The Future of Finance Digital Money Event 2025
Is It Game Over for Fiat Currency Finance?
June 16, 2025
Venue: The Aon Centre, The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, London EC3V 4AN
Topics:
1. Can fiat currencies survive?
2. Can cryptocurrency displace fiat currency?
3. Do money, payments and credit need banks?
4. Who will control the digital money infrastructure?
5. Can digital money boost economic growth?
Who will attend:
Central Banks, Bank, Payment Infrastructure Organisations, Stablecoin Issuers. Attendees will include those working in the securities, money, payments or foreign exchange (FX) markets, and any users of securities, money market, payments and FX services.
Keynote Speaker
Ali Moussavi
Head of the Bank of England’s Payments Strategy Unit
Speakers
Reyer Kooy
Global Head of Operations ‑ Digital at Apex Group
Daniel Eidan
Advisor and Solutions Architect at Bank of International Settlements (BIS)
Dr Heike Winter
Head of Department: Analysis, Policy, Ecosystem Digital Euro at Deutsche Bundesbank
Shearin Cao
EMEA Regulatory Engagement Function Director at Citi
Gilbert Verdian
CEO at Quant
Sophia Shluger
Founder, Theia Advisors – Blockchain consultancy
Richard Crook
CEO at Deus X Pay
Peter Left
Head of Digital & Markets Innovation at Lloyds Banking Group
Alex Dunn
Director for Innovation & Strategic Initiatives at Visa
Jón Egilsson
Co-founder and Chairman at Monerium
Ben Brophy
Head of Blockchain of Fidelity International
Ivan Mortimer-Schutts
Global Head of vLEI at Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF)
Amarjit (Jeet) Singh
EMEA Blockchain Leader at EY
Mike Manning
Independent
Jonny Fry
Group Head of Digital Assets Strategy at ClearBank
Emanuel Vila
Director – CEO Office – Corporate Strategy & Innovation Lead at CLS Group
Michael Cyrus
Head Short Term Products, Equity Finance & FX at DekaBank
Olaf Ransome
Founder at 3C Advisory
Tony McLaughlin
Founder of Ubyx Inc
Austen Appleby
Senior Product Manager at R3
Chris Tyrer
President of Bullish Exchange
Natasha Benson
Chief Operating Officer at Ownera
Moderators
Dominic Hobson
Editorial Director and Co-Founder at Future of Finance
Bob Currie
Contributing Editor at Future of Finance
Mike Manning
Independent
This Future of Finance Digital Money one day event will explore some of these issues on June 16, 2025
Agenda
09.00 to 10.00 Registration Opens with Refreshments
10.00 to 10.15 Opening Address: Future of Finance and Gold Sponsor
10.15 to 10.30 Keynote Address: Ali Moussavi, Head of the Bank of England’s Payments Strategy Unit.
| Panel 1 10.30 to 11.30: Can fiat currencies survive? (45 minutes panel discussion and time for questions and turn around) Topics and Questions: – Since their inception in August 1971 fiat currencies have become synonymous with persistent inflation, the accumulation of debt by the public and the private sectors, periodic financial crashes followed by bail-outs of banks and other financial institutions, occasional confiscations of assets, quantitative easings and extended periods of low and even negative rates of interest. Are there benefits that outweigh these costs? – Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) would put fiat currencies on-chain. Will this lead to outcomes different from the historical experience of fiat currencies off-chain? – The CBDCs that have been launched have not proved popular with merchants or consumers. Does this owe anything to previous experience with off-chain fiat currencies? – Would a non-fiat CBDC (e.g., one backed by a scarce asset or even government bonds) have a higher chance of adoption? – Which of the two main forms of digital money are traditional banks incentivised to issue: Stablecoins or tokenised deposits? – Some say an opportunity was missed after the great financial crisis of 2007-09 to transform or replace fiat currencies. If a similar opportunity arose, what path should any transition to a new system follow? Panellist: Richard Crook – CEO at Deus X Pay https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickcrook/ Michael Cyrus – Head of Short Term Products, Equity Finance & FX at Deka Bank https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-j-cyrus-635a0036/ Peter Left – Head of Digital and Markets Innovation at Lloyds Bank https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-left-991a94/ Jonny Fry – Head of Digital Assets Strategy at ClearBank https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonnyfry/ Natasha Benson – Chief Operating Officer at Ownera https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-benson-06128a15/ |
| Panel 2 11.30 to 12.30: Can cryptocurrency displace fiat currency? (45 minutes panel discussion and time for questions and turn around) Topics and Questions: – Does Bitcoin (or any other form of digital money) offer a viable alternative design to fiat currencies? – If the viable design as a replacement for fiat currencies is not Bitcoin, what would be a viable design (e.g., a form of digital money backed a scarce commodity such as gold or government bonds or a tax-raising government as issuer)? – Bitcoin lacks the speed and capacity to be useful as money in day-to-day consumer transactions. Could it instead play a role similar to central bank money in settling netted transactions handled by other digital apps (akin to the role of an RTGSs in the current commercial bank/central bank money system)? – The Czech central bank floated the idea of adding Bitcoin to its currency reserves. Though other central banks (the ECB and the SNB) have rejected the idea, will Bitcoin reserves remain unthinkable? – Bitcoin competes successfully with weaker fiat currencies (such as those of Argentina, South Africa and Nigeria). Might weak fiat currencies be the first to be displaced by a cryptocurrency? – The Trump administration seeks to cancel work on a US dollar CBDC, liberalise the regulation of cryptocurrencies, promote Stablecoins and add some cryptocurrencies to central bank reserves. Do these measures strengthen or weaken the US dollar as the world’s principal fiat currency reserve? Panellist: Mike Manning – Independent – https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelrmanning/ Dr Heike Winter – Head of Department: Analysis, Policy, Ecosystem Digital Euro at Deutsche Bundesbank https://www.linkedin.com/in/heike-winter-20a65327/ Chris Tyrer – President at Bullish Exchange https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-tyrer-78933a13a/ Tony McLaughlin – Founder of Ubyx Inc – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-mclaughlin-7b627a3/ |
12.30 to 13.30 Lunch and Networking
| Panel 3 13.30 to 14.30: Do money, payments and credit need banks? (45 minutes panel discussion and time for questions and turn around) Topics and Questions: – Bitcoin was designed as a peer-to-peer payments system which does not need banks, but has survived so far as an instrument for (a) speculation and (b) self-custodied savings. Is it capable of developing into a payments and savings service alternative to banks? – Does the Bitcoin model imply the end of commercial bank money (bank deposits, created by fractional reserve banks making loans)? – Are Stablecoins and tokenised money market funds pioneering the future of money (uncapped, high yield, non-bank deposits) or injecting the past of money (bank credit-fuelled arbitrage and carry trading) into the cryptocurrency markets? – Might (tokenised?) money market funds replace banks as providers of retail demand deposit, payment and borrowing services (as proposed by Larry Kotlikoff in his Limited Purpose Banking idea of 2010)? – Non-banks have already taken significant market share from banks in payments for consumers and corporates domestically and across currencies and borders. But can they operate now or in the future without banks or banking market infrastructures? – Can programmable digital money out-compete conventional fiat currency service enhancements such as “instant” payments, account-to-account payments, embedded finance and open banking? Panellist: Reyer Kooy – Global Head of Operations ‑ Digital at Apex Group – https://www.linkedin.com/in/reyerkooy/ Jón Egilsson – Co-founder and Chairman at Monerium – https://www.linkedin.com/in/egilsson/ Austen Appleby – Senior Product Manager CBDCs – R3 https://www.linkedin.com/in/austen-appleby/ Amarjit Singh – EMEIA Blockchain Lead at EY https://www.linkedin.com/in/amarjit-singh-jeet/ Olaf Ransome – Founder at 3C Advisory https://www.linkedin.com/in/bankersplumber/ Moderated by Mike Manning – Independent – https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelrmanning/ |
| Panel 4 14.30 TO 15.30: Who will control the digital money infrastructure? (45 minutes panel discussion and time for questions and turn around) Topics and Questions: – The existing infrastructure is the product of telecommunications rather than digital technology, necessitating the updating of ledgers on proprietary systems via data exchanges between counterparts and their agents across messaging utilities such as SWIFT and settlement via centralised utilities such as ACHs, RTGSs and CLS. Are common platforms (such as the Regulated Liability Network or Partior) developing into viable alternatives or are they a means of preserving the status quo? – Bitcoin comes with a decentralised network infrastructure that has no need of fiat currency money transfer payment and clearing systems. Can it (or something like it) ever be strong enough to make fiat currency market infrastructures redundant? ) – Stablecoins support multiple blockchains, permitting near-real time transfers between digital wallets without bank intermediation, across as well as within borders. Are they a short-term expedient or a long-term solution? – The card networks are trying to keep abreast of developments in digital money, including providing distribution infrastructure for Stablecoins. Are they pursuing a viable long-term strategy? – What incentives do banks have to invest in the infrastructure necessary to support CBDCs? – Making cross-border payments faster, cheaper, more transparent and more accessible is a priority of international financial market regulators. Are initiatives such as Project mBridge and Project Agora too backwards-compatible to provide durable solutions? Panellist: Alex Dunn – Director for Innovation & Strategic Initiatives at Visa – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexjohndunn/ Gilbert Verdian – CEO at Quant https://www.linkedin.com/in/gverdian/ Ivan Mortimer-Schutts – Global Head of vLEI at Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-mortimer-schutts-6b5b6/ Emanuel Via – Director CEO Office Corporate Strategy and Innovation at CLS https://www.linkedin.com/in/emanuelvila/ Moderated by Dominic Hobson Co-Founder at Future of Finance |
15.30 TO 16.30 – Coffee Break and Networking
| Panel 5 16.30 to 17.30: Can digital money boost economic growth? (45 minutes panel discussion and time for questions and turn around) Topics and Questions: – In March 2024 BCG estimated that, if introduced at scale, a retail CBDC plus Stablecoins and tokenised deposits could boost Hong Kong GDP by 0.5 per cent every year until 2032, generating an extra HK$160 billion in wealth, by releasing financial assets for use as collateral, improving policy targeting, increasing investment in Web 3.0 businesses and and cutting cross-currency settlement costs. Are the gains tempting enough to impel change? – Economic growth in Europe and North America has faltered since fiat currencies were introduced in the early 1970s, which some blame on the monetary policies made possible by fiat currencies, because they erode savings, increase debt, encourage consumption and lead to misallocation of investment. What sort of digital money would encourage productive investment, innovation and growth? – Is it prudent to believe that code and cryptography can make digital forms of money resistant to the same temptations as fiat currency (i.e., avoid inflation of money supply, capture by interest groups, the emergence of regulatory and infrastructural barriers to entry, and the underwriting of risks by central banks)? – If digital forms of money can be made less prone to inflation, they should in principle weaken the case for debt and strengthen the case for equity financing. What impact might digital money have on the securities markets? – Would a Digital Money system based on 100 per cent reserving or “narrow” banking need commercial banks as allocators, managers and traders of credit risk (and central banks as the final underwriters of commercial bank risk)? – In the long run, is it the destiny of Digital Money to embrace the status quo or replace it? Panellist: Sophia Shluger – Founder, Theia Advisors – Blockchain consultancy – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-shluger-ba505912/? Moderated by Dominic Hobson Co-Founder at Future of Finance |
17.45 to 20.00 Networking drinks and canapes
For More Information Contact:
Wendy Gallagher
Co-Founder Future of Finance
wendy.gallagher@futureoffinance.biz
Mobile 07725 160903