With banks keen to evaluate emerging digital asset solutions, this year’s Money 20/20 Europe was an exciting blend of product and purpose.
In the heart of Amsterdam’s thriving fintech scene, Money20/20 Europe 2025 delivered a bold vision of the future. Over three days in June, industry leaders, investors, regulators, and technologists gathered to debate the next phase of financial evolution. This year, digital assets, blockchain, and crypto dominated discussions, highlighting the sector’s acceleration in the institutional adoption of new approaches, despite the ongoing regulatory uncertainty.
Achieving momentum
One of the most striking themes at this year’s conference was the growing embrace of blockchain solutions by traditional financial institutions. The long-perceived divide between legacy banking and decentralised finance is clearly closing.
Speaking at the event, Benoît Cœuré, head of the BIS Innovation Hub, emphasised that “the time has come for a digital capital market revolution.”
Cœuré’s remarks underscored the importance of tokenised assets and real-time settlement mechanisms, a sentiment echoed across panel discussions. While blockchain has long been hailed as a disruptor, its role in modernising capital markets is now being viewed as a necessity, not just an alternative.
This shift was evident in new strategic collaborations announced during the conference.
BCB Group’s partnership with SG Forge, the digital assets division of Société Générale, was one example of this. Equally notable was Kraken’s newly forged alliance with Ivy, which seeks to enhance blockchain-based financial services.
According to Kraken’s CEO, “Partnerships like this are essential to building robust, scalable frameworks for digital finance.” The exchange’s move signals growing confidence in blockchain’s ability to provide real-world solutions beyond speculative trading.
Finding frameworks
Regulation was, predictably, one of the most heavily debated topics this year’s event. As the industry matures, clear and consistent regulatory frameworks are urgently needed to ensure sustainable growth.
During a high-profile panel discussion behind closed doors, European policymakers debated the implementation of MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) and its impact on stablecoins and crypto exchanges.
The digital assets roundtable was one in a series of themed discussions laid on by the event hosts and included participants from the Bank of England, Bank of Finland, Banque de France, Citi, the Financial Conduct Authority, SWIFT, VISA and the UK government.
While industry leaders have broadly welcomed the European regulatory approach, viewing it as an essential step to integrating digital assets into the traditional finance economy, others have more recently raised concerns about the potential rigidity of the rules.
In a separate session, a representative from the European Central Bank noted that it was important to find the right balance, enough oversight to protect consumers, but not so restrictive that it stifles innovation.
The conversation again highlighted the ongoing struggle between fostering innovation and enforcing compliance. This theme was also evidence at the conference’s sister event in Bangkok two months earlier.
Back in Amsterdam, the stages offered an opportunity for a variety of digital asset experts to express their optimism that European policy was still well placed to set the global precedent.
Investor sentiment
While optimism about digital assets was high, investor sentiment remained tempered by broader macroeconomic concerns.
The Global Head of Capital Markets of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Michael Harris, explained how investors are adjusting their growth projections due to fluctuating economic conditions.
“We are seeing a shift in how investors are thinking about growth projects in the US, but also in Europe,” he said, noting that US investors were now looking at organisations’ valuations in a more complex way that in years gone by, and giving consideration to partnership deals that such companies may have in place.
For digital asset fintechs, this sentiment reflects the delicate balance investors are weighing up between their enthusiasm for blockchain advancements and the realities of global market volatility.
Despite that, Harris noted that legacy finance firms were increasingly investing in their own tech stack to defend their market positions against fintech challengers coming to market.
“You are definitely seeing the banks trying to respond,” he said. “They are investing billions in IT spend, and a lot of that response is trying to address legacy systems.”
Another investment theme addressed at Money 20/20 related to later-stage funding scarcity. As some European fintech startups have struggled to secure Series C and D rounds, industry leaders warned that tighter capital flows could slow innovation.
David Jarvis, chief executive of the UK licenced bank, Griffin, said Europe needs to get better at funding companies in the later stage of their growth cycle.
“We need more capital coming in,” he said. “The early stage capital in Europe is quite good now. You have good Tier 1 European investors and good Tier 1 American investors. Where things start to break down a bit are in Series B, Series C and D. That’s where you start to run out of options in Europe.”
Jarvis explained that in addition to a lack of capital, European investors were often too rigid with the parameters that guide where they place their investments.
“Within Europe, investors are often hyper constrictive with their LPs,” he said. “That can mean that a business then dies, even though it should have been funded.”
He said that these restrictions can manifest as strict rules relating to the turnover of the companies that investors are willing to entertain, even when the size of a company’s turnover is just outside their preferred investment size.
Accelerated M&A
Among the announcements during Money20/20 was the final confirmation that Robinhood had completed its long anticipated acquisition of Bitstamp. This move was indicative of the growing trend toward consolidation in the crypto exchange space.
Although digital assets dominated the agenda, broader fintech themes also emerged. Discussions on embedded intelligence and AI-driven financial services captivated audiences, with experts predicting a future where money “thinks for itself.”
One panel explored how AI can enhance fraud prevention and financial decision-making. Banks and fintech firms are increasingly relying on machine learning to detect irregularities in transactions, reducing fraudulent activity and improving consumer confidence.
Embedded finance—where financial services are seamlessly integrated into non-financial platforms—was another major theme. Industry experts stressed the growing role of Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), allowing fintech companies and traditional institutions to collaborate on innovative digital solutions.
Move to integration
Money20/20 Europe 2025 solidified a key narrative: the financial industry is no longer debating whether digital assets will play a central role—it’s deciding how to integrate them effectively.
With blockchain moving from experimental to essential, institutional partnerships growing stronger, and regulation taking shape, the digital finance revolution is well underway. Yet, challenges remain—funding constraints, market recalibrations, and regulatory roadblocks must be navigated carefully.
As Europe continues to set the pace for financial innovation, the insights from Money20/20 will shape not only the trajectory of digital assets but the very foundation of future financial systems.
