Senior leaders from global finance, digital asset infrastructure, and regulatory institutions will gather in Abu Dhabi on May 13, 2026, for the inaugural Digital Assets Forum Abu Dhabi (DAF Abu Dhabi). The event represents a strategic expansion of the established forum series into the Middle East, following its successful third edition in London which attracted nearly 2,000 senior attendees.
The forum is set against the backdrop of rapid institutional momentum across the Gulf region. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has positioned itself as a global leader in digital asset regulation, offering structured licensing regimes, sovereign-backed innovation programs, and a robust ecosystem. This environment has attracted banks, asset managers, and institutional investors who are actively deploying capital and forming strategic partnerships.
"Abu Dhabi is now at the center of a structural shift in global finance, with capital concentration, infrastructure buildout, and global firms relocating headquarters," said Victoria Gago, Co-Founder of Digital Assets Forum. "This forum brings together the decision-makers who are shaping the future of digital finance and turning strategy into action." Gago emphasized that regulatory clarity, as demonstrated in the UAE, is a key driver of institutional engagement.
The speaker lineup features prominent institutional figures, including Christoph Richter (Head of Digital Assets & AI at ADGM), Sebastian Widmann (Head of Dubai at Komainu), Karl Naim (Group Chief Commercial Officer at XBTO Middle East), Yan Ma (Executive Director at Spartan Group), Catrina Wang (General Partner at Portal Ventures), Elliot Andrews (CEO of Aspen Digital), and Rachel Conlan (Global Chief Marketing Officer at Binance).
The agenda for DAF Abu Dhabi is comprehensive, focusing on practical outcomes. Key discussion topics will include UAE digital asset regulation compared to other jurisdictions, institutional portfolio strategies, stablecoins, payments, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), the integration of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) with Traditional Finance (TradFi), real-world asset tokenization (RWA), the state of crypto ETFs, and institutional infrastructure for liquidity, custody, and risk management.
Designed as an executive-level, curated gathering, the forum's primary objective is to facilitate deal-making, capital deployment, and strategic partnership formation. The format will include main-stage panels, closed-door sessions, and dedicated one-to-one meeting areas, with the explicit goal of translating dialogue into tangible agreements and coordinated investment strategies for 2026 and beyond.
