Reflections from the Tether Private Summit 2025: The Corporate Era of Crypto Has Begun

Among all the insights shared, one line from Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, stood out to me:

"Money is the ultimate social network.”

It wasn’t just a slogan — it was a profound reminder that money connects people, not systems. And it perfectly captures where crypto is heading: away from speculation, and toward real, network-driven utility built on stable, global rails.

Stablecoins: The First Crypto Product with True Product-Market Fit

Over the past few years, stablecoins have become the first crypto innovation to achieve real product-market fit.
Born out of experimentation, their adoption accelerated dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic — a period that exposed inefficiencies in global finance and increased demand for frictionless digital money.

Source: https://defillama.com/stablecoins

Today, stablecoins are no longer niche financial instruments. They are integrated into real-world use cases — from remittances and savings to cross-border trade and on-chain finance.

Most importantly, stablecoins are now recognized by law across major global jurisdictions including Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, the European Union, and, notably, the United States — even as a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework is still being debated in Congress.

The next chapter for stablecoins is mass adoption. Users will increasingly make payments, send money, and invest through stablecoins without even realizing that blockchain technology is running underneath.

The New Reality: Compliance and Institutions Will Lead

A new global race is underway — the race to legislate and standardize crypto. Compliance and institutional-grade regulation are becoming the defining features of this next phase.

This transition brings both opportunity and challenge. While it paves the way for large-scale participation by financial institutions, it also raises the cost of compliance, creating barriers for small startups and individual builders. The days of the “Wild West” in crypto are over. Projects can no longer operate outside legal boundaries; they must now innovate within structured regulatory sandboxes that balance risk with experimentation.

Failure to adapt could have severe consequences.The death of BUSD of Binance, the world largest crypto exchange, and the case of Polymarket — a decentralized prediction market fined and later forced to comply with U.S. regulations — serves as a reminder that innovation must now walk hand-in-hand with compliance.

The Next Frontier: Tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAs)

The total crypto market capitalization, currently around $4 trillion, is just a prelude to a far larger opportunity: Tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAs). Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC are themselves early examples of RWAs, backed mostly by tangible assets like cash, cash equivalents & precious metals. This intersection between digital tokens and physical assets represents a trillion-dollar opportunity that could redefine global finance.

The tokenized RWA market could easily grow to tens of trillions of dollars, attracting not only crypto-native investors but also traditional corporations seeking to modernize asset management, settlement, and liquidity.

Who will move first?

• Fintechs and banks are the natural early entrants due to their business alignment.

• They will be followed by social, entertainment, and consumer sectors.

• Eventually, large retail and industrial corporations will join, bringing their existing customer bases into the on-chain world.

As corporations build infrastructure and trust, SMEs and startups will find new opportunities to innovate at the edges.

“Crypto natives may have built the frontier, but traditional corporations will construct the bridges to bring it to the masses — because they already own the users.”

Vietnam’s Moment: From Policy to Implementation

Vietnam is entering its own pivotal stage in the on-chain journey. The government recently approved Resolution 05, which allows the pilot implementation of a digital asset market, alongside new sandbox regulations within the upcoming International Financial Center (IFC) in Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang.

Through our work at On-chain Academy, we have had the opportunity to collaborate with top Vietnamese corporations and contribute to the development of the IFC’s crypto sandbox. The momentum is clear — local enterprises are no longer observing from the sidelines. They are actively preparing strategies to participate in this new digital asset economy. While knowledge gaps and regulatory uncertainty remain, the direction is clear: Vietnam’s corporate sector is aligning with a global trend: the institutional era of crypto adoption.

The Path Ahead for Startups & SME?

So where does this leave for smaller players? In this new environment, compliance must be built from day one. Startups that design their products with regulatory alignment and seek protection under sandbox frameworks will have a sustainable path forward. 

Opportunities still abound — particularly in the access layer (low friction entry points for users to go on-chain) and use-case layer (user interface for interacting with infra/protocol layer) of the on-chain landscape. These are the spaces where new billion-dollar companies can emerge, much like Tether, Hyperliquid or Polymarket with real & profitable business models. However, to achieve that, a new specific framework for startup & SME should be released to somehow balance the powers of big players and align with Resolution 68 on removing barriers for the private economy development.

The era of token-driven hype has ended. The next generation of on-chain startups will thrive not on speculation, but on execution, compliance, and tangible value creation. 

Conclusion

Stablecoins have proven that crypto can find true product-market fit. Tokenized RWAs will expand that success by merging blockchain with traditional finance.  And regulation will define how innovation scales responsibly. The crypto industry is evolving — shifting from early pioneers to established institutional players.

As global and local regulatory frameworks take clearer shape, Vietnam is emerging as a frontrunner in this transformation. The era of the Vietnam On-chain Economy has officially begun — starting first with corporate & compliant then to SME & startups. On-chain Academy is proud to be at the forefront of this movement, connecting knowledge, innovation, and regulation to empower the next generation of on-chain builders. 
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PhD Tony Tran
Research Director, On-chain Academy