Interview during the masterclass “The Frontier of Financial Innovation on Digital Infrastructure,” organized in collaboration with BeBeez as part of WeWealth’s Wealth Management Summit 2025.
“Today, wealth managers can no longer simply manage capital: they must design the entire system through which that capital is held, moved, tracked, regulated, and grown. This means being architects of digital wealth infrastructures. Those who don’t make this leap risk remaining mere intermediaries in a world that requires the skills of a builder.” These are the words of Roberto Rivera, founder, chairman & CEO of RIV Capital, speaking from Dubai during the masterclass “The frontier of financial innovation on digital infrastructure” organized in partnership with BeBeez as part of WeWealth’s Wealth Management Summit 2025, which was held in Milan on October 9th and brought together over 400 industry professionals (see an other article by BeBeez International here and the presentation slides here).
In Rivera’s vision, the wealth manager of the future no longer simply selects funds, assets, or investment solutions, but designs, structures, and orchestrates a digital ecosystem that supports the client’s entire wealth. This means, for example, creating structures that combine centralized finance (CeFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) (e.g., tokens, regulated digital assets, stable assets); but also managing the technological infrastructure that supports the custody, validation, and traceability of investments (blockchain, smart contracts, wallets, automated compliance); and offering interoperability and transparency, with auditable, real-time solutions that can be configured to meet client needs.
Click above to watch the video of the full masterclass.
For Mr. Rivera, this isn’t a choice, but a necessary evolution for several reasons. Because client demand is changing: family offices and sophisticated investors today want transparency, direct control, security, and access to new asset classes, and all of this requires infrastructure, not just advice. But it’s also because the market is changing: access to “confidential” returns is no longer guaranteed solely by active selection, but by the ability to integrate new protocols, tokenizations, and alternative regulated instruments. And finally, because the regulatory and technological landscape is changing: with the implementation of the European MiCAR Regulation (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation – EU Regulation 2023/1114), which governs the cryptocurrency market in the EU, and with the arrival of RegTech solutions, new technical and legal skills are required, which require planning and governance, not just management. And finally, because operational efficiency becomes a competitive advantage: being an architect allows you to offer integrated, low-cost, highly customized, and scalable wealth experiences.
Question: Let’s start with the vision: what are you building with RIV Capital?
Answer: As Chairman and CEO of RIV Capital, I have the privilege of leading a group operating between the Emirates and Luxembourg, but with a profoundly European DNA and a global vision. The 2024 Tier 1 investment bank reports already noted that global family offices allocate between 45% and 60% of their assets to strategic alternative investments. But how many truly have transparent and compliant access to the new digital infrastructure? We are working precisely on this frontier: redefining how wealth is managed, how trading and fund management are conducted, and above all how risk is controlled.
Q. Why is it urgent today to transition to a new digital financial infrastructure?
A. Because we are witnessing the convergence of decentralized finance, centralized digital finance, and intelligent regtech. In this context, wealth managers have a historic opportunity: to become not just distributors, but architects of digital wealth solutions. Anyone who fails to evolve in this direction is making a serious strategic mistake.
Q. Specifically, what types of tools do you offer?
A. Our RAIF is an example. The RIV Capital Sicav RAIF, a Luxembourg-registered hedge fund, launched in October 2023, is a long-only multi-asset model-driven fund that integrates artificial intelligence to select assets with long-term intrinsic value. Since its inception in late October 2023, it has achieved a positive performance of 36%, with at least 50% invested in high-yield bonds and weekly liquidity. The fund is designed to complement centralized finance, designed to attract institutional investors seeking a secure entry point to the decentralized world, but with European rules and weekly liquidity.
Q. So CeFi and DeFi are no longer at odds?
A. Exactly. We published a white paper on ArXive, a Cornell University scientific platform, in which we show how CeFi and DeFi are integrable components. Crypto-hyphenates have often obscured the real value of blockchain, while traditional finance initially underestimated innovation. But now we’re at the point of convergence, and this is the real paradigm shift.
Q. How do you ensure compliance and security in your decentralized infrastructure?
A. We’ve developed a comprehensive ecosystem. In Dubai, we operate under the supervision of VARA (Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority); in Italy, our Italian subsidiary RIV Digital is supervised by Consob. The RIV Wallet is non-custodial, decentralized, and fully compliant with KYC (Know-Your-Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations in the EU and ABAC (Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption) regulations in the UK. Our RIV Chain is a quantum-resistant sovereign blockchain, designed to withstand attacks, even from quantum computers, and uses ZKP (zero-knowledge proof) cryptographic protocols to validate reserves in real time. And then there’s the RIV Coin, the one featured in the white paper, collateralised by real assets, which distributes seigniorage democratically through shared governance. Everything is on-chain, auditable, and transparent.
Q. What impact does all this have for retail investors?
A. Today, even retail investors can access returns and risk profiles that were previously exclusive to the institutional world. This redefines the very concept of democratizing finance. The ability to access attractive minimum returns also changes the rules for wealth managers, who must compete in a broader, but also more competitive, market.
Q. In short, why is RIV relevant to the wealth management industry?
A. For three key reasons. First: true diversification, because we offer a multilayer ecosystem with liquid, regulated, and permanent vehicles. Second: tax and regulatory efficiency, thanks to our presence in Europe, Italy, Luxembourg, and the UAE, with compliance-friendly environments. Third: education, because through RIV Academy, integrated into the wallet, we offer free, semi-professional training content. Our goal is to build an accessible, secure, and scalable wealth infrastructure. And to do so, you need skills, vision, and technology.
