Agenda

This session will provide an update on recent retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) developments. It will show that large-scale (“Death Star”) projects are fizzling out and discuss potential reasons why. The update will then show that projects that focus on “purpose bound” use cases are on the rise, as are those that combine tokenized deposits with wholesale CBDC.

Swift is frequently caught between criticism for its costly, legacy cross-border rails and praise for its new interoperable digital ledger initiatives. Yet, one fact remains indisputable: Swift successfully drives global adoption at an unparalleled scale. Join a senior payments veteran having worked for 35 years of experience at Swift and with major banks to unpack the institutional playbook. This session bridges the gap between traditional finance execution and decentralized potential, delivering six concrete lessons that digital asset and DLT networks could adopt to unlock mainstream client traction and sustainable revenue.

This session marks the launch of the book "Tokenisation of Money – From Fiat to Stablecoins", exploring how money is evolving from traditional fiat currencies to tokenised forms. It will highlight the rise of all kinds of digital currencies, their role in the financial system, and the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of money and payments. 

This comprehensive handbook with over 30 top authors from all stakeholders (central banks, commercial banks, fintechs, thought leaders, academics, platform builders, etc) around the world, published by from Springer, examines the How, What, Why, When - and future - of tokenised money.

CBDCs are moving into real-world use. Central banks are advancing CBDCs to modernize payments and improve financial inclusion - but the shift from exploration to production introduces new challenges. Systems must be secure, scalable, and ready for both domestic and cross-border transactions, while navigating confidentiality, governance, and integration with existing financial infrastructure.

Drawing on practical experience from global projects, Oracle brings insights across both retail and wholesale CBDC models. This session shares real architectures, key lessons, and proven approaches to help decision makers and technical leaders build resilient, future-ready CBDC systems.

 Offline payments are not one architecture. This Academy session compares three approaches:

• Immediate Offline, where monetary value is moved to the device
• Deferred Offline, where payments are accepted offline against later settlement; and
• Governed Offline, where money is reserved within the regulated monetary system while payments are authorised locally and settled later.

We compare where money resides, how payment authority is established, who carries the risk, and how each approach integrates with existing payment infrastructure. The session concludes by assessing the three architectures against three institutional design criteria: Bankable, Implementable and Governed.

This session follows a stablecoin payment from the consumer's wallet to the merchant's books and out to the wider economy. Drawing on Cryptorefills transaction data since 2018 and recent CryptoRefills Labs research, it examines how stablecoin payments differ from traditional rails in settlement, cost and risk, who uses them and why, and how fragmentation across tokens, networks and wallets affects processing. It then turns to business use, including supplier payments, payroll and payouts, and to embedded finance products built on stablecoins. The session closes with what the data shows about adoption trends and what defines sound payment infrastructure, from regulation and AML to network and token coverage.

The technical creation of a CBDC may not guarantee success, because in payment related innovations, what does not scale does not matter.

The question is therefore not simply can a Digital Pound be launched, but also would citizens use it at scale?

Our research directly addresses that question. Drawing on a nationally representative survey of 10,000 UK residents, we assess consumer willingness to adopt a Digital Pound and the factors that shape that willingness. Participants of this Academy session will hear about the study results, and be able to explore the app themselves.

As CBDCs move from concept to implementation, they are reshaping the relationship between money, technology, and state authority. This panel explores how CBDCs can strengthen monetary sovereignty. Experts will discuss the opportunities and challenges of designing digital currencies that balance national interests with the realities of an increasingly interconnected global economy.

Tokenisation is moving from fragmented experimentation towards a more coordinated market structure. This presentation examines how stablecoins, tokenised deposits, tokenised securities and central bank money are beginning to interact, and why established institutions are increasingly exploring several models at once. It explores the distinct roles of money for holding balances, moving value and achieving final settlement. Rather than predicting a single winner, the presentation considers how competing instruments may coexist, converge and reshape financial market infrastructure.

Lessons from the Central Bank of Chile's wholesale tokenised reserves proof of concept. The Bank built and operated its own permissioned DLT network, managing the full lifecycle of tokenised reserves and debt securities with atomic DvP. Building, rather than evaluating, revealed issues visible only to an operator: token standard that expose balances by design, contracts that cannot act independently, and oracles that introduce failure points outside the system. Most importantly, privacy proved to depend on who operates the infrastructure, not on the ledger itself. The question becomes even more pressing as network nodes are distributed among participants over time.

Digital payments increasingly depend on infrastructure that is assumed to be continuously available. But connectivity and payment systems can fail while the need to pay remains.

This keynote explores what is required to make digital money resilient at scale. With Governed Offline, money is reserved while the system is available, payments are authorised and verified locally when it is unavailable, and settlement takes place when connectivity returns: Reserve. Pay. Settle.

The result is an offline payment layer that can complement existing CBDC, instant payment systems as well as other account-based infrastructures.

In this presentation, we showcase two real-world use cases demonstrating the power of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) combined with Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). Witness how digital bonds were issued and purchased with instant, real-time settlement powered by CBDC payments. Our insights highlight the practical benefits, challenges, and future potential of integrating DLT and CBDC in bond markets. Join us to explore how these innovations can transform financial infrastructures worldwide.

An overview of the current operational and adoption status of the SandDollar, The Bahamas' Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and the Bank's initiative to integrate the SandDollar with the upcoming national Instant Payment System (IPS). Discussion on the integration approach, key technical and operational requirements, implementation considerations, and the expected benefits of enabling seamless, real-time digital payments across the national payments ecosystem.

As digital assets continue to reshape global finance, policymakers face the challenge of fostering innovation while safeguarding economic stability and public confidence. This speech examines the policy considerations surrounding digital currency, tokenization, and decentralized finance, and explores how governments can build balanced frameworks that support innovation, transparency, and responsible market development.

As digital currencies move from concept to reality, wallets are emerging as a critical component of the new financial infrastructure. Far more than simple storage tools, digital wallets serve as the primary interface between users, institutions, and digital currency networks. This presentation explores how wallets enable secure access, identity management, compliance, interoperability, and innovative payment experiences across retail and wholesale digital currency ecosystems. It also examines the opportunities and challenges facing wallet providers as CBDCs, stablecoins, and tokenized assets reshape the future of finance. The session will highlight why wallets are becoming a strategic enabler of trust, adoption, and value creation in the digital economy.

Money is changing, but not all digital instruments deserve to be called money. Over the past two decades, payment innovation has made money faster, more mobile, and increasingly embedded in digital platforms. Yet the classical functions of money—medium of exchange, store of value, unit of account, and standard of deferred payment—remain a demanding benchmark. Many private digital instruments meet only part of this test. Cryptocurrencies offer technological novelty but fail as stable money. Stablecoins improve usability but borrow credibility from sovereign currencies and remain vulnerable to private-issuer risk.

We argue that the central issue is not whether money will become digital; it already has. The real question is whether public money will remain accessible and relevant in a digital economy. Central bank digital currencies, including the digital euro, should be understood as a response to this structural challenge. A well-designed CBDC can preserve the role of central bank money as the monetary anchor, support payment resilience, enhance strategic autonomy, and offer a public alternative in an increasingly private and platform-based payment landscape. The future of money is digital, but its credibility must remain public.

As digital currencies move from niche innovation to mainstream infrastructure, regulation is becoming an increasingly global conversation. This panel will explore how jurisdictions are shaping policy for stablecoins, CBDCs, tokenized assets, and crypto markets, and what greater international coordination means for financial institutions, fintechs, and policymakers. Join leading regulators, industry experts, and legal practitioners as they discuss emerging frameworks, cross-border challenges, and the opportunities to build a more interoperable and trusted digital financial ecosystem.

Tokenization is moving beyond experimentation and into mainstream financial markets. This panel explores how CBDC, stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and securities reshape liquidity, settlement, and market infrastructure.

This panels examines the rapidly evolving landscape of digital payments and financial infrastructure in Europe and beyond. It will explore how CBDCs like the Digital Euro compare with emerging payment solutions such as WERO, as well as traditional banking networks, fintech platforms, and blockchain-based systems. Experts will discuss the implications for consumers, businesses, privacy, security, financial sovereignty, and the future of cross-border transactions in an increasingly digital economy.

How do you add offline payments to an existing payment system, PSP or CBDC platform?

This breakout moves from the concept of Governed Offline to practical implementation. We follow a payment from start to finish: how offline capacity is prepared while the user is online; how a payment is made and verified when both sides are offline; and what happens when devices reconnect and the payment is settled.

We examine the components required in the wallet, on the receiving side and in the existing payment system, together with requirements for security, risk mitigation, policy and operations.

In this Breakout Session, we take a closer look at the two real-world use cases presented in the main presentation. We explore how DLT-based bond workflows combined with Wholesale CBDC enable instant, real-time settlement—and what this means in practice. We will cover key benefits, implementation challenges, and the forward-looking implications for transforming bond market infrastructure.

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With the evolution of digital assets, Certificates of Deposits (CDs) are being reimagined as digital instruments within an increasingly interconnected financial ecosystem. As institutions adopt digital currencies, enabling the end-to-end lifecycle of digital CDs across multiple platforms enables efficiencies and new monetizable offerings enabling secondary trading.

This session explores how issuance, purchase, redemption, and settlement can be executed across heterogeneous ledgers, where value must move seamlessly between systems. It highlights key challenges including interoperability, coordination, governance, and atomic settlement across systems.

Through practical insights and architectural patterns, the session demonstrates how integration layers, workflow orchestration, and policy-driven controls can enable secure, compliant, and synchronized transactions. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of how to design scalable, production-ready solutions for digital CDs in an interoperable, multi-ledger world.

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As central banks worldwide explore central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), understanding how CBDC design interacts with exchange rate stability has become an increasingly important policy question. This presentation examines how the key CBDC design parameters (cross-border interoperability, non-resident access, adoption intensity, transaction traceability, and capital flow management capabilities) influence exchange rate outcomes. Drawing on evidence from 28 economies, the findings show that CBDC design choices matter: interoperability tends to reduce exchange rate volatility, whereas unrestricted non-resident access may amplify external pressures. The presentation concludes by discussing implications for implementation sequencing, access calibration, and the evolving role of capital flow management in a CBDC environment.

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As digital assets continue to reshape global finance, policymakers face the challenge of fostering innovation while safeguarding economic stability and public confidence. This speech examines the policy considerations surrounding digital currency, tokenization, and decentralized finance, and explores how governments can build balanced frameworks that support innovation, transparency, and responsible market development.

The presentation provides an overview of the Eurosystem’s CBDC developments, including the current status of the Digital Euro (pilot phase) and wholesale CBDC initiatives. It also includes an update on the DELPHI initiative.

As financial institutions accelerate the adoption of tokenized assets, commercial bank money tokens are emerging as a key building block for the next generation of digital payments and settlement infrastructure. This session provides an update on the latest developments, exploring how regulated tokenized bank deposits are evolving to enable programmable payments, improve cross-border transactions, and complement central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins. Attendees will gain insights into recent pilots, regulatory progress, interoperability initiatives, and the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead as commercial banks bring traditional money onto blockchain-based networks.

Digital money and tokenised finance are changing the environment in which payment and settlement systems operate. The presentation will discuss Armenia’s approach to RTGS modernisation, the main limitations of the current system and the capabilities expected from its next generation. It will look at how the new system can improve availability, efficiency and resilience, and support faster and more reliable payments. The presentation will also consider how CBDCs, stablecoins, tokenised assets and other forms of digital money may affect future decisions on settlement, interoperability and the role of central bank money. The broader question is how to modernise the current framework while keeping enough flexibility to respond to future developments in digital finance.

As part of the Bank of Israel's Digital Shekel Project, a thourouh and comprehensive cost benefit analysis was executed. This presentation will provide a case study on how to value the overall costs to the economy, and assess them against the benefits to society that a multipurpose CBDC could bring, as an essential tool for any jurisdiction to decide on launching a CBDC.

Since 2025, the ECB has pursued a strategy aimed at strengthening the global role of the euro, with the objectives of lowering interest rates, insulating the euro area from exchange rate fluctuations, and protecting it against sanctions and coercive measures. My analysis shows that a stronger international role for the euro can make only a limited contribution to these objectives and is insufficient, in particular, as a means of safeguarding Europe’s financial sovereignty. In this respect, what matters most is the development of competitive European financial infrastructures, regardless of the currencies involved. By designing the digital euro in a way that is open to currencies other than the euro and accessible to non-euro area residents, the ECB could make an important contribution to this objective.

Central bank digital currencies can reshape the global economy by changing both monetary operations and information structure of payments. CBDC adoption may move funds away from commercial bank deposits, forcing central banks to reconsider reserves, lending facilities, credit conditions, and the boundary between public and private money. It also changes who controls payment information, as digital money can reduce reliance on cash while reallocating data rights among banks, merchants, and users. Drawing on recent economics and finance research, this presentation examines CBDC as a monetary-policy instrument and payment infrastructure, with implications for banking stability, privacy, digital trade, and financial governance.

As digital payments become faster, more seamless, and increasingly global, fraud tactics are evolving just as rapidly. This panel will explore the latest approaches to detecting, preventing, and responding to payment fraud across digital currencies, real-time payment systems, and emerging financial technologies. Experts from the public and private sectors will discuss the role of data analytics, artificial intelligence, regulatory frameworks, and industry collaboration in strengthening security while maintaining a frictionless user experience.

Retail CBDCs are moving from experimentation towards real-world implementation—but widespread adoption is far from guaranteed. This panel explores the key challenges, but also what it takes to build public trust, create compelling use cases and encourage uptake among consumers and merchants, while ensuring accessibility, privacy and seamless integration with existing payment systems.

As digital currencies gain momentum, corporate treasurers are facing new opportunities and strategic decisions. From stablecoins and CBDCs to tokenized deposits, this discussion will explore how digital assets are redefining payments, liquidity, and treasury management. Join leading practitioners and industry experts for a forward-looking conversation on the technologies, risks, and business models that will shape the future of corporate finance.

As digital transformation reshapes economies and financial systems, this panel will explore the key trends, opportunities, and challenges defining the road ahead. The panelists will share perspectives on innovation, regulation, and emerging technologies that are shaping the future of digital currency and payments.