The Future of Digital Asset Supervision: Key Takeaways from FinTech on the Seas 2026

Amardeep Thandi, Head of Digital Assets – JTC, recently participated in the roundtable Public‑Private Supervision 2.0: Who Does What in the Next Decade? hosted by BVI Finance at this year’s FinTech on the Seas. The session brought together industry professionals to discuss how supervisory models are evolving in response to the increasingly cross-border nature of digital asset markets, with particular focus on public-private collaboration, regulatory capability and the infrastructure needed to support effective oversight.

A key theme from the discussion was the challenge of visibility across the digital asset ecosystem. As Amardeep noted, “Concentration and contagion risk is a big issue, there is no clear way to currently gauge materially and to what level VASPs are interconnected and if one is subjected to adversities, what the impact will be across the industry.”  In a market defined by speed, interconnectivity and cross-border activity, that lack of visibility was highlighted as a meaningful supervisory blind spot.

Public-private partnership models were another important area of focus. Participants discussed how the international nature of digital assets has helped to drive new forms of collaboration across the ecosystem, including information-sharing, intelligence-led cooperation and specialist tooling designed to support detection and enforcement efforts across jurisdictions. Amardeep noted,“The international nature of digital assets has been one of the biggest drivers behind the development of public-private partnership models in this space.”

Because activity moves so quickly across borders, platforms and wallets, no single regulator, law enforcement agency or private institution can deal with these risks effectively in isolation. That has made collaboration not just useful, but necessary.

Amardeep noted “We are already seeing that in practice. Chainalysis has built collaboration tools that allow users to share intelligence on wallet addresses and clusters in real time¹. TRM, Tether and TRON have come together through the T3 Financial Crime Unit² to tackle illicit activity from the perspective of the analytics layer, the issuer and the blockchain itself. And TRM’s Beacon Network³ allows investigators to broadcast intelligence across participating VASPs to help identify and disrupt the movement of illicit proceeds.”

The broader point is this: digital assets are pushing supervision and financial crime prevention toward a much more networked model, where intelligence-sharing and coordinated action across public and private actors are becoming part of the infrastructure itself.

In this market, collaboration is no longer a nice-to-have, it is becoming a core feature of effective supervision.

The conversation also addressed the guardrails needed as these models develop further. Questions were raised around conflicts of interest, dependency on a single blockchain analytics provider and whether greater alignment among regional regulators could help broaden access to intelligence and support a more harmonised approach to supervision. Amardeep noted “A single blockchain analytics provider should not become the supervisory architecture of the future. What we need instead is a model built on regulatory sovereignty, diversified intelligence sources and greater cross-border coordination, so that public-private partnership strengthens supervision without creating new concentrations of risk.”

Looking ahead, the roundtable considered whether RegTech-as-infrastructure could become the next supervisory operating model, supporting licensing, ongoing supervision and cross-border information sharing. The role of AI in future supervision was also raised as part of that discussion. Amardeep noted “RegTech is no longer merely a support tool; it is increasingly becoming part of the supervisory infrastructure itself. As AI capabilities mature, the ability to broadcast risk signals across a global network of participating VASPs will become increasingly necessary to identify and disrupt illicit activity at speed. Intelligence-sharing models such as the Beacon Network offer an early indication of how digital asset supervision may evolve into a more networked, more responsive and ultimately more effective framework.”

For the British Virgin Islands and other international finance centres, these themes are increasingly important. As digital asset business and service provider activity continues to develop, the ability to combine credible oversight, practical infrastructure and strong cross-border cooperation will remain central to building confidence in the jurisdiction.

At JTC, we see these developments as an important part of the digital asset market’s continued evolution. As supervisory expectations become more sophisticated, digital asset businesses and service providers will increase demand for operating models that combine innovation with strong governance, clear oversight and practical infrastructure. With experience across digital assets, JTC Special Situations is well placed to support clients as they navigate this changing landscape. Whether supporting governance, structuring or broader operational requirements, we help clients build resilient structures and governance models that are better equipped for long-term growth in an increasingly regulated market.

¹https://www.chainalysis.com/glossary/address-clustering/”>What is address clustering? Definition and how it works – Chainalysis

²https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/t3-financial-crime-unit-a-model-for-public-private-disruption-in-the-age-of-stablecoins”>T3 Financial Crime Unit: A Model for Public-private Disruption in the Age of Stablecoins | TRM Labs

³https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/trm-labs-launches-beacon-network-the-first-real-time-crypto-crime-response-network”>TRM Labs Launches Beacon Network, the First Real-time Crypto Crime Response Network | TRM Labs