy as it can be, but that is not the case globally.
And even if it is the case globally, some of these brokerages are still not even optimized for a mobile experience.
Meanwhile, we have crypto rails that have fully transformed how we interact with our devices, and having the ability to purchase assets that are of the quality of, you know, S&P 500 grade.
Right on your mobile device is an innovation in and of itself, but it doesn't really end there.
I think that when it comes to how other tokenized stocks and ETFs have existed in the past, we've seen liquidity models that really too much like geared towards what An on-chain native model would be having pools of offerings, not necessarily having the depth to support size and orders, and we've reversed that.
We said, OK, accessibility is paramount, but liquidity is also key.
If a user wanted to come in and place million dollar trades, they can do that without slippage causing all these fees that shouldn't exist and that don't exist in Tradf.
So we have the same depth of liquidity of Tradify markets on chain, which means that anyone could express how they would want to trade on chain in a way that just hasn't existed prior.
Yes, and for our viewers out there who might not be able to attend this event or are watching from across the world and wondering about the stakeholders who are present, so of course there's DI, there's PratF here, but also policymakers attending.
So give us your take on the regulatory outlook not just in the US but also overseas, and give us your take on what you expect in terms of legislation this year.
Yes, I think there's been a lot of advancements, right?
It's unbelievable.
To think about when I first caught wind of crypto in 2018, a little late to the game, relative to my peers, but still to where we are now, just seven years later, how much has changed, um, not only with this administration, but also globally.
Today we announced that beyond our EU prospectus for global, for tokenized stocks and ETFs, we also have 10 assets that are tradable, um, for all the 30 of those markets, which is incredible.
Yesterday we filed with the SEC.
Uh, to make that much more headway towards having a US offering available for our assets, which some may ask, well, why do you need a US offering when there is, you know, no shortage of brokerage accounts available here.
But things will change.
These on-chain assets in a sense will become much more valuable to the holder because they give them that control, that portability, and they avoid the lock-in of a specific, you know, banking or brokerage ecosystem.
And eventually you'll be able to utilize these assets as collateral, and I think once regulators see how much more flexibility there is and how many more, Um, investor protections we bring on chain with these assets, I think most of them will open their minds and say, what I thought about crypto in the past, it's not quite the same, because these high quality assets are not only equivalent to their, to their Tradify counterparts, right, the unwrapped versions, but they're also giving our, our constituents that much more selection and and choice with how to utilize them.
Yes, and finally, Armand, before I let you go, of course we're paying attention to what comes out of the nation's capital on regulation.
So given that we're just kicking off the year end, there's been a lot of activity at the SEC as well as the CFTC and even the White House.
What are your expectations for a timeline for legislation?
Timeline is tough.
I think that we will continue to.
See positive momentum going into, you know, this year and moving forward.
But what I would like to see and what I get excited about is when I see that bipartisan, um, agreement, uh, just like we had in the last vote for, uh, for, for the Clarity Act here, and I, I just think that more folks are realizing that crypto allows an entirely different.
Class of investor to come on chain and RWAs make the crypto narrative that much stronger because it's that access to these high quality financial products that might have been missing from, from these users' portfolios.
Well, Armand, it was great talking to you here at the Ono summit.
Thank you so much for joining me and thank you so much for sharing all of your insights.
Thank you, Rey.
Thank you.
