On 23 Nov, 2022, the Antalpha group, a digital asset platform for institutional partners, held a digital asset conference in Hong Kong. This conference, which gathered over 40 industry leaders from industry giants including Animoca Brands, BC Group, Riot Blockchain, S&P Dow Jones Indices and with audience members spanning across private wealth, investment banking and asset management, was held to explore the opportunities in digital assets investment amid the inflationary environment.

The digital asset market has been going through ups and downs in 2022, despite the recent turbulence in the market, many jurisdictions are still increasing adoption towards institutionalised digital assets, and Hong Kong has pledged to position itself as the digital asset hub. “The digital asset market is still in its emergent stages and we see huge potential in its development. The current market is a key opportunity for investors to tap into the potential growth,” said Max Liao, Managing Director of Business Development from Antalpha during his speech.

“The recent chaos in the digital asset market does remind us that we still have a long way to go until digital assets could become mainstream. However, looking back to the time when we are first introduced to the internet, the bubble burst soon after it booms, but you can see how dependent we are on the internet nowadays.” Jake Chan, Managing Partner from alternative investment platform Altive shared his view on the topic. Another speaker of the event, Sharon Liebowitz, Head of Innovation at S&P Dow Jones Indices said,  “Digital assets are an emerging asset class with over US$1 trillion market capitalization, according to Lukka as of November 4, 2022. As market interest continues to grow, S&P Dow Jones Indices aims to bring greater transparency to this rapidly evolving market segment and provide market participants with multiple perspectives through our index solutions.”

A panel discussion with Josh Du from Animoca Brands, Dave Chapman from BC Group, Jason Chung from Riot Blockchain, Max Liao from Antalpha and Jake Chan from Altive, went further in discussing the trust and credibility issue and the opportunities amid the recent turbulence in the digital asset market.

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“I believe the recent market turbulence will be short lived. FTX was a specific failure due to the lack of corporate governance, and not related at all to the technology of blockchain or the digital asset ecosystem. I’m very confident the industry will rebound given the increased technological adoption as well as improved regulation going forward.” Josh Du, Head of Digital Assets Portfolio from Animoca Brands shared at the panel.

“The FTX collapse crushed investor’s trust, however, I believe many participants will now start to recognize the regulatory space of digital assets. With regulatory support and the right incentive in place, I’m confident the market will return bullish with many opportunities that will emerge sooner than most appreciate.” Dave Chapman, Executive Director of BC Group shared.

“Although the digital asset mining market is cyclical, the long-term potential as a leveraged way to invest into digital assets remains strong. Our key focus in the meantime has been managing our balance sheet to ensure that we have enough liquidity to continue to grow during bear markets, in order to be well positioned to benefit when the cycle turns back in favor.” said Jason Chung, Head of Corporate Development and Strategy, Riot Blockchain.