Key Takeaways
- • TP ICAP CEO of global broking Dan Fields argued at the firm's second annual "Bridging the Gap" digital assets conference in London (September 2026) that the next phase of digital assets will be driven by coordination rather than innovation.
- • Fields contended that innovation fragments liquidity, assets and collateral across multiple venues and ecosystems, and that "only co-ordination enables scale."
- • He cited the 1974 failure of Bankhaus Herstatt and the subsequent creation of CLS (Continuous Linked Settlement) as precedent, arguing that market infrastructure must evolve alongside the market itself.
- • TP ICAP is positioning digital assets as a market structure challenge rather than a technology opportunity, with its wholesale, institutional-grade spot cryptoasset exchange, Fusion Digital Assets, built on that framework.
- • Deutsche Bank noted that the U.S. GENIUS Act continues to encourage global digital asset adoption, while the failure of the CLARITY Act to advance likely rules out near-term progress in that congressional track.
Summary
TP ICAP, the interdealer broker and provider of market infrastructure and data, used its second annual "Bridging the Gap" digital assets conference, held in September in London, to set out a thesis on the sector's next stage of development. In a keynote address, Dan Fields, chief executive of global broking at TP ICAP, said digital assets have so far been driven by innovation, but that the next phase will be driven by coordination.
Fields argued that innovation tends to fragment markets, with liquidity, assets and collateral becoming separated across multiple venues and ecosystems. "The opportunity now is not simply to create more innovation, it is to connect the innovations that already exist," he said. "Innovation creates new possibilities, infrastructure enables adoption but only co-ordination enables scale."
To illustrate the point, Fields pointed to foreign exchange, which became the world's largest financial market after the 1974 failure of Bankhaus Herstatt led to the formation of CLS (Continuous Linked Settlement), a network that helps participants settle transactions while significantly reducing risk. He said the lesson from that episode was not that markets had innovated too quickly, but that market infrastructure had to evolve alongside the market. On that basis, he argued that digital asset markets require rules and standards, clearing and settlement, legal frameworks and market supervision.
Fields said TP ICAP has approached digital assets as a market structure challenge rather than a technology opportunity. He tied this approach to Fusion Digital Assets, TP ICAP's wholesale, institutional-grade spot cryptoasset exchange, stating: "Fusion Digital Assets was built around those principles, helping bridge traditional and digital markets through trusted market structures designed for institutional participation."
Separately, Deutsche Bank commented that the U.S. 2025 GENIUS Act continues to encourage global digital asset adoption, although the failure of the CLARITY Act to advance likely rules out progress in that congressional track.
Fields argued that innovation tends to fragment markets, with liquidity, assets and collateral becoming separated across multiple venues and ecosystems. "The opportunity now is not simply to create more innovation, it is to connect the innovations that already exist," he said. "Innovation creates new possibilities, infrastructure enables adoption but only co-ordination enables scale."
To illustrate the point, Fields pointed to foreign exchange, which became the world's largest financial market after the 1974 failure of Bankhaus Herstatt led to the formation of CLS (Continuous Linked Settlement), a network that helps participants settle transactions while significantly reducing risk. He said the lesson from that episode was not that markets had innovated too quickly, but that market infrastructure had to evolve alongside the market. On that basis, he argued that digital asset markets require rules and standards, clearing and settlement, legal frameworks and market supervision.
Fields said TP ICAP has approached digital assets as a market structure challenge rather than a technology opportunity. He tied this approach to Fusion Digital Assets, TP ICAP's wholesale, institutional-grade spot cryptoasset exchange, stating: "Fusion Digital Assets was built around those principles, helping bridge traditional and digital markets through trusted market structures designed for institutional participation."
Separately, Deutsche Bank commented that the U.S. 2025 GENIUS Act continues to encourage global digital asset adoption, although the failure of the CLARITY Act to advance likely rules out progress in that congressional track.
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