Hedera kicked off 2026 with a strong institutional presence across a wide range of global engagements throughout Q1. Throughout the quarter, Hedera was actively engaged in discussions on stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, and enterprise-focused infrastructure, including private and hybrid deployments through HashSphere for regulated use cases. The team also contributed to the evolving global digital asset policy dialogue, while continuing to educate the community and developers through hackathons and ecosystem initiatives.
Spotlight
World Economic Forum: Davos, Switzerland, Jan 19-23, 2026
Hedera returned to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos as an active contributor to the conversations shaping the global economy, with a strong presence across sponsorships, speaking engagements, and high-level convenings. As a sponsor of the USA House, Hedera helped anchor a central hub for dialogue, hosting and participating in discussions on digital assets, AI policy, innovation, and global competitiveness.
Throughout the week, Hedera leadership featured prominently across major platforms. Co-Founder and Council Chairman Mance Harmon joined CNBC to discuss Hedera’s market differentiators, while Hashgraph CEO Eric Piscini spoke at the Nasdaq and IIF ‘Igniting Innovation in Finance’ event and at GBBC’s Blockchain Central Davos alongside industry leaders. Hedera’s Chief Policy Officer Nilmini Rubin led discussions at USA House on the future of U.S. digital asset regulation and was recognized at GBBC’s Appreciation Awards for her leadership in blockchain and public policy.
Across these engagements, several themes emerged: the expansion of tokenization beyond stablecoins into broader asset classes, the convergence of AI and distributed ledger technology to enhance trust and accountability, and the growing urgency for clear, coordinated digital asset regulation. For Hedera, Davos 2026 reinforced both the momentum behind these technologies and the importance of continued collaboration between public and private sectors.
“As ever, Davos 2026 proved both insightful and consequential. Hedera was at the center of global dialogue on digital infrastructure, global finance, and the future of trust. Across conversations with policymakers, institutions, and innovators, there was clear alignment: the transition toward a more transparent, accountable, and trusted digital economy is already underway.” — Sara Hale | Chief Marketing Officer at Hashgraph
LF Decentralized Trust 2026 Member Summit: Jersey City, NJ, Jan 28-29, 2026
Hedera continued its commitment to the Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust (LFDT) community by participating in the 10th LF Decentralized Trust Member Summit. Over the course of two days, leaders from the Hedera ecosystem took part in multiple speaking engagements, contributing to critical industry conversations. Shyam Nagarajan, Chief Partnership Officer at Hashgraph, led discussions on code neutrality through a fireside chat and joined a panel on Identity in the Age of AI: Trust, Verification, and Accountability. Andrew Stakiwicz, CFA, participated in a panel exploring the evolving role of public chains in trust infrastructure, while Hendrik Ebbers and Andrew Brandt presented on bringing code to LF Decentralized Trust. Hendrik Ebbers also shared updates on Project Hiero, highlighting ongoing development progress. Hedera further strengthened its presence by sponsoring the ‘Trust on Tap Evening’ Reception, fostering meaningful connections and engagement across the community.
Hedera DevDay: Denver, CO, Feb 17, 2026
Hedera hosted its first flagship developer event, DevDay, on February 17, 2026, in Denver. Set alongside ETHDenver, the event was designed as a hands-on, community-first experience that brought together developers, builders, and ecosystem contributors to learn, connect, and build on the Hedera network. DevDay focused on advancing real-world application development through key themes such as EVM compatibility, agentic AI, and Hedera’s evolving roadmap, while giving attendees direct access to core engineers and the tools powering the network.
Throughout the day, participants engaged in main stage sessions, technical deep dives, and hands-on workshops, alongside interactive project stations to experiment with smart contracts, SDKs, and Hedera services. Collaborative labs, networking, and a prize-driven scavenger hunt added to the energy of the event.
The main stage featured high-impact sessions, including a fireside chat on hashgraph cryptography with Dr. Leemon Baird and Rohit Sinha, alongside talks from Hashgraph engineering and product leaders. With strong participation, hands-on experimentation, and winning teams emerging from challenges, Hedera DevDay marked a successful milestone, establishing a flagship platform for developer innovation and ecosystem growth. You can replay all the live sessions here.
“The energy during Hedera DevDay is hard to replicate virtually. Developers weren’t just attending sessions; they were asking the right questions, connecting with each other, and talking about what they’re actually building. That kind of direct feedback from the ecosystem builders and contributors is exactly what makes events like this worth doing.” — Ed Marquez | Head of Developer Relations at Hashgraph
ETHDenver: Denver, CO, Feb 15-21, 2026
Hedera also participated in ETHDenver, engaging the builder community with an Ecosystem Builders Booth featuring projects including LFDT, Kabila, Bonzo, DOVU, Zoniqx, Hashgraph Online, and Webacy. The booth served as a strong showcase of real-world innovation on Hedera, with teams actively demoing their applications and sharing hands-on experiences of building on the network with ETHDenver attendees. On the content side, Diogo Pereira, Senior Product Security Engineer at Hashgraph, presented “Audited. Formally Verified. Totally Compromised.” at the Protocol Engineering Summit, exploring one of the industry’s most impactful exploits, highlighting existing technical gaps, and outlining high-leverage actions to strengthen cyber resilience. Hedera also sponsored a bounty during ETHDenver BUIDL Week, further supporting developers building within the ecosystem, making it an overall impactful and engaging experience.
GFTN Forum Japan | Japan Fintech Week: Tokyo, Japan, Feb 24-27, 2026
At the GFTN Forum Japan, Hedera participated as a Silver Sponsor, spotlighting its focus on digital asset regulation, infrastructure, tokenization, and AI. Hedera ecosystem leaders were featured across three roundtables and a panel, engaging with industry leaders across finance and policy. Isadora Arredondo, VP of Global Policy at Hedera, first joined the roundtable on Financial Institutions and Technology Providers — Risks, Benefits, and Regulatory Responses, where she examined the growing reliance on a concentrated group of AI and technology providers, highlighting the balance between operational efficiency, systemic risk, and evolving global regulatory approaches. She also took part in the ‘GL1 Dialogue’ roundtable, focusing on interoperability, compliance-by-design, and scalable infrastructure to support the secure adoption of digital assets.
John Kikko, Senior Director at Hashgraph, spoke on the panel The New Era of Financial Services: Integrating AI and Digital Innovation in Banking and Insurance Ecosystems, where he explored how agentic AI and stablecoin infrastructure are transforming banking and insurance, enabling smarter decision-making, enhanced risk underwriting, and more efficient cross-border transactions. He also led the roundtable on Stablecoins and Tokenised Assets in Practice, diving into real-world adoption across payments, treasury, and capital markets, including the role of USD and JPY stablecoins in liquidity and settlement. Overall, the sessions sparked meaningful dialogue and offered valuable insights into Japan’s evolving digital asset landscape.
“The GFTN Forum Japan provided Hashgraph with a high-value opportunity to engage directly with senior decision-makers across banks, trading houses, fintechs, and regulators through panels, roundtables, and side events. Key discussions with institutions like SMBC, Mitsui, SBI, JPYC, and the FSA highlighted Japan’s accelerating shift from blockchain pilots to large-scale tokenization, particularly amid growing stablecoin activity. With Japan’s significant capital base and demand for yield, Hashgraph sees strong potential in bridging global assets to the market and plans to build on this momentum through continued engagement, including upcoming initiatives at WebX.” — John Kikko | Senior Director at Hashgraph
Black Swan Summit Australia: Perth, Australia, March 23-25, 2026
Hedera participated in the Black Swan Summit Australia with Rob Allen, Head of Hedera Enterprise Adoption Team at Hashgraph, speaking on the panel Tokenizing Real-World Assets: Can Pilots Mature into Real Markets? The session explored how tokenization is evolving beyond early-stage experiments into real economic infrastructure across sectors such as trade, commodities, energy, carbon, and finance. The discussion emphasized the importance of institutional-grade requirements including custody, legal clarity, interoperability, and governance in enabling scalable adoption.
Digital Asset Summit 2026: New York City, NY, March 24-26, 2026
Hedera returned to DAS New York 2026 with a booth, continuing its presence in supporting institutions as they modernize finance through tokenization, agentic AI, stablecoins, and sustainability-driven solutions. The executive team was on-site throughout the conference, engaging with industry leaders and partners, alongside a speaking opportunity on the panel Tokenized Equities & the T+0 Revolution. Shyam Nagarajan joined speakers from Nasdaq, Superstate, RockawayX, and Baillie Gifford to discuss the rapid growth of tokenized equities and securities. While acknowledging the momentum, he highlighted key barriers to institutional adoption, particularly around settlement infrastructure and trust, emphasizing how platforms like Hedera, governed by a council of global institutions, can provide the foundational trust layer needed to scale.
Hedera also hosted an institutional dinner, bringing together industry leaders to exchange perspectives on the future of tokenization, stablecoins, and regulated digital asset infrastructure.
LATAM Meetups
Over Q1 2026, Hedera ambassadors continued to grow the ecosystem across LATAM through a series of local meetups designed to onboard students, builders, and emerging communities. Spanning Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, these grassroots efforts welcomed more than 200 new community members — creating accessible entry points into blockchain, AI, and real-world applications being built on Hedera.
Across the region, each meetup focused on practical learning and community building. In Colombia, students at EAFIT University explored DLT fundamentals, financial use cases, and live applications on Hedera. In Brazil, public school students participated in a hands-on Dev Playground session, learning how to navigate the environment, create accounts, and begin building. Mexico marked its first Hedera meetup with the kickoff of the Hedera Apex Hackathon 2026 at UTTECAM in Puebla, while in Argentina, a meetup in Mendoza brought together both technical and non-technical audiences to discuss Web3, blockchain, AI agents, and the opportunities emerging within the Hedera ecosystem.
Hackathons
Hedera’s global hackathon efforts reached a new milestone with the Apex Hackathon, attracting over 1,200 participants from 80+ countries — its most diverse turnout to date. Builders engaged across high-impact tracks including AI & Agents, DeFi, and Sustainability, supported by dedicated mentor office hours and a series of workshops that each reached over 50,000 viewers. At ETHDenver, Hedera also stood out, securing the second-largest share of submissions, with the $10,000 winner-takes-all OpenClaw bounty drawing some of the event’s most competitive projects. Top teams from both hackathons have since been selected to join an invite-only incubator kicking off in May.
At the regional level, Hedera also hosted a multi-day hackathon experience that brought together university students, professors, entrepreneurs, and builders. The program concluded with an ideathon and hackathon that generated 19 submissions, highlighting strong interest in Hedera-powered business use cases and emerging agentic payment solutions. Projects were evaluated by a regional jury of Hedera ambassadors, including Argentina’s Developer and Community Ambassadors, reinforcing the role of community-led support in fostering builder growth across LATAM.
Stay in touch with Hedera
As Q1 2026 comes to a close, it marks a quarter of strong progress and continued collaboration across the ecosystem. Through real-world use cases, industry dialogue, and shared innovation, the team is excited to build on this momentum in the months ahead.
Explore all upcoming events to see where Hedera is headed next. Also be sure to subscribe to Hedera Highlights, a monthly newsletter, here.
