Adam Levine of Fireblocks: How Institutional Adoption and Interoperability are Changing Crypto Assets

As traditional finance gradually understands the prospect of blockchain, and crypto-native innovators lead the way, the field of digital assets is rapidly changing. Developments such as tokenized stocks and modern security standards are driving industry-wide conversations at global events. Adam Levine, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development & Partnerships at Fireblocks and CEO of Fireblocks Trust Company, stands at the intersection of these advancements. At Sunnycan on the French Riviera, Levine shared candid views on regulatory progress, tokenization, and the current state of institutional crypto adoption in a conversation with BeInCrypto. Institutional Understanding, Speed of Adoption, and Evolving Risk Curve We're seeing conversations getting smarter, right? In the past, it always looked for reasons to refuse, whether it was pointing to regulation or claiming that technology didn't work. But what we're seeing now is that traditional institutions are seeing proof of the scale and speed that blockchain can achieve from the cryptocurrency world. Now, they're starting to really think about how they can do it smarter and better with this technology. As a result, the nature of the conversation is getting better. The technical team is really starting to understand the differences between the infrastructure on different protocols, as well as the limitations and opportunities of smart contracts. So, in general, it's good to see that they're no longer looking at the negative, but thinking about the possibilities of achieving business outcomes. It's no surprise that banks are never the fastest, right? But crypto-native teams that are always ahead of the curve are able to execute faster. They are different stakeholders. What we've seen is that some of these crypto-native companies have evolved into more mature businesses. And fintech companies and new types of banks are in between, and they still have those stakeholders that you need to think about all the different types of risk, but moving much faster than traditional banks. So once the banks actually take action, you're going to feel the impact, but definitely these crypto-native companies, and now the new type of banking fintechs, are starting to see the impact faster. Liquidity, Interoperability, and the Rise of Layer 2 We've seen in many ways, whether it's Layer 1 or Layer 2, they all have similar strategies when it comes to entering the market. They're looking for a niche where they can differentiate, and they're using their funding to provide incentives that really matter to boost industry adoption of them. There's nothing wrong with that. And that's a good thing. But this means that certain types of assets are being tokenized on one chain and not another. Now you have these different liquidity pools. You can say the same thing about stablecoins, right? Having USDC or USDT on one protocol, but you want to buy assets on another, that won't work, right? So you're running into these issues, and a lot of stablecoin providers are saying, great, I'm going to get an incentive to deliver natively on multiple protocols. This is not the most effective. So what's exciting is the innovation that we're seeing in terms of interoperability. The companies that we work closely with, LayerZero, Ownera, Chainlink, Wormhole, are all providing very important interoperability solutions that will help solve the problem of stablecoins that are tokenized on one blockchain but need to buy it on another. People don't have to think about it anymore, okay, there's USDC on Polygon, there's USDC on ETH, but I want to buy assets on Base, what now? These solutions are critical, they come from crypto-native, but even examples like Biddle and Kinexis and JPM are real POCs and production deliveries that rely on these temporary partners. Security Standards in Cryptocurrencies and MPC MPC is the gold standard for the quality of security used in your wallet. Where they control the keys is crucial. Unfortunately, many people still think of multisig as MPC or multi-party computation. Apparently not so. This may feel obvious, but we can point to some very public very big hacks or as examples of multisig behind the scenes. If you don't want to buy cheap fish or security, you have to focus on a certain version of MPC. Obviously, we think our experience and proven resilience is where you need to start, but MPC needs to be the standard. The regulatory landscape and progress of digital assets I think the industry is miles ahead of last year, probably because of changes in the U.S. market. Every market regulator needs to consider their own concerns, and some, like VARA, have been ahead of the curve for some time. However, as I travel around the globe, I see large institutions wondering what will happen in the United States because it will be a sign. And the first few weeks of the current federal government made some very big changes, showing not only the traditional financial players in the United States, but also the world, that tokenized assets, blockchain, cryptocurrencies are possible. Now we're starting to see changes in the regulatory community. The Genius Act will be vital not only domestically, but globally. This sends a signal to banks, traditional players, and payment service providers. They should be inclined to this. Adoption of Tokenization Hubs and Use Cases The tokenization engine is great. It allows you to tokenize anything you want using our smart contract library. But we're thinking about a more open system. So, if you have a smart contract developed by yourself, or a smart contract developed by one of your partners (like Tokeny), and you want to bring it to Mint and Burn, you definitely can. We're seeing some really good use cases for some of our customers, such as tokenizing private debt, tokenizing equity, and bringing it to new markets. It's fantastic. We're still seeing some weird fringe cases where people want to tokenize investment-grade wines or resources. The tokenization engine works well. What wasn't said on stage: the announcement of institutional DeFi and competitive reaction Robinhood was definitely very interesting. We hear people talking about how Europeans can easily access U.S. stocks through an amazingly simple app. They're really excited to see how the rest of the market, some of the big banks, responds. So, it's not just about Robinhood and its ...... impact. The topics that keep coming up are how large asset managers, hedge funds are adopting institutional DeFi, and when banks will start facilitating this. This seems to be the key. Conclusion Fireblocks' Adam Levine clearly demonstrates the rapid evolution of digital asset infrastructure, with traditional finance continuing to steadily shift towards smarter adoption, and fintech companies and crypto-native teams driving rapid innovation. The challenges of interoperability and mobility are being addressed through advancements in protocol solutions, while security standards such as MPC are establishing new benchmarks. Evolving regulation is building much-needed confidence for institutions, and the surge in tokenization use cases shows that a mature industry is ready for collaboration and mainstream success. The industry's progress remains closely tied to regulatory clarity, competitive fintech innovations, and a commitment to strong security and seamless interoperability.