Summarize this article with:
MERGE Madrid opens on October 27, 2026 at the Madrid Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Madrid), followed by two days of conference at the Palacio de Cibeles on October 28 and 29. The first day’s institutional summit lists four sessions, one of them in Spanish, with speakers from Santander, Western Union, Crypto Finance (Deutsche Börse) and Unicaja. Cointribune, a media partner of the event, cross-checked the official agenda, the ticketing page and the organizer’s September 30 press release to build the MERGE Madrid 2026 program hour by hour.
To claim the MERGE Madrid x Cointribune partner discount (20% off with the code MERGECOINTRIBUNE20, under the organizer’s terms), book your MERGE Madrid ticket through the partner link.
In Brief
- The institutional summit runs on October 27, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., at the Madrid Stock Exchange. The conference then fills the Palacio de Cibeles on October 28 and 29, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the official agenda.
- Four sessions are listed for the October 27 summit, from BitGo to Rain, plus a 5:30 p.m. slot still to be confirmed.
- The organizer expects more than 3,000 attendees and 250 speakers, per its September 30, 2026 press release.
- Tickets run from €139 (one-day Discover Pass) to €2,399 (Business) until October 15, according to the official ticketing page checked on October 6.
- Cointribune is a media partner: its community gets 20% off a ticket through the partner link.
What Is on the MERGE Madrid 2026 Program on October 27 at the Madrid Stock Exchange?
On October 27, the MERGE Madrid institutional summit takes place at the Madrid Stock Exchange from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with check-in from 3 p.m. reserved for speakers and Business ticket holders, followed by a VIP cocktail dinner, according to the official agenda checked on October 6, 2026. Our practical guide and MERGE Madrid promo code covers the tickets.
| Time | Session | Announced speakers |
| 3:30 to 4 p.m. | BitGo panel: institutional custody without borders | Coty de Monteverde (Banco Santander), Luis Ayala (BitGo) |
| 4 to 4:30 p.m. | Crypto Finance panel: bank-grade digital assets in practice | Stijn Vander Straeten (Crypto Finance Group, Deutsche Börse), Gonzalo Pradas (Openbank) |
| 4:30 to 5 p.m. | Rain roundtable: stablecoins | Fermín Cifuentes (Rain), Malcolm Clarke (Western Union) |
| 5 to 5:30 p.m. | Crypto-assets and the transformation of the banking sector (in Spanish) | Benoît Courtois (Unicaja), Xaquin Broz (ABANCA), Aleix Guillaumes (Creand Wealth Management), moderated by Aurora Cuadros (Cecabank) |
| 5:30 to 6 p.m. | Session to be confirmed | Not announced |
Several banks appear on this day alone: Santander and its online bank Openbank, Unicaja, ABANCA and Creand Wealth Management, with Cecabank moderating. On the payments side, Western Union will present its dollar stablecoin USDPT, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank on Solana, according to the organizer’s press release of September 30. A stablecoin is a token whose value is tied to a reference asset, most often the dollar or the euro. The day before, on October 26, a side event called El Encuentro Solana en España runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. by pre-registration.
What Happens at the Palacio de Cibeles on October 28 and 29?
On October 28 and 29, the main conference fills the Palacio de Cibeles from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.: talks and panels, an exhibition area, networking and a startup track, with a VIP cocktail lunch from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. A happy hour follows on October 28 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and the closing party takes place on October 29 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., according to the official agenda.
As of October 6, the version of the agenda page we checked showed only the broad time blocks for these two days, without the panels. The organizer says the topics cover stablecoins and payments, tokenization, custody, regulation, capital markets, Bitcoin (BTC) and artificial intelligence applied to finance. For background, see our piece on why banks are betting on stablecoins.
The press release also highlights Qivalis, the alliance of 37 institutions in 15 countries preparing a euro stablecoin, with a commercial launch planned for the second half of 2026, subject to authorization. BBVA, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, Cecabank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Bankinter and other member banks will present their role. Our earlier coverage explains how 25 new banks joined Qivalis. Santander will discuss the project it is exploring with Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, MUFG, TD Bank, UBS and BNP Paribas.
For the first time, banks, fintechs, and major payment companies are not coming to debate whether stablecoins will play a role in the financial system, but rather to explain how they are building and integrating them, and what specific problems they aim to solve with them.
Paula Pascual, founder of MERGE, press release of September 30, 2026
Which MERGE Madrid Tickets Can You Buy, and at What Price?
MERGE Madrid offers five ticket types, including two one-day Discover Passes (October 28 or 29). According to the official ticketing page checked on October 6, 2026, prices including VAT run from €139 to €2,399 until October 15, against €149 to €2,999 at the regular rate.
| Ticket | Access | Regular price (VAT incl.) | Price until October 15 (VAT incl.) |
| Discover Pass (1 day, October 28 or 29) | Conference from 9 a.m., exhibition from 2 p.m., recorded content | €149 | €139 |
| Estándar (2 days) | Conference and exhibition on October 28 and 29, app, networking | €499 | €449 |
| Pro (2 days) | Estándar, contact with speakers and sponsors through the app, VIP lunch on October 28 | €899 | €799 |
| Business (3 days, limited seats) | Pro, institutional summit and VIP evening on October 27, speakers and sponsors lounge | €2,999 | €2,399 |
Among these options, only the Business ticket opens the October 27 institutional summit. The ticket covers neither travel nor accommodation, and the event’s terms are worth reading on the MERGE website before you pay.
As a media partner of MERGE Madrid, Cointribune gives its community 20% off a ticket, applied through the organizer’s partner link and subject to its terms.
Book your MERGE Madrid ticket with 20% off (code MERGECOINTRIBUNE20), offer subject to the organizer’s terms.
The current price tier runs until October 15 according to the official ticketing page, and the October 27 summit is capped at 400 attendees, speakers included. Three things remain to watch before the opening: the 5:30 p.m. summit slot, the detailed October 28 and 29 schedule, and the launch date Qivalis will give for its euro stablecoin, which still needs authorization. How the event positions itself is covered in our article on euro stablecoin banks taking center stage in Madrid.
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