Written by Brian McGleenon, Global Head of News
Happy Saturday one and all,
Brian here.
Standing on the Master Stage at Paris Blockchain Week 2026, I looked out at a crowd that represented the ultimate convergence of two worlds, the incumbents of traditional finance and the insurgents and innovators from the crypto space.
Six years into this event’s history, the distinction between "crypto" and "finance" has almost entirely dissolved. We have to wonder if we even need to use the words "crypto" or "blockchain" anymore, as they are rapidly receding into the background, becoming the invisible scaffolding of our economy just as TCP/IP and SMTP became the unnoticed protocols that power the internet we use every day.
I have seen many industry cycles, but this year felt like a definitive turning point where infrastructure, regulation, and capital finally aligned.
The week began with a vivid reminder of why we are here. I joined hundreds of executives and builders at the Palace of Versailles for the opening VIP dinner. It was a surreal moment, walking through the Hall of Mirrors to discuss decentralized protocols in a palace built on the sovereign debt of a bygone era. I had the pleasure of catching up with Adam Back, the CEO of Blockstream, who pointed out the irony of the setting. Versailles was famously the backdrop for John Law’s failed paper money experiment in the 18th century. Discussing a system built on cryptographic immutability and hard supply limits in the very halls where fiat once collapsed was a powerful contrast that set the tone for the entire week.
The official proceedings on the second day of the conference were opened by Jean-Didier Berger, France's Minister Delegate of the Interior, and Michael Amar, Chairman of PBW. Their presence signaled that the French state now views blockchain not as a novelty, but as a pillar of national security and economic strategy.
Throughout the event, I moderated several key fireside chats that dug into the technical reality of this shift. On the Master Stage, I spoke with Ben Zhou, Co-founder and CEO of Bybit, about the rise of "Agentic Finance." We explored a future where the traditional user interface disappears, replaced by AI agents that navigate liquidity and execute strategies autonomously. In this paradigm, exchanges like Bybit are becoming the high-velocity infrastructure that the world's largest banks must inevitably plug into.
I also spent significant time with Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, CEO of Bitpanda, discussing Europe’s unique position under MiCA. It was fascinating to hear how Bitpanda has transitioned from a retail broker into a primary regulatory safety net for Tier-1 banks like Société Générale. We moved beyond the old "crypto vs. bank" narrative to discuss how compliance has become a competitive moat, allowing traditional capital to merge seamlessly with decentralized liquidity. Additionally, at the RippleX Roadshow, I moderated a session with Markus Infanger on the evolution of financial rails. We discussed how legacy finance is actively fighting the clock in a 24/7 economy, and why blockchain is the only plumbing capable of supporting the high-velocity demands of tokenized equities and money market funds.
Beyond the main stage, I had the opportunity to conduct in-depth interviews with a wide range of leaders who are driving this adoption forward. I spoke with Jody Mettler of BitGo about the future of qualified custody, Andranik Mnatsakanyan from Visa regarding stablecoin payment rails in Europe, and Ouriel Ohayon of Zengo just as their acquisition by eToro was announced. Every conversation pointed back to the same reality: institutional adoption is no longer a goal; it is the current operating environment. All of these insights are feeding directly into our upcoming BeInCrypto x Proof of Talk Institutional 100 Awards at the Louvre this June, where we will officially recognize the people and platforms making this transition possible.
So, I am left with the conclusion (for now), that as BlackRock and its peers descend upon the space, a lingering fear still persists that Wall Street might somehow dilute the ethos of Satoshi’s white paper. However, during my time in Paris, a more compelling counter-narrative has emerged: BlackRock won't change Bitcoin; Bitcoin will change BlackRock. Rather than the incumbents co-opting the technology, the immutable principles of decentralized finance are beginning to rewrite the DNA of traditional finance itself.
BeInCrypto Podcast of the Week
In this week's episode of the BeInCrypto Expert Council podcast, I was joined by the legendary Adam Back to explore why the world’s largest financial entities have finally succumbed to the logic of Bitcoin’s game theory.
Building on our conversations in Paris, we sat down to discuss the compelling case for institutional finance to allocate capital into Bitcoin and blockchain infrastructure. Adam shared his perspective on the true purpose of Satoshi Nakamoto and why this mysterious figure remains, and likely always will remain, anonymous.
We also reflected on the historical transition from the "paper money" failures of Versailles to a modern global economy built on cryptographic proof, and how Blockstream has been leading the charge in building the high-speed rails for this new financial order.
Watch this video
Stay safe out there,
Brian McGleenon,
Global Head of News, BeInCrypto
https://advertise.beincrypto.com/
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