Digital Assets 2024
14 - 15 May, 2024
Business Design Centre, London
Day 2 | 15th May
8:00 am - 8:40 am
Registration and Breakfast
8:40 am - 8:50 am
Welcome Address: Anna Andrews, Editorial Director, DigiAssets
8:50 am - 9:00 am
Chair’s Opening Remarks
Julia Streets -
Founder & CEO,
Streets Consulting
Evaluating Market Predictions for 2024
9:00 am - 9:25 am
The macroeconomic outlook for the year ahead: How will the evolving macro and geopolitical environment impact capital markets and digital asset performance in 2024?
Altaf Kassam -
Head of Investment Strategy and Research, EMEA,
State Street Global Advisors
- Macroeconomic headwinds: How are risk assets expected to perform in a challenging environment of slowing growth and tighter monetary policy?
- Geopolitical uncertainty: How will ongoing conflicts and global elections impact investor sentiment?
- Digital Asset diversification: What are the latest expectations for how different digital asset categories will respond to an uncertain macro environment?
- Regulation and innovation: What are the latest regulatory and technological developments that will shape the digital asset landscape, and will this lead to greater institutional adoption?
9:25 am - 9:45 am
Institutional Provider Keynote: Innovation in Crypto Financial Products, The Continued Fusion of TradFi and Crypto
Sui Chung -
Chief Executive Officer,
CF Benchmarks
Striving for Industry Standardization, Interoperability & Collaboration
9:45 am - 10:25 am
Market Infrastructure Panel **Hosted under Chatham House Rule**- Improving market infrastructure efficiencies: How is the industry addressing connectivity issues, standardization and counterparty risk to improve interoperability and market efficiencies?
Blue Macellari -
Head of Digital Assets Strategy,
T. Rowe Price
Michael Ashby -
Former Head of Digital Assets Strategic Implementation,
Point72
Sunny Parikh -
Co- Founder & Partner,
Reflexive Capital
Anton Katz -
Co-founder & CEO,
Talos
Tom Higgins -
CEO & Founder,
Gold-i
Niki Beattie -
Founder and Managing Director,
Market Structure Partners
- What progress has been made to drive common standards across custodians and to enable settlement interoperability?
- How is industry and regulators collaborating to develop similar guidelines to the CASS custody rules to improve best practice in digital asset custody?
- Will we see greater connectivity between exchanges, clearing houses and custodians to improve access to liquidity and reduce market fragmentation?
- How can you leverage new solutions that remove the need to integrate with multiple blockchains and platforms for settlement and custody, providing one point of access?
(Available for Sponsor x2)
10:25 am - 10:45 am
Institutional Provider Keynote: Solving for large scale institutional access to digital asset markets: The Interplay of Market Structure, Investment Banks, Technology and Regulation
Arnab Sen -
Co-founder, CEO,
GFO-X
- The Role of CCPs in Digital Asset: Understanding the function of Central Clearing Counterparties (CCPs) and why GFO-X’s partnership with LCH SA’s DigitalAssetClear is important in solving counterparty and credit risk, bringing large institutions into the market.
- Investment Banks and Cryptocurrency: Exploring why digital asset technology cannot disintermediate investment banks, the significance of banks in credit intermediation, and the risks associated with trading significant leverage on current digital asset exchanges.
- Exchange Technology: Although digital assets are a technology driven business, current digital asset exchange technology is subpar for large institutions.
- Regulatory Jurisdictions and Crypto: Discussing the diversity of regulatory jurisdictions and their impact on the digital asset markets.
10:45 am - 11:25 am
Institutionalization of Exchanges Panel: The Evolution of Exchanges: How are emerging institutional exchanges differentiating their services to gain market share and how will they coexist alongside unregulated venues?
David Newns -
CEO,
SDX
Arnab Sen -
Co-founder, CEO,
GFO-X
Jenna Wright -
Managing Director,
LMAX Digital
Theodore Rozencwajg -
Co- Founder,
D2X
Chantal Bradford -
Head of EMEA Institutional Sales,
Deribit
Wilhelm Roth -
Chief Executive Officer,
Icoinic Capital
- How is the crypto liquidity market structure evolving post FTX?
- What are the views and feedback from an asset manager who is selecting venues?
- How have digital asset exchanges developed in recent years, from retail platforms to sophisticated trading venues?
- What are the different types of off-exchange collateral management and settlement solutions?
(Available for Sponsor)
11:25 am - 11:45 am
Morning Refreshment Break & Expo Demos
Assessing the Latest Wholesale CBDC Projects
11:45 am - 12:10 pm
Fund Tokenisation Use Case Interview: Harnessing the power of new technology: How are global asset managers applying DLT through investment fund tokenization to improve efficiency and transparency?
Tony Ashraf -
Managing Director, Digital Asset Transformation,
BlackRock
John Allan -
Head of Innovation & Operations Unit,
Investment Association
- Which tokenisation use cases are delivering tangible benefits today, and where do we go from here?
- Is there a need for industry collaboration to maximise the benefits of tokenisation?
- How do tokenised funds interact with the wider capital market ecosystem, and what infrastructure is needed to enable this?
12:10 pm - 12:35 pm
Private vs Public Network Panel: Comparing Public and Private Blockchains: How can you best assess different ledger protocols to enable the issuance, storage and transfer of tokens whilst meeting your compliance and KYC obligations?
Christoph Hock -
Head of Tokenisation & Digital Assets,
Union Investments
Andrew Peel -
Head of Digital Markets,
Morgan Stanley Investment Management
Vanessa Grellet -
Board Member,
Enterprise Ethereum Alliance
- What are the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of different blockchain protocols?
- What are the pros and cons of permissioned vs permissionless DeFi and how will they both coexist?
- How can you manage risks associated with using public networks when issuing traditional financial products?
- How can you design a smart contract that will allow you to control the life cycle of a token to adhere to your risk appetite and compliance obligations?
- Do private networks remove many of the benefits that this technology offers, or is this the only way forward for traditional institutions?
- What are the latest developments with layer 2 scaling solutions and is this driving greater adoption of public networks?
(Available for Sponsor x2)
Assessing the Latest Wholesale CBDC Projects
12:35 pm - 1:10 pm
CBDC Panel: Demystifying Wholesale CBDCs: What are the latest CBDC developments and how will they impact securities settlement and cross-border payments?
William Lovell -
Head of Future Technology,
Bank of England
Matthias Juttner -
Head of Banking Operations Analysis,
Swiss National Bank
Adeline Bachellerie -
Deputy Director of Innovation and Financial Market Infrastructures,
Banque de France
Teana Baker- Taylor -
NED,
CryptoUK
Jannah Patchay -
Executive Director and Policy Lead,
Digital Pound Foundation
- What are the differences between Stablecoins and CBDC’s and how will they modify the financial system?
- How are CBDC’s being differentiated from innovations being developed in the private sector, and are central banks developing private sector partnerships?
- How will CBDC’s be used at a wholesale and settlement level?
- What are the major wholesale CBDC experiments and pilots in the UK and Europe, and what are the results to date?
- How will these different mechanisms being built on different chains interact and connect with each other to enable atomic settlement?
Adeline Bachellerie
Deputy Director of Innovation and Financial Market InfrastructuresBanque de France
1:10 pm - 2:10 pm
Networking Lunch
1:10 pm - 2:10 pm
Women in Digital Assets Think Tank & Lunch (Hosted under Chatham House Rule)
Kenzy Goodwin -
Managing Partner,
Finceler8
Barnali Biswal -
CIO,
Hilbert Capital
Nabanita Banerjee -
Head of HR & Talent,
Nickel Digital Asset Management
Cassandra Cox -
Director, Institutional Sales,
LMAX Digital
Hosted under Chatham House Rule & by Invitation Only
Join the Women in Digital Assets VIP Lunch Think Tank to share approaches and lessons learnt with other female leaders when building and launching a digital assets roadmap for a traditional financial institution. As well as sharing experiences and learnings, this Think Tank will provide an opportunity to build new connections and a network of female leaders in the institutional digital assets market.
The Outlook for Policy and Regulatory Regimes
2:10 pm - 2:30 pm
Guest Speaker Keynote: Latest Global Crypto Trends: What every institutional investor needs to know
Henri Arslanian -
Co-founder & Managing Partner,
Nine Blocks Capital Management
Henri Arslanian is the co-founder and managing partner of Nine Blocks Capital Management, an institutional-grade hedge fund. Henri is a TEDx and global keynote speaker, a best-selling published author, and is regularly featured in global media, including Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the Financial Times.
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Regulator Panel: Exploring the Views from the Regulators: How is the UK and Europe approaching digital assets regulation to foster innovation and investor protection?
Matthew Long -
Director, Payments & Digital Assets,
Financial Conduct Authority
Dr Lisa Cameron -
MP and Chair,
Crypto and Digital Assets All Party Parliamentary Group, UK Parliament
Joachim Schwerin -
Principal Economist,
European Commission
Jerome Reboul -
Managing Director of the Regulatory Policy and International Affairs,
AMF
Ian Taylor -
Head of Crypto and Digital Assets, KPMG UK & Board Advisor to CryptoUK,
CryptoUK
This panel will set the scene with an overview of the work being done by IOSCO and the global standard recommendations for crypto asset regulation, speakers will then delve into domestic approaches to regulating digital assets.
Dr Lisa Cameron
MP and ChairCrypto and Digital Assets All Party Parliamentary Group, UK Parliament
3:00 pm - 3:05 pm
5-minute transition
Track Chair: Jannah Patchay, Founding Member & Policy Lead, Digital Pound Foundation
Track A: Stablecoin Developments
3:05 pm - 3:30 pm Stablecoin Issuer Panel: Exploring the Stablecoin Competitor Landscape: What is the role of stablecoins in the wider digital assets ecosystem and who is leading the way? Lavan Thasarathakumar - Director, Global Digital Finance Guillaume Chatain - Head of Sales, Societe Generale – Forge Jannah Patchay - Executive Director and Policy Lead, Digital Pound Foundation Elliot Hentov - Head of Macro Policy Research, State Street Global Advisors- Who are the new players and tech firms entering the stablecoin payment solution space?
- What does the competitor landscape look like today?
- What is the volume and market share of stablecoins in the institutional market?
- Which firms are developing fiat-to-crypto on/off ramp infrastructure to better integrate fiat operations into blockchain applications?
- How can you build the wallet infrastructure needed to enable the utilisation of stablecoins?
(Available for Sponsor x3)
Track A: Stablecoin Developments
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm Stablecoin Regulation Interview: Stablecoin Regulatory Round Up: How do different authorities view stablecoins, and what are their plans for the regulation and supervision of stablecoin issuers? Joachim Schwerin - Principal Economist, European Commission Matthew Osborne - Senior Manager for Payments Policy, Bank of England Elise Soucie - Director of Global Policy & Regulatory Affairs, Global Digital Finance- What are the latest proposed regimes to bring stablecoins into a regulated environment?
- How will MiCA establish mechanisms to ensure stablecoins are truly stable, and how will these rules impact the European market?
- Will AML legislation mean that stablecoin issuers must perform AML and KYC checks on all holders?
- An update on the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s regulatory framework for stablecoins
- Will we see a harmonised approach of international frameworks as authorities refine their guidelines?
Track Chair: Julia Streets, Founder and CEO, Streets Consulting
Track B: Tokenization & Blockchain Technology Use Cases
3:05 pm - 3:30 pm Tokenisation Sandbox Interview: Digital Securities Sandbox Update- What are the latest developments with the EU, UK and US Securities Sandbox Pilots? Kushal Balluck - Senior Manager Digital Securities Sandbox & Post Trade Innovation, Bank of England Martijn Siebrand - Innovation Manager Digital Assets, ABN AMRO Jennifer O'Rourke - Executive Director of DTCC Digital Assets, DTCC Keith Bear - Fellow, Centre for Alternative Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School- What are the key similarities and differences between the EU, UK and US sandbox pilots?
- What is the shape of the sandbox pilots in terms of volumes, and what are the restrictions?
- How will the digital cash component of the transactions work?
- What is the process of off-ramps and how will they work in practice?
Kushal Balluck
Senior Manager Digital Securities Sandbox & Post Trade InnovationBank of England
Track B: Tokenization & Blockchain Technology Use Cases
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm Blockchain & Web3 Use Case Dragon’s Den: Web3- Beyond the Hype: How is blockchain and Web3 being deployed to solve for today’s problems? Kevin Monserrat - CEO, Tokensphere Devina Paul - CFO & Deputy CEO, Zumo Matteo Pandolfi - Co-founder and CEO, Idle Finance Vanessa Grellet - Board Member, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance Samantha Bohbot - Chief Growth Officer, RockawayX Bozena Adamczyk - Partner, Truffle Capital Amber Ghaddar - Founder & Co-founder, The 200 Bn Club and AllianceBlock Julia Streets - Founder & CEO, Streets ConsultingJoin our Dragon’s Den to hear from three founders on their revolutionary Web3 use cases which are solving for real problems today!
The decision is in your hands, as the audience get to put their questions forward to the Web3 founders and vote for their favourite use case. Will you find the next big Web3 company?
Samantha Bohbot
Chief Growth OfficerRockawayX
Track Chair: Madeleine Boys, Head of Community, Global Digital Finance
Track C: DeFi KYC & Investment Strategies
3:05 pm - 3:30 pm Portfolio Construction Presentation: Diversifying Portfolios Beyond Traditional Assets: How can you consider cryptocurrencies as a component of your portfolios to enhance diversification strategies? Charles- Henry Monchau - Chief Investment Officer, Syz Group- What are the different types of crypto assets and how can they enhance portfolio diversification by offering low correlation with traditional assets?
- What are the advantages and risk considerations of including crypto assets in multi-asset portfolios?
- How can you best measure the price correlation of crypto and traditional assets to minimise risks?
- What monitoring tools and techniques can you leverage to assess the risk and return?
- Can digital assets have a place in an ESG orientated strategy and portfolio?
Track C: DeFi KYC & Investment Strategies
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm Assessing DeFi risks: What are the key risk management considerations and solutions that will drive institutional adoption of DeFi? Olga Romanova - Former Head of Operational Due Diligence, Aaro Capital Jakub Lesniowski - Lead Digital Assets Risk & Regulatory Management, UBS Emerging Technologies Stefania Barbaglio - Founder, Cassiopeia Services and Financial Fox- How can you design appropriate AML/KYC risk controls to prevent the legal liability of dealing with sanctioned parties or unqualified investors?
- What guidance, if any, is available to help you set up your risk parameters for DeFi?
- How can on-chain data and blockchain intelligence solutions help you to safely interact with DeFi?
- How can you integrate and adapt your existing AML compliance policies with the blockchain ecosystem to ensure it meets best practice?
- How can you leverage blockchain analytics to screen wallets and understand transactions?
(Available for Sponsor x2)
4:00 pm - 4:10 pm
10-minute transition - Drinks in the main room
4:10 pm - 4:45 pm
Digital Money Battle Royale: The future of money- Retail CBDC’s, stablecoins, tokenised deposits, e-money…. you decide!
Dr Ousmène Mandeng -
Director and Founder,
Economics Advisory Ltd
Tony McLaughlin -
Emerging Payments & Business Development, Treasury & Trade Solutions,
Citi
Amelie Arras -
Marketing Director,
Zumo
Ramy Soliman -
Co- founder & Policy Lead,
Stablecoin Standard
Jannah Patchay -
Executive Director and Policy Lead,
Digital Pound Foundation
Hear from 4 market experts, with 4 very different views, on why their form of digital money is the future of the monetary system.
4 contenders, 4 different views- who will win? The power is in your hands.
The case for retail CBDC: Dr Ousmène Mandeng, Director and Founder, Economics Advisory Ltd
The case for stablecoins:
The case for tokenised deposits:
Crypto maximalist:
Moderator: Jannah Patchay, Executive Director and Policy Lead, Digital Pound Foundation
