House of Block's Digital Assets Conference Blends Policy Talk with Polo

The fourth annual Digital Assets & Web3 Global Conference at Ham Polo Club combined high-level discussions on geopolitics, stablecoins, AI and tokenisation with an afternoon of polo. Rather than a traditional conference, the format resembles a private members' gathering designed for depth over scale.

House of Block was created to bring senior leaders together in a more intimate setting — to have the conversations that don't happen on the main stage. We focus on depth over scale, creating the right environment for leaders shaping the future of money, from financial services and digital assets to AI and government, to step back from the noise, challenge ideas and build relationships that last beyond the event itself.

Korby Hayre, Founder and Producer of House of Block, explained that the event brings together senior figures from financial services, digital assets, AI and government to engage in conversations that extend beyond typical conference programming.

The opening session featured Professor Brunello Rosa, Katie Ramsey from the UK Government's Venture Capital Unit and Freddie New, CEO of B HODL, the first publicly listed Bitcoin treasury company in the UK. BBC journalist Thomas Mason moderated the discussion on geopolitics, examining the intersection of conflict, capital and consequence.

Themes of energy security, infrastructure investment, technological competitiveness and geopolitical fragmentation recurred throughout the day as speakers debated topics from stablecoin regulation to artificial intelligence and digital assets.

One of the most dynamic sessions centred on agentic AI and its implications for financial services. Emma Lovett of JPMorgan Chase chaired a panel featuring Robby Yung of Animoca Brands, Dmitry Lazarichev of Wirex, Pascal Podvin of nSure.ai and Lex Sokolin of Generative Ventures.

Lovett turned the conversation into a live debate, inviting audience participation and encouraging speakers to defend opposing perspectives. Although participants were occasionally pushed into taking sides between traditional and digital financial systems, many resisted remaining in their assigned camps.

Advocates of established financial infrastructure acknowledged the benefits of innovation, while digital asset proponents readily recognised the importance of regulation, trust and institutional adoption. The audience was invited to choose between digital and fiat, but many panellists appeared to have already moved beyond that distinction.

The stablecoin discussion, chaired by John Orchard of the Digital Monetary Institute, brought together Nima Elmi of Circle, Julie Ng of Moody's and Kaushik Sthankiya of the Digital Money Association to examine how the industry is responding to emerging regulatory frameworks such as MiCA in Europe and the GENIUS Act in the United States.

The conversation reflected a sector increasingly focused on practical implementation rather than ideology. Questions around regulation, treasury management, risk, settlement and banking partnerships featured more prominently than the disruption narratives that once dominated digital asset events.

That shift was reinforced by a fireside conversation between fintech commentator Jonny Fry and Charles McManus, Co-Founder and Board Director of ClearBank. Combining humour, audience engagement and a steady flow of data-driven observations, the discussion moved beyond the headlines and into the realities of payments infrastructure and financial services innovation.

The final session came from Ronit Ghose, Citi's Global Head of Future of Finance, who explored the long-term evolution of money and financial infrastructure. While much of the discussion focused on future trends, one of the most memorable observations concerned the history of money itself.

Long before digital wallets, stablecoins and blockchain networks, traders travelling the Silk Road sought alternatives to carrying large quantities of coins across vast distances. The solution was a form of paper notes that could be redeemed or settled further along the trade route, creating an early version of portable financial infrastructure.

While the technologies have changed dramatically, the underlying challenge remains remarkably familiar: how can value be moved more efficiently, more securely and with greater trust? With that, the conference element of the day came to a close, leaving bankers, builders, policymakers and digital asset pioneers to continue the conversations over polo.