26 Aug 2026 Anthony Lehrman
DGFI 2026: Inside the New Financial System Taking Shape
The transformation of finance is increasingly about market structure rather than individual technologies. Tokenization is a clear example: turning an asset into a digital token matters only if that asset can be issued within a credible legal framework, held securely, transferred efficiently and supported by enough liquidity to create an actual market. The same logic applies to DeFi. Its next stage is less about building an alternative financial system outside traditional institutions and more about identifying which elements of programmable finance automated settlement, collateral management, on-chain liquidity, and continuous markets can function within regulated financial infrastructure. This is why the conversation has moved beyond whether blockchain can represent an asset or execute a transaction. The more important questions now concern ownership, liquidity, custody, interoperability and institutional access - the conditions required for digital markets to move from experimentation into scalable financial infrastructure. These questions sit directly behind DGFI 2026 sessions including Turning Assets into Markets: What Actually Works?, Liquidity in the New Financial System: What’s Missing? and DeFi: From Experimentation to Financial Infrastructure.
Stablecoins, Payments and the Infrastructure Behind Money
The same shift is taking place in payments. Stablecoins increasingly matter not simply because they are digital assets, but because they challenge assumptions about how money can be issued, transferred and settled. Their potential is strongest where traditional payment infrastructure remains slow, fragmented or expensive, particularly in cross-border transactions but institutional adoption depends on questions of reserves, redemption, supervision and integration with banks and existing payment rails. At the same time, instant payments and open finance are reducing friction inside the traditional system itself. Georgia is already developing this infrastructure: the National Bank’s fintech strategy prioritizes open finance, instant payments and modern payment architecture, while its upgraded RTGS system and broader payment modernization program are designed to support faster and more interoperable financial services. The result is not a simple competition between “traditional” and “digital” finance. It is a convergence in which banks, fintechs, stablecoin issuers, payment networks and infrastructure providers increasingly compete and cooperate-over the same fundamental question: who can move value faster, more efficiently and with the right level of trust and control?
Why Tbilisi Matters
Against this background, Tbilisi is more than the physical location of the conference. Georgia is actively positioning financial technology as part of its broader economic infrastructure, with the National Bank’s strategy explicitly linking open finance, regulatory experimentation, instant payments and other foundational projects to the development of a more competitive fintech ecosystem. The regulator has also articulated an ambition to strengthen Georgia’s role as a regional fintech hub, giving Tbilisi a natural position in conversations connecting the Caucasus and Central Asia. What makes the city relevant is therefore not an attempt to compete with established global financial capitals on scale; it is its position within a region where financial systems are still evolving quickly enough for regulation, infrastructure and market design to be shaped in parallel. That creates an environment where banks, regulators, fintech companies, investors and digital-asset businesses are not simply observing global financial change — they have an opportunity to determine how those changes are adapted to the realities of their own markets.
DGFI as the Meeting Point of Emerging Financial Systems
This is where DGFI 2026 has a distinct role. Tokenization, stablecoins, payments, DeFi, banking, regulation and capital allocation are often discussed as separate industries; in practice, they are becoming increasingly dependent on one another. Tokenized assets require liquidity and regulated distribution. Stablecoins require payment access and credible reserve frameworks. DeFi requires institutional-grade custody, compliance and connections to real-world capital. Banks need to understand which new infrastructure complements their existing role, while investors need to identify where genuine economic value is being created rather than where technology is simply generating attention. DGFI brings these questions into one two-day conversation between financial institutions, regulators, investors, fintech and payment companies, infrastructure providers and digital-asset leaders. Taking place on 30–31 October 2026 at Pullman Tbilisi, Axis Towers, the conference is built around a practical question that increasingly defines the region’s financial future: not which technology comes next, but which parts of the new financial system can actually be regulated, financed, connected and scaled.
DGFI 2026: https://www.dgfi.io/conference/dgfi-2026
Tickets: https://tkt.ge/event/505399/dgfi-2026-digital-finance-conference
