Nanyang Blockchain Conference 2026 - Think Beyond the Block
The Nanyang Blockchain Conference 2026 was successfully held at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore on 21-22 August 2026.
Organised by the NTU Centre in Computational Technologies for Finance (NTU-CCTF) and co-organised by the Singapore Academy of Engineering (SAEng) and the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society (IEEE TEMS), the conference brought together researchers, industry leaders and practitioners from around the world to exchange ideas on the latest developments in blockchain, digital finance and decentralised technologies, while strengthening dialogue between academic research and industry practice.
This year, the conference received 53 paper submissions from 12 countries, with 19 papers accepted following peer review. The strong turnout across the two days reflected sustained interest in blockchain research, digital finance and emerging decentralised technologies.
Welcome Remarks
NBC 2026 officially opened with welcome remarks by Prof. Louis Phee, Vice President (Innovation & Entrepreneurship) at NTU. Welcoming participants to NTU, Prof. Phee marked the start of two days of exchange between academia and industry and encouraged participants to make the most of the conference to share ideas, build connections and explore new opportunities for collaboration.
Perspectives on the Future of Finance
Across the two-day conference, two keynote lectures brought perspectives on blockchain infrastructure and financial markets.
On the first day, Prof. Muriel Médard, Co-Founder and CEO of Optimum, delivered the keynote “Creating and Monetizing Speed in Blockchain.” Her presentation explored the role and value of speed in blockchain systems, opening the conference’s technical discussions on blockchain performance and emerging infrastructure.
On the second day, Prof. Peter Bossaerts from the University of Cambridge delivered “Experimenting with Financial Markets.” His keynote brought a financial-market perspective to the conference, examining how experimental approaches can contribute to the understanding of market behaviour and financial systems.
Conversations on Digital Finance and Decentralised Intelligence
Across the two-day programme, invited talks, technical sessions and research presentations explored topics including blockchain security, cryptography, consensus mechanisms, interoperability, crypto finance, decentralised finance (DeFi), AI and governance, and emerging decentralised technologies.
Researchers and practitioners from academia and industry shared new findings and practical perspectives throughout the programme. The conference also provided opportunities for students and early-career researchers to present their work, engage with established researchers and industry practitioners, and participate in discussions across the two days.
These exchanges were complemented by two panel discussions that addressed broader questions shaping the future of blockchain and digital finance.
The Day 1 panel, “Digital Money in Transition: Markets, Institutions, and the Future of Finance,” brought together perspectives from academia and industry on the evolving landscape of digital money, financial markets and institutions.
On Day 2, “Decentralized Intelligence: Autonomy, Accountability, and Trust” turned the conversation towards the growing intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain, examining questions of autonomy, accountability and trust in emerging decentralised systems. On Day 2, “Decentralized Intelligence: Autonomy, Accountability, and Trust” turned the conversation towards the growing intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain, examining questions of autonomy, accountability and trust in emerging decentralised systems. 
On Day 2, “Decentralized Intelligence: Autonomy, Accountability, and Trust” turned the conversation towards the growing intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain, examining questions of autonomy, accountability and trust in emerging decentralised systems.
Together, the presentations and panels connected advances in blockchain technology with their wider implications for finance, governance and the evolving decentralised ecosystem.
Recognising Research Excellence
Outstanding research contributions were also recognised through the Best Paper Award and the IEEE TEMS Technical Committee on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies Awards.
The Best Paper Award was presented to “The Anonymity Gap: Understanding Real Privacy in Shielded UTXO-based Protocols for DeFi,” authored by Hanze Guo, Stefanos Chaliasos, Yebo Feng and Jiahua Xu.
The awards celebrated research contributions to blockchain and distributed ledger technologies and reflected NBC 2026’s role in bringing together both established researchers and the next generation of scholars.
Looking Beyond the Block
NBC 2026 concluded with closing remarks by Prof. Yonggang Wen, Director of NTU-CCTF, who reflected on the discussions and exchanges across the two-day programme and thanked speakers, participants, organisers and partners for their contributions to the conference.