CryptoAI Summit 2025 Ignites Wall Street: Where TradFi Meets the AI-Driven Crypto Future

New York, May 10, 2025 — Hosted by Bitpush and co-organized by The Chinese Finance Association (TCFA), CryptoAI Summit 2025 concluded with resounding success, drawing nearly 30 thought leaders from institutions such as Coinbase, Citigroup, Cantor Fitzgerald, MSCI, Columbia University, and the Solana Foundation.

Under the theme “The Convergence of AI and Crypto”, the summit delivered a full day of high-intensity dialogue on digital assets, artificial intelligence, regulation, Web3 infrastructure, and the future of investing. The event bridged traditional finance and frontier technology, fueling powerful discussions on how the two worlds are colliding—and collaborating.

Welcome Speech

Bitpush Managing Editor May Liu and TCFA Chairman Joy Zhang jointly delivered a speech to open the summit, emphasizing the necessity and urgency of "cross-border dialogue" and calling on the financial and innovation circles to "break boundaries and move towards integration."

Opening Keynote: Beyond Borders and Time – Global Trading in the Age of Digital Assets

Speaker: John D’Agostino, Head of Strategy, Coinbase Institutional
Host: Joy Zhang, Managing Director, MSCI; President, TCFA

John D’Agostino opened the summit with a sweeping analysis of how institutional capital is adjusting to the structural revolution driven by digital assets. Touching on macro policy, capital flows, and market structure evolution, he emphasized that regulatory clarity is a prerequisite for institutional adoption. He also highlighted stablecoins, on-chain settlements, and AI-driven trading as future focal points for capital markets.

Panel #1: Regulating the Unregulatable – Crypto Assets in the Trump Era

Moderator: Wilfred Daye, CEO, Sylvanus Technologies
Panelists:

• Ivan Zhang, Co-Founder, PennyWorks

• Jue Wang, Director of Legal & Compliance, BitMart

• Hao Wu, CEO, Clouder Power

• Winston Ma, Partner, Dragon Global Family Office; Co-Founder, Dragon AI

This panel tackled regulatory shifts under the Trump era, including stablecoin legislation, Bitcoin reserve policies at the state level, and sovereign wealth fund attitudes toward digital assets. Panelists described U.S. crypto regulation as an “onion structure”—layered and complex but trending toward institutionalization.

Fireside Chat: Reimagining a World with Crypto and AI

🗣️ Kathryn Zhao, Global Head of Electronic Trading, Cantor Fitzgerald
🎤 Maggie Wang, Managing Director, Citigroup; TCFA President-Elect

Kathryn Zhao explored the dual evolution of crypto and AI. She examined AI’s role in enhancing user experience in crypto trading and vice versa, proposing a hybrid model of AI agents verified by blockchain identity. Her forward-looking concept of “AI agents + blockchain authentication” drew strong attention from attendees.

Panel #2: Navigating the AI Frontier – Current Innovations and Future Trends

Moderator: Maggie Wang, Citigroup
Panelists:

• Zhou (Jo) Yu, Professor, Columbia University

• Tao Cheng, Former Head of AI & Analytics, Ally

• Ken Huang, CEO & CAIO, DistributedApps.ai

• Dr. Jay Zou, CTO, NBW

  

Panelists discussed democratizing AI through decentralization, emphasizing open-source development, privacy-preserving training, and community ownership of next-gen models. “Next-generation AI tools should be shaped by developers and communities, not monopolies,” Jo Yu noted.

Panel #3: Ethereum vs. Solana – The Web3 Performance War

Moderator: Lincoln Murr, AI Product Lead, Coinbase
Panelists:

• Han Liu, Founder, BitFi

• Chaz, Founding Engineer, Solayer

• Jiani Chen, Growth, Solana Foundation

  

In this high-energy technical debate, Ethereum advocates stressed security and decentralization, while Solana’s camp emphasized speed and cost-efficiency. Both sides agreed that the platform able to consolidate liquidity and attract developers will win the long-term race

Panel #4: Finding the Next 100x Crypto Asset – The Art of Speculation

Moderator: Jessica Y, CEO, MetaEra
Panelists:

• Tian Zeng, CIO, Third Eye

• George Cao, Chairman, AscendEX

• Sichao Yang, Co-Founder & CTO, OORT

  

Panelists argued that speculation isn't a sin—it’s about managing risk and understanding narratives. Institutions are favoring structured products for volatile assets, while retail investors must master position sizing and timing. The real alpha, they agreed, lies in the gap between perception and information.

Panel #5: Venture Capital in the Age of AI and Crypto – Adapting to a New Era

Moderator: Bianca Chen, Investor & Entrepreneur
Panelists:

• Keith Chen, Managing Partner, SNZ Capital

• Seamon Chan, Founding Partner, Palm Drive Capital

• Elaine Yang, Founder, Satoshi Lab & AI101Labs

Venture capitalists emphasized that today’s investors must understand AI architectures, tokenomics, and human behavior in tandem. AI and crypto are altering how investors evaluate traction and risks. Notably, sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia are returning to Web3 with a focus on infrastructure and Layer-1 solutions.

Panel #6: AI Agents & Meme Coins – The New Market Makers?

Moderator: Stephen Wang, CEO, Abel AI
Panelists:

• Xi Chen, Professor, NYU Stern

• Joanna Zeng, CEO, SOON Network

• Weiyee In, CIO, Protego Trust Bank

• Biwei Huang, Professor, UCSD; CTO, Abel.ai

  

This forward-looking discussion explored whether meme coins and AI agents are evolving into credible market actors. Topics included whether AI can become on-chain assistants, how meme coins function as cultural assets, and how agents may reshape market microstructure. The panel emphasized that transparency, verifiability, and regulatory integration are essential for AI’s future in finance.

The Conversation Continues

While CryptoAI Summit 2025 has concluded, its insights are still rippling through Wall Street and Web3. Full session photos and highlights will be released on Bitpush’s platforms throughout the week.

Twitter/X: https://x.com/bitpushnews

Stay tuned for more innovation at the intersection of AI and crypto.

Watch the live stream replay: https://www.cryptoaisummit.io/

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