Lawrence Lee, Chairman of OSL Group and Chair of the Finternet Committee, delivered opening remarks at the Finternet 2025 - Asia Digital Finance Summit on November 4th 2025 in Hong Kong.
HONG KONG, November 4, 2025 – Good morning, distinguished guests, esteemed regulators, innovators, and leaders from around the world. As Chairman of the Finternet Committee, the organizer of this summit, it is my great pleasure to welcome you. It wasn’t long ago that the two worlds represented in this room—the world of traditional, structured finance, and the world of decentralized, digital natives—viewed each other from a distance, perhaps even with suspicion. Today, we are gathered in one room, in this magnificent venue. This fact alone signals that a new era of convergence has truly begun. And I can think of no better place for this convergence than Hong Kong. This city has always been a bridge—between East and West, between established order and new frontiers. Today, it is poised to become the strategic bridge for the Financial Internet. We are here because we are witnessing an explosive growth in the Web3 world. This is not a niche experiment. We are discussing a verifiable, non-negligible economic force. The IMF recently noted that the total market capitalization of crypto-assets has surpassed US$3.5 trillion. The market cap of stablecoins alone has exceeded US$230 billion, reaching unprecedented levels. But this growth is not just about the numbers on a screen. It is about a fundamental shift.
At its heart, this is a novel technological framework—driven by what we now commonly call blockchain technology, which is characterized by its decentralized nature. This has created a new economic ecology. Some have called this the "great rewiring" of the web. It's a system designed to change how information—and now, value—is stored, shared, and owned. This new ecology is nurturing boundless innovation and entirely new business models. Nurturing this boundless innovation, in turn, requires its own lifeblood: digital assets, or as they are more commonly known, cryptocurrencies. In various forms and shapes, they provide the fuel for this new world, and in doing so, they are creating new, programmable pathways for how value is defined, managed, and exchanged. And this leads us to what many believe is a more profound evolution in this space: Tokenization. This is a limitless invention where our own imagination is the only limit. Think about the journey: a decade ago, Bitcoin was a concept. Today, its value has grown from virtually nothing to, at its peak, over US$120,000, capturing the serious attention of institutional investors. Now, forecasters are projecting that the broader tokenization market will grow from billions to trillions within the next decade. But.As someone who has spent decades in the world of structured finance and law, I must address the other side of this explosive growth. This very innovation—the speed, the new architectures, the new pathways—has, understandably, created profound concerns. It has created concerns not just within the traditional world, but within the industry itself. We do not have to look far. The market’s immense volatility is not an illusion. The historic liquidations of the crypto market we witnessed just last month—events that the press has dubbed a "flash crash"—are not accidental anomalies.They are a profound reminder. They are a systemic stress test. They are the growing pains of an industry moving from adolescence to adulthood. They are the friction that occurs when a 1.0 world of "permissionless" innovation collides with the 2.0 world of "permissioned" trust.
This is the turning point we find ourselves at today. The 1.0 era of speculative hype, while exciting, must now give way to the 2.0 era. An era defined not by hype, but by utility. An era defined by "Real Solutions for the Real Economy."And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the central mission of this forum.O ur mission is to find the "Equilibrium." How do we build this equilibrium? We believe it depends on establishing a broad, compliant, and trusted "Financial Internet"—which is the very definition of "Finternet." This new network cannot be built on code alone. It must be built on a foundation of "constructive global dialogue." It requires the innovators in T-shirts and the custodians in suits to speak the same language. It requires a shared understanding between regulators, entrepreneurs, and the institutions that safeguard our global financial system. And the ultimate purpose of this network, its only true mission, must be to serve the real economy. The paths to this mission are the very topics you will explore today—for example, developing robust frameworks for Real-World Asset tokenization, and building compliant, efficient payment networks. On the payment front, the potential is already clearly visible. A recent industry report, co-authored by institutions including the digital asset data solutions provider Artemis, and Asia’s leading stablecoin trading and payment infrastructure, OSL Group, found that while stablecoin payment volumes are still small, their annual growth rate is nearly ten times that of traditional payment networks, driven primarily by the explosive growth in B2B payments. This is not just macro data; we are seeing real-world validation. Take OSL Group as an example. Its licensed payments business in Europe, launched this year as a dedicated step in its strategic transformation, achieved significant results in a very short period, powerfully validating the market's urgent demand for compliant solutions. Currently, OSL is actively deploying over 50 related licenses for trading and payments in more than 10 key markets globally, which fully demonstrates the immense potential of compliant payments. The demand is real. This, is what "real solutions" look like. This, is the work that trusted, licensed participants must undertake: to build a global compliance network, ultimately bridging the new force of digital assets with the real economy.
It is fitting that we are having this discussion here. We are starting from Hong Kong to connect the globe. This city is a living and dynamic bridge, uniquely positioned to facilitate this global dialogue. The future of this Financial Internet is not inevitable. It is not pre-written. The future is up for grabs.It will be shaped by the choices we make. It will be built by the people in this room—by your ideas, by your willingness to collaborate, and by your courage to solve the hard problems.This forum is our opportunity to discuss and generate those ideas. This forum, is our golden chance to "Bridge Ideas with Solutions."Let us work together to ensure the Finternet we build is not only innovative, but trusted, responsible, and real. Thank you. And welcome to the Finternet 2025 - Asia Digital Finance Summit.
About OSL
OSL Group (HKEX: 863) is Asia's leading stablecoin trading and payment infrastructure that strives to provide compliant and efficient digital financial infrastructure services globally, empowering enterprises, financial institutions and individuals to seamlessly exchange, pay, trade, and settle between fiat and digital currencies. Grounded in the core values of Open, Secure, and Licensed, it is committed to building a more efficient ecosystem that connects global markets and enables instant, seamless and compliant value movement worldwide.