[Recap] What Institutions Want: Insights from On-Chain Behavior and Off-Chain
On January 21th, 2026, The Tie hosted an Innovator Series webinar on institutional blockchain adoption, moderated by Heidi Pickett, Chief Business Officer at The Tie. The panel featured Brian Trunzo, Chief Growth Officer at Succinct, and Kyle Ellicott, Executive Director at Stacks Asia Foundation.
The conversation covered zero-knowledge technology, Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions, and how regulatory frameworks differ across Asia, the Middle East, and the West.
Watch the full Webinar here:
Why Institutions Care About Blockchain
Brian Trunzo described institutional interest as defensive. "No institution wants to be the next legacy exchange or market intermediary that failed to adapt to a digital first environment," he explained. He compared the current moment to Intercontinental Exchange's disruption of incumbent exchanges in the early 2000s. Institutions see challengers targeting their core businesses and want to avoid being left behind.
The technical appeal is simpler trust assumptions. Traditional systems depend on counterparties, reconciliation, and after-the-fact enforcement. Blockchain and zero-knowledge cryptography let you verify through math instead. Kyle Ellicott added a third angle: investment pressure. Portfolio managers now treat digital assets as a required allocation. Sovereign wealth funds, especially in Abu Dhabi, are buying spot ETFs and direct holdings. About fifteen nation-states now hold more than 100,000 BTC each.
How Asia Differs from the West
The Stacks Asia Foundation covers Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and the UAE. Ellicott noted that Asian institutions often move aggressively on exploration while staying conservative on compliance. "The Web3 and blockchain space across Korea, Japan, Hong Kong is an extremely competitive space," he said. Local exchanges beat Coinbase and Kraken in market share across these regions.
Regulation drives much of this. Japan approved crypto early but imposed tight restrictions, creating a split market where approved tokens trade actively while newer protocols struggle to get listed. Hong Kong's recent push to become a regulated crypto hub has drawn institutional interest, though retail participation remains thin. Abu Dhabi has become a preferred base for foundations and enterprises that want clear rules and operational flexibility. Western institutions move slower, though U.S. regulation seems to be loosening.
Zero-Knowledge Proofs: Beyond Blockchain
Succinct builds zero-knowledge proofs that verify computation without exposing the underlying data. The technology secures over $4 billion in TVL across Polygon's AggLayer, Mantle, Celestia, and rollups on the OP stack. "ZK lets you move from this trust-based way of doing business more into math and cryptography," Trunzo said.
But Succinct is also applying ZK outside of blockchain. The company developed cryptographic verification for media provenance, proving that images were captured by specific hardware at specific times and weren't altered. "This is something that we feel extremely strongly about," Trunzo said. A convincing deepfake of a CEO or regulator could crash markets in minutes. Succinct joined C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) to bring this to enterprises.
Making Bitcoin Productive
Stacks is one of the original Bitcoin Layer 2 networks. It brings smart contracts to Bitcoin without changing the base protocol. In 2025, Stacks launched sBTC, a 1:1 Bitcoin-backed asset. Over 5,000 BTC entered the ecosystem across three cap increases to earn yield.
Ellicott pointed to the roughly 2.5 million BTC sitting in public equities and structured products. "How do we take it from a dead idle capital asset that sits in portfolios to something that is productive?" he asked. His prediction: about 10% of that institutionally-held Bitcoin will be earning yield through protocols by the end of 2026. The pitch to wealth managers is straightforward. If Bitcoin can generate yield instead of just sitting there, it fits better in traditional portfolios with one-to-four percent crypto allocations.
What Institutions Need: Custody and Compliance
Both speakers said infrastructure gaps are the main barrier to adoption. Stacks spent most of 2025 integrating custodians like Hex Trust and Copper after hearing from regional institutions about their requirements. Gate.io became the first exchange to list sBTC.
Self-custody is complicated. Institutions learned from custodial failures that "not your keys, not your coins" matters, but self-custody solutions still need to meet compliance requirements. Hybrid approaches are emerging. Stablecoin support also matters. Circle brought USDC to Stacks, and Bitcoin-backed stablecoins like Hermetica give institutions familiar dollar-denominated on-ramps.
Measuring Institutional Activity
Trunzo watches TVL growth and protocol integrations as signs of institutional confidence. Ellicott tracks both Bitcoin inflows and what happens next: "What does it do once it's in the ecosystem? Is it going into applications? How is it being used in terms of productivity?"
For Stacks, the progression runs from capital inflow to staking participation to DeFi engagement. Each step shows deeper commitment. The upcoming dual staking mechanism, combining STX and Bitcoin staking, will create more data points for tracking whether institutions are testing or staying.
Conclusion
The webinar made clear that institutions want blockchain to solve specific problems: better trust assumptions, cheaper cross-border settlement, and yield on idle assets. Selling decentralization alone doesn't work. Succinct is expanding into media authenticity while Stacks is focused on making Bitcoin productive. Both approaches depend on custody infrastructure and regulatory clarity catching up to what protocols can already do.