Key Trends in DeFi Highlighted at 2024 Hong Kong SmartCon Conference

According to Odaily, during the 'World On-Chain: The Importance of Interoperability' panel at the 2024 Hong Kong SmartCon conference hosted by Chainlink, SBI Digital Markets CTO Tom Menner discussed significant trends in the development of decentralized finance (DeFi). Menner highlighted two primary trends: a shift from the supply side to the demand side and the opening of doors for traditional funds to enter DeFi through ETFs. He emphasized the importance of structuring DeFi products to meet compliance requirements and user needs as the next step in development. Additionally, Menner pointed out that the success of cross-chain links and digital assets is closely related, with technical issues being persistent but secondary to business concerns. Traditional financial institutions, including SBI, focus more on compliance and regulatory issues, which is why their progress in technical implementation lags behind the DeFi sector. Menner noted that investors are primarily concerned with asset returns and risk assessments, regardless of whether the assets are real-world or digital. Therefore, collaboration with issuers like HSBC to promote instant settlement of digital bonds, including real-world assets and digital native assets, across multiple trading markets, such as Italy, is crucial for improving operational efficiency. However, the differences in jurisdictional regulations for tokenized assets must be considered throughout the interoperability scenario.