Stacks Asia Foundation Unveils Bank and Institutional Collaboration Model, and Updated Community Engagement Plans

ABU DHABI, 22 October 2026 — Stacks Asia DLT Foundation has shared further detail on its ongoing institutional pilot in Pakistan, while sharing a new working model to engage with institutions and strategic partners across the region for Stacks (STX). Remaining are the community activation efforts in partnership with Stacks Labs, with upcoming priorities set to three core markets — Korea, China & Hong Kong, and the Middle East.

Since establishing its regulated home in Abu Dhabi Global Market, Stacks Asia has worked across the region as a connector between the Stacks ecosystem and Asia's builders, institutions and policymakers. That relationship-building continues — and now sits alongside a clearer institutional mandate: working with governments, banks, technology partners and builders to design and test infrastructure for cross-border payments, digital assets, and regulated capital markets — and helping institutions engage with Bitcoin-native finance, including self-custodial Bitcoin staking.

"This is a step up in ambition and a refinement in approach based on our learnings over the past several years" said Hassan Baig, Director. "The relationships we've built across Korea, China and Hong Kong, and the Gulf are exactly how the next generation of institutional work gets identified and delivered. We're doubling down on those communities — with people on the ground, a real presence at the events that matter, and a flagship pilot program that will test our institutional working model in practice."

Three focus regions

The Foundation is organizing its work around three markets where regulated finance, digital assets and technical implementation are converging fastest:

• Korea — Home to the Foundation's most established regional presence, led by Stacks Labs partnerships with Seoul based institutional powerhouse Four Pillars, Korea’s #1 media entity TokenPost, and other local initiatives, with active community, builder-education and ecosystem programs. Stacks Asia will host institutional gatherings around the Upbit Institutional Summit and Korea Blockchain Week in Seoul this autumn.
• Greater China — Deepening institutional and ecosystem relationships across Greater China and engaging Hong Kong's fast-developing institutional digital-asset hub, with a presence across Hong Kong FinTech Week, the Cosmoverse Institutional Digital Assets Summit and Consensus Hong Kong.
• The Middle East — The Foundation's regulated base in Abu Dhabi and the home of its first major institutional program in Pakistan, with engagement across Gulf corridors and a presence at Abu Dhabi Finance Week and Token2049 Dubai.

To support the focus, Stacks Asia is expanding its regional presence — building on its Korea leadership and working with community ambassadors and local partners in each market, so engagement is led on the ground rather than coordinated remotely.

Pakistan: the model in practice

The Foundation's most advanced institutional work is its Pakistan Digital Financial Infrastructure program — the clearest proof of how the sharpened model operates in a real sovereign market.

In April 2026, Stacks Asia signed a memorandum of understanding with The Bank of Punjab, and in August 2026 it published two discussion papers: Programmable Remittance Orchestration, a regulated architecture for a standardized digital-dollar inbound interface that settles through approved banking channels and delivers ordinary PKR through Raast; and Tokenized Roshan Access, a controlled digital interface above Pakistan's existing regulated foreign-currency investment products. Both remain discussion-stage architectures, subject to regulatory, legal and partner approval — designed to connect to the financial systems Pakistan has already built rather than replace them.

Pakistan is the first market to reach this depth of institutional engagement. It is the beginning of the Foundation's operating model, not the boundary of its mandate.

A season of regional presence

Through the coming months, Stacks Asia will hold private, invite-only institutional dinners and gatherings during major regional event weeks — including Korea Blockchain Week (Seoul), Hong Kong FinTech Week and Consensus Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi Finance Week — creating direct venues for the banks, regulators, infrastructure providers and builders the Foundation works with. A full outlook runs through Token2049 Dubai in spring 2027.

Aligned with Stacks — and Bitcoin-native finance

The clearest institutional expression of the Stacks ecosystem is Bitcoin-native finance. Since the PoX-5 upgrade, Stacks has enabled self-custodial Bitcoin staking — letting holders earn native yield on their Bitcoin without giving up custody or leaving the Bitcoin security model, with more than 4,400 BTC in Bitcoin rewards paid to participants to date. For the banks, asset managers and institutions Stacks Asia works with across Korea, China and Hong Kong, and the Gulf, that combination — real, native Bitcoin yield under institutional-grade custody — is among the most concrete reasons to engage with Bitcoin-native infrastructure today. Stacks Asia’s role is to connect that infrastructure to regulated financial systems: the same operating model behind its Pakistan work applies to helping institutions access Bitcoin-native finance safely and within their regulatory obligations.

The renewed focus aligns the Foundation's regional work with the wider momentum of the Stacks ecosystem. Rooted in the Stacks ecosystem and its Bitcoin-secured technical foundation, Stacks Asia remains relationship driven and pragmatic as it plays its unique role in Bitcoin’s growing economy.

About Stacks Asia DLT Foundation

Stacks Asia DLT Foundation is an independent DLT Foundation registered in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM Registered No. 20697). It works across Asia at the intersection of regulated finance, digital assets and technical implementation, bringing technical depth to institutional initiatives where modern infrastructure can improve how value moves, how financial assets are accessed and how regulated systems coordinate. It is rooted in the Stacks ecosystem.

Media & partnerships: press@stacks.asia

This announcement is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer, solicitation, investment advice or the provision of regulated financial services. Initiatives and architectures described may be subject to regulatory, legal and partner approval.