TOKEN2049 Singapore Day 1: Major Announcements Shape Crypto's Next Chapter

The opening day of TOKEN2049 Singapore, Wednesday, delivered a flurry of major announcements that signal where the crypto industry is headed, from institutional infrastructure breakthroughs to regulatory milestones and next-generation financial products.

Institutional Infrastructure Takes Center Stage

The event saw significant moves in tokenized asset infrastructure, with Alpaca launching its Instant Tokenization Network (ITN) — an open, token-agnostic platform that enables institutions to mint and redeem U.S. stocks into tokenized counterparts 24/7.

The network debuts with heavyweight partners including Backed, Ondo Finance, Dinari, and DRW, using Solana as its settlement chain. By eliminating settlement delays and bridging liquidity between traditional and tokenized markets, ITN positions itself to serve what industry projections estimate will be a $10 trillion tokenized market by 2030.

On the Bitcoin front, Citrea offered journalists an early look at its upcoming mainnet launch, which the Bitcoin community anticipates will drive substantial inflows to the network. The project aims to unlock deep Bitcoin liquidity while generating new revenue streams for miners, potentially reshaping the Bitcoin Network's economics.

Capital Deployment and Strategic Investments

Arthur Hayes' family office Maelstrom announced Maelstrom Equity, its first private equity division accepting outside institutional capital. The new arm will pursue controlling and minority stakes in crypto and crypto-adjacent companies, targeting transformational growth opportunities and liquidity-challenged firms. This represents a strategic expansion beyond venture capital into buyouts and growth equity as the sector matures.

Meanwhile, MEXC Ventures revealed its second strategic investment in ENA, Ethena's governance token, bringing its total commitment to $30 million. Combined with previous investments in Ethena and $20 million in USDe purchases, MEXC's total exposure to the Ethena ecosystem now stands at $66 million.

Payments and Privacy Innovation

Celo made two significant announcements that extend its reach in both consumer and enterprise markets. The Ethereum Layer 2 went live with XAUt0, the omnichain deployment of Tether Gold, bringing tokenized gold to its ecosystem of users across 150+ countries. This joins native USDT on Celo, which recently surpassed 6 million unique holders.

More notably, Celo became the first payments-focused blockchain to deploy Nightfall, EY's open-source zero-knowledge privacy layer, as a Layer 3 solution. The deployment opens doors to enterprise B2B payments — a sector with over $180 trillion in projected cross-border flows — by enabling private, auditable transactions using zero-knowledge proofs at a fraction of conventional costs.

Brand Evolution and Hardware Security

KuCoin unveiled a refreshed brand identity centered on "Trust First. Trade Next," marking its evolution from "the crypto exchange for everyone" to "the crypto partner you can trust." The rebranding emphasizes security, transparency, and user empowerment amid continued market volatility.

On the hardware front, Digital Shield officially launched Digital Shield Pro at the conference, featuring CC EAL6+ secure element certification and air-gapped QR signing. The wallet supports 12+ blockchains and 5,000+ tokens, with dual transmission capabilities and a focus on full lifecycle key protection.

DeFi Meets Traditional Finance

Hypersurface brought covered calls fully on-chain with the launch of HyperEVM, democratizing access to a strategy that moves billions monthly in traditional markets but has remained largely OTC in crypto. Users can now earn yields on ETH, BTC, HYPE, and other holdings with transparent, customizable strike prices and upfront stablecoin premiums — a stark contrast to opaque vault products.

KuMining, KuCoin's cloud mining platform, also made its official debut under the banner "Simple Mining, Smart Gains," aiming to democratize industrial-scale mining with transparent, verifiable hashrate access.

Regulatory Leadership from Southeast Asia

CFX, Indonesia's first licensed crypto exchange, showcased how its "Three-Pillar" market structure — comprising a dedicated clearing house and custodian under OJK supervision — has driven rapid growth to 16.5 million registered investors. The framework demonstrates how collaborative regulation can fuel innovation, positioning Indonesia as a potential leader in the next wave of crypto development spanning stablecoins to tokenized real-world assets.

As TOKEN2049 continues Thursday. Stay tuned for updates.