Proof of Talk 2026 draws 2,500; firms unveil token plans

Proof of Talk 2026 took place at the Palais du Louvre on June 2–3, with a prelude Day 0 session in Versailles and about 2,500 senior leaders in attendance. The two-day program concentrated major institutional announcements and product launches from a single main stage in Paris.

Franklin Templeton announced a strategic partnership with payments firm MoonPay to expand access to the asset manager’s tokenized products across on-chain networks. Citi presented its GPS Tokenization 2030 report, titled Wall Street On-Chain, estimating the current global market for tokenized digital investments at about $17 billion. Euroclear said its Pythagore tokenization project, aimed at Europe’s commercial paper market worth roughly €300 billion, is on track to launch in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Julian Sawyer, chief executive of Zodia Custody, confirmed the sale of Zodia to a traditional finance buyer, reflecting activity at the intersection of institutional custody and mainstream finance. Several firms introduced infrastructure and compliance tools: Manifold Labs unveiled Targon Pro, its enterprise compute hardware; Ampersend launched real-time pre-settlement compliance screening built with TRM Labs; Base presented a multiparty computation solution. CertiK released its Skynet security report at the conference and identified stablecoins as an expanding component of global financial infrastructure.

The program included a Main Stage, a Bittensor Track focused on decentralized AI, a Masterclass Stage, a B2B networking lounge and a dedicated StableDay. The two co-founders of Bittensor presented the decentralized AI thesis to the institutional audience. A Stablecoin Roundtable brought together roughly 50 senior figures from industry and policy, including representatives from large lenders, asset managers, token issuers and a central bank, to discuss stablecoin liquidity and interoperability.

Proof of Pitch, a live crowdfunding competition held as part of the event, named ReplyCorp and Parthenon as winners for 2026. Organizers said the edition generated dozens of announcements, research releases and live briefings across the two main days.

Proof of Talk is an annual gathering at the Louvre Palace that convenes C-suite executives and senior leaders across digital assets, finance, policy and media. The event follows a journalist-led agenda and operates without pay-to-speak arrangements.