About This Webinar
Despite Bitcoin woes, Q1 2026 has ushered in a strong start for digital assets — defined by expanding institutional participation and continued regulatory progress across major jurisdictions. While US market structure legislation has stalled in Congress, regulators in the US, APAC, and EMEA are advancing supervisory clarity and implementation.

TRM’s 2026 Crypto Crime Report found that 2025 saw a record USD 158 billion in illicit crypto volume, even as the percentage of illicit activity declined — a signal of ecosystem growth, improved transparency, and more concentrated risk.

Join TRM’s policy experts Ari Redbord and Angela Ang — alongside special guest Patrick Hansen (Senior Director, EU Strategy and Policy at Circle) — to unpack these trends and more. They’ll take you around the world to break down the key themes shaping 2026, and examine how both lawful users and illicit actors are leveraging crypto infrastructure.

You’ll learn about:
• How stablecoins — which saw roughly USD 4 trillion in on-chain activity last year — are driving faster settlement, cross-border payments, and treasury liquidity for banks, corporates, and fintechs
• What the pause in US market structure legislation means, and how federal agencies are moving forward through guidance and rulemaking
• How APAC jurisdictions are shifting from framework design to active supervision, with Singapore and Hong Kong accelerating licensing regimes and South Korea and Japan strengthening AML and Travel Rule compliance
• How EMEA is entering the implementation phase of MiCA, focusing on authorization, prudential standards, and perimeter controls around high-risk flows
• What to watch in Q2, from MiCA milestones to stablecoin policy discussions and evolving US agency priorities

Q1 makes clear that crypto infrastructure is not just growing — it’s becoming more integrated, more supervised, and increasingly central to cross-border finance.
1732306154-0d7e2e961a6a08e1
Ari Redbord
Global Head of Policy, TRM Labs
Ari Redbord is the Global Head of Policy at TRM Labs, a blockchain analytics company. Prior to joining TRM Labs, he served as a Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary and the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the United States Department of Treasury. In this capacity, he worked with teams from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and other Treasury and interagency components on issues related to sanctions, the Bank Secrecy Act, cryptocurrency, and anti-money laundering strategies.

Previously, Mr. Redbord served as a Senior Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he investigated and prosecuted cases related to cryptocurrency, terrorist financing, sanctions evasion, export control, child exploitation and human trafficking. He has received numerous awards from FinCEN, the FBI, and the United States Attorney's Office, including the Attorney General's Award for leading an interagency task force dedicated to prosecuting those who abuse and exploit children.
1732306155-cf810a8badf042a9
Angela Ang
Senior Policy Advisor, APAC, TRM Labs
Angela leads Asia Pacific public policy and government affairs for TRM Labs. Prior to TRM, Angela spent over a decade at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, where she held a diverse range of roles in regulatory policy, financial supervision, business development and consumer education, giving her deep insight into the full gamut of policymaking considerations for global financial regulators. Angela was recently recognised as a LinkedIn Top Voice for Finance in Asia for her thought leadership on digital asset developments in the region. She holds an MBA from INSEAD.
1771339685-bee0ca51411bf803
Patrick Hansen
Senior Director, EU Strategy & Policy, Circle
Patrick Hansen is Senior Director, EU Strategy & Policy at Circle, a leading internet financial platform company advancing an open, global economy through digital assets, payment applications, and programmable blockchain infrastructure. With USDC, EURC, Circle Payments Network, and Arc, Circle enables trusted financial innovation for institutions, enterprises, and developers worldwide. Prior to that, Patrick was head of strategy & business development at crypto-wallet startup Unstoppable Finance and head of blockchain policy at Bitkom, Europe’s largest tech trade association. Patrick holds master degrees in business and political science.
Share
COPY