The Genius Act ripple effect: Sui executives say institutional demand has never been higher

Finance Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email The Genius Act ripple effect: Sui executives say institutional demand has never been higher Evan Cheng and Stephen Mackintosh said 2025 marked a turning point for institutional adoption, with tokenization and agentic commerce emerging as the next frontier. By Jamie Crawley , AI Boost Feb 14, 2026, 6:00 p.m. Make us preferred on Google Stephen Mackintosh, chief investment officer of Sui Group Holdings, and Evan Cheng, CEO of Mysten Labs at Consensus Hong Kong 2026 (CoinDesk) What to know : Executives cited ETF flows, DAT growth and major trading firms entering crypto. Tokenization and instant settlement could blur the line between traditional and decentralized markets. Low-latency design and composable tooling aim to power AI-driven and tokenized financial use cases. Institutional interest in crypto is accelerating even as markets fluctuate, according to Sui executives at Consensus Hong Kong 2026 . Stephen Mackintosh, chief investment officer of Sui Group Holdings, called 2025 a “landmark year for institutional adoption,” pointing to the boom in digital asset treasury (DAT) vehicles and the success of spot bitcoin ETFs. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . “Post the Genius Act, we’ve seen so much more institutional demand and awareness for what the promise of crypto could deliver,” he said, particularly around tokenization and stablecoins. While sentiment has fluctuated, Mackintosh argued the structural shift is clear. “The market, despite all of the sentiment being low, has never been greater,” he said, citing record options volumes and the entrance of major firms such as Citadel and Jane Street into crypto markets. He described a long-term trend in which “the biggest institutions in finance in the world” are investing in infrastructure and talent to capture market share. Mysten Labs CEO Evan Cheng framed the next phase as convergence rather than competition between traditional finance and decentralized finance. In his view, TradFi products often operate on “T+1 or T+whatever,” while DeFi is “T+0”—a “strictly better product” in settlement terms. The convergence, he suggested, will emerge through tokenization. “You acquire [an asset] and immediately you can collateralize and borrow against it,” Cheng said, enabling DeFi strategies layered on traditional exposure. On whether ETFs compete with DeFi, Cheng said products will evolve. Institutional on-ramps may begin conservatively but could incorporate yield or other on-chain mechanics over time. Both executives emphasized infrastructure as Sui’s differentiator. Mackintosh described Sui as “a differentiated proposition” built by former Facebook engineers behind Libra, offering low latency and high throughput suited for emerging use cases such as “agentic commerce”, the intersection of AI and onchain transactions. AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards . For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy . More For You Accelerating Convergence Between Traditional and On-Chain Finance in 2026? By CoinDesk Jan 30, 2026 Commissioned by Societe Generale-FORGE Read full story More For You Elon Musk's X to launch crypto and stock trading in ‘couple weeks’ By Francisco Rodrigues , AI Boost | Edited by Aoyon Ashraf 27 minutes ago Users will be able to interact with ticker symbols in posts and execute trades within the app, the company's head of product said. 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