Fireblocks says APAC institutions rank compliance first when selecting digital asset infrastructure providers.
Compliance and regulatory alignment seem to be the most important factors for APAC financial institutions when selecting digital asset infrastructure providers, according to Fireblocks’s 2026 flagship survey report, The Financial Grid.
The report, based on responses from more than 600 C-suite and senior decision-makers at financial institutions and corporations globally, found that 66% of APAC institutions cited compliance and regulatory alignment as a critical provider-selection factor. This was 25 percentage points above the global figure of 43% and the highest level across all regions.
The finding comes as APAC institutions move more quickly than global peers in committing to digital asset infrastructure. Fireblocks found that 62% of APAC financial institutions had already committed a budget before 2026, compared with 50% in Europe, 41% in Latin America, 40% in Africa and the Middle East, and 27% in North America.
APAC also leads in client-facing activity. The report found that 46% of institutions in the region are in external pilots with clients, while 23% are already in production. Combined, 69% are either live or running client-facing tests.
The emphasis on compliance does not appear to reflect regulatory uncertainty. Fireblocks found that 97% of APAC institutions expect the regulatory outlook to be favourable or very favourable. Only 39% cited regulatory and legal uncertainty as a constraint, the lowest level among all regions.
Instead, the data suggests compliance has become an operational requirement as institutions move from pilots to production. Integration with existing bank systems was cited by 52% of APAC institutions when selecting infrastructure providers, while 49% highlighted interoperability across digital asset types and settlement models.
The region’s infrastructure requirements also reflect its focus on institutional asset servicing. APAC was the only region where digital asset custody led the use-case priority ranking, with 84% of institutions rating it as a high or core strategic priority. Tokenised securities and tokenised money market funds are also major focus areas, with 68% and 58% of APAC institutions, respectively, planning to use them in a live environment in 2026.
However, internal execution risks remain. Fireblocks found that 62% of APAC institutions cited operational risk and readiness as a constraint, while 60% pointed to limited internal expertise and skills.
For APAC institutions, the next phase of digital asset adoption may depend less on regulatory clarity and more on whether infrastructure providers can support compliant, secure and interoperable operations at scale.
Read the report here.
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