From Mandate to Production: Banks and Digital Assets Forum 2026 in Dubai

From Mandate to Production: Banks and Digital Assets Forum in Dubai gathers senior bankers, regulators and advisers at the DMCC Crypto Centre on Wednesday 4 November 2026. It is the fifth edition of GAIN, the Global Access for Institutional Network, hosted by Liminal Custody in partnership with the Middle East Stablecoin Association (MESA). The full title of the session, How Banks Are Building Digital Asset Capabilities, sums up the focus: not whether digital assets matter, but how a bank actually gets them live.

The forum is invite-only, and every request to join is reviewed by the hosts. The organisers promise practitioners talking frankly about what works and what does not, with no vendor pitches.

Why this edition of GAIN matters

Plenty of banks in the region already have a board-level mandate for digital assets. The harder step is turning that mandate into something that runs in production, with the right approvals, controls and people in place. That gap between strategy and live implementation is the whole theme of this GAIN edition.

The agenda covers two layers. First, the commercial opportunity across custody, stablecoins and cross-border payments, and tokenisation. Second, the practical decisions that tend to slow projects down: whether to build or buy, how to set up governance, which technology choices make sense, how to secure risk and compliance approvals, and how to reach operational readiness. Throughout, the format is built for dialogue between regulators, advisers and bank practitioners rather than a one-way presentation.

The running order

The afternoon follows a clear structure, with timings set out by the hosts:

• Arrival and registration (15 minutes): with light refreshments.
• Welcome (10 minutes): an introduction from Ilinca Cartoflea, Head of Sales EMEA at Liminal.
• Fireside chat (35 minutes): The Opportunity: Why Now and Where Are Banks Moving?
• Panel (60 minutes): From Mandate to Production.
• Audience Q&A (15 minutes).
• Networking (75 minutes): including one-to-one discussions with the Liminal team.

Networking is the longest single block of the day, which tells you a lot about the purpose of the event: the formal sessions set up the conversation, and the real value is in the discussions that follow.

It is also a small room. When we checked, the registration page showed around 30 guests confirmed, so expect an intimate session rather than a conference hall. That scale suits candid discussion, and it makes the Q&A slot genuinely useful: if your bank is stuck on a specific build-versus-buy decision or a compliance sign-off, bring that question with you, because the panel is made up of people working on exactly those problems.

The speakers

Fireside chat: Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta leads the fireside chat. He chairs the Board of Directors at Apex Group, is Chairman of MESA and sits on the Liminal Custody board as an independent non-executive director, so he brings a view from several sides of the market at once. His session looks at the commercial opportunities, the regulatory and technology changes that now make implementation viable, and the use cases moving beyond the pilot stage.

The panel

Ilinca Cartoflea moderates the hour-long panel, joined by:

• Andrew Morfill, Director, Digital Assets at Alvarez & Marsal
• Ramy Soliman, Co-Founder of Saleem and Co-Chair of the MESA Infrastructure Committee
• Lukasz Dec, Co-Founder and CEO of Thiqwave and Co-Chair of the MESA Infrastructure Committee

The speaker list also names AbuBakar Mujahid, Associate Vice President, Digital Assets at RAKBANK, and Tejas Dholakia, MEA Lead, Product Sales and Solutions at Kinexys Digital Payments & Digital Assets, although they are not assigned to a specific agenda slot.

Who it is for

The forum is curated for senior decision-makers at banks, along with regulators and advisers working on digital asset capabilities. If you work in strategy, operations, technology, risk or compliance, and your institution is weighing custody, stablecoin or tokenisation projects, the agenda maps closely to the questions you are likely already dealing with. Because places are approved by the hosts, make your role and organisation clear when you request to join.

Important notes from the hosts

The session is for educational and networking purposes only. Liminal states that it is not regulated by VARA, the UAE’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, and that nothing discussed on the day is an offer, promotion or solicitation of custody or other regulated services. By registering, you also consent to photos and videos from the event being used on social media and for promotion.

The venue: DMCC Crypto Centre

The forum takes place at the DMCC Crypto Centre on the 12th floor of Uptown Tower in Al Thanyah Fifth, Dubai. Factor in time to reach the 12th floor and check in, as registration and refreshments open the programme.

For more professional events, see our business networking listings, the full things to do in November round-up, our things to do in Dubai guide and the latest what’s on picks.