The institutions are here. (in image: Victoria Gago) | Credit: Veronica Cestari for CCN.
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Key Takeaways
Institutional adoption of crypto and blockchain tech was in focus at the European Blockchain Convention 2025.
Stablecoins are likely to be the dominant trend throughout 2026.
European entities are taking a “step-by-step” approach to adoption compared to their U.S. counterparts.
On October 16 and 17, I attended the European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona, Spain.
This year, the big topics were the institutions, stablecoins, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and digital asset custody.
There was a palpable buzz of genuine excitement as young venture capitalists from Canada, startups from Asia, and European firms of all shapes and sizes gathered to learn, engage, and negotiate.
During the final hours of day 2, I sat down with EBC co-founder, the brilliant Victoria Gago, to see what makes this year’s event special, and what trends we can expect to see in the coming years.
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The EBC is one of the continent’s longest-running blockchain conventions, with this year’s being its eleventh, explains Gago.
Attendance has grown significantly, up around 20% from the year prior, with around 5,100 attendees this year, and it’s seen a notable uptick from the institutional crowd, “both crypto native and TradFi,” she adds.
European Blockchain Convention 2025 | Credit: Eddie Mitchell.
Looking back to the crowds that gathered at their first event in 2018, she notes that most attendees were enthusiasts. Whilst there were four central banks in attendance, most were talking about the tech, not crypto.
But it’s different now that the industry has evolved to this point, “there’s actually real business being done,” she adds.
Gago posits that it’s important because when you talk about innovation, crypto, and digital assets, conventions need to do more than offer inspiring TED Talks: “We need to have proper business done.”
Institutional Trends
At the top of the trending list for institutions are stablecoins, Gago explains.
However, this goes beyond crypto trading, and it’s about payments, “even outside of crypto,” which she thinks is “super exciting.”
Victoria Gago and Eddie in discussion. | Credit: Eddie Mitchell
She predicts that in around five years, most, if not all, financial instruments are going to be tokenized.
Gago adds that there’s also been plenty of conversation around Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs), and whilst it appears to be a U.S.-centric phenomenon, the DAT trend has landed in Europe, though they are off to a slow start in comparison.
Gago highlights that it’s quite hard to replicate Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin-acquisition playbook completely, “I think he’s a genius,” but Europe is “a bit more, you know, ‘chill’ when it comes to having these treasuries. But I think we’ll see more.”
Stablecoins
At present, the stablecoin market comprises $315.9 billion, and of course, it’s dominated by U.S. dollar-pegged tokens.
Euro-pegged stablecoins represent just $642 million of that figure, despite EU regulations now providing issuers with adequate guidelines, EUR stablecoins aren’t gaining any real traction.
Market liquidity depends heavily on Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, the latter of which has been granted a license under MiCA to issue tokens in Europe.
But things are changing.
Gago highlights that recently, nine European banks joined forces to launch their own MiCA-compliant EUR stablecoin, suggesting that next year, the market landscape could be completely different.
Victoria Gago. | Credit: EBC.
Unlike the U.S., which has outright banned central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), Gago is confident that the European Central Bank’s CBDC plans will move forward, and in fact, there’s plenty of room for it.
She notes that some of the EBC speakers are in conversations with European banks and are collaborating in different working groups.
“So, I don’t think it’s going to be just, you know, one stablecoin and no CBDCs, it’s going to be all together.”
It’s unlikely that European banks will compromise with the U.S. and adopt their stablecoins over European ones, at least not to begin with, she notes.
Building Blocks
There’s still plenty of work to do before crypto and blockchain go mainstream in Europe, according to Gago.
“The broader asset management community is not investing in crypto, or even ETFs.”
Whilst the institutional part of blockchain and crypto is evolving with major players like Standard Chartered making huge plays in the space, there’s still a lot to be done to give European asset managers greater exposure to crypto.
“But I think in maybe 5-10 years, it’s going to be a normal exposure everywhere,” Gago opined.
There are lots of missing pieces, she adds, like infrastructure; the tech isn’t that simple to use yet.
She reflects on bonds being issued over Ethereum in 2019, and yet, there are still missing pieces needed to connect different types of infrastructure.
“Going back to the institutional side, how do you want them to connect? Are you going to build something completely new? Or can it be based on their existing systems? This is also missing, but things are evolving.”
Next Up
Gago is also the co-founder of the Digital Assets Forum (DAF), another blockchain convention with a deeper financial focus.
They’ll be hosting their third edition in London on February 5-6, 2026, and their first-ever DAF in Abu Dhabi on May 1, 2026.
“Our London event is pure future finance, basically. More of a TradFi vibe.”
It’ll cover a lot of the important topics covered at EBC 11, she adds. Similarly, the Abu Dhabi event will be finance-focused, “they promote themselves as the capital of capital,” Gago rightly remarks.
She admits she’s a little nervous for the first event, but she’s excited to connect with a new ecosystem.
“There is a lot of desire to build new financial systems using crypto, AI. They’re so futuristic. Not like Europe, we’re a bit step-by-step.”
Looking even further ahead, Gago reveals that she has eyes on a New York conference, but that comes a little later down the road.
Eddie is a gaming and crypto writer at CCN. Covering the often weird and wonderful world of Web3 with an adoring, but skeptical eye.
Prior to CCN, Eddie has spent the past seven years working his way through the crypto, finance, and technology industry. He began with PR and journalism with Bitcoin PR Buzz and BitcoinNews.com, eventually working his way to become a copywriter with a dozen firms, including the likes of Polkadot before returning to journalism in 2023.
Having studied Radio production and journalism at University in the UK, Eddie spent a few years making podcasts and presenting on a local London radio station as he built up his writing chops.
A lifelong skateboarder, Eddie can often be found at the skatepark or touring the streets looking for something new to try. That, or kicking back playing JRPGs on his original PSP.
