Digital assets and the future of financial services

The rise of the digital economy in the second decade of the 21st century is significantly transforming the global financial markets. Innovative technologies in the form of, for instance, blockchain and distributed ledgers and digital assets held and/or traded on them, are offering fundamentally new ways to provide financial services, disrupting traditional trading, investment, payments, borrowing and saving, with the potential for enhanced efficiency, speed and accessibility. The panels in this showcase session will aim to address the above issues, key opportunities and risks and other key developments as outlined in the following topics:

Introduction:  Klaus Löber, ESMA, Paris (Banking and Financial Law Committee)

Session 1 [1430-1515] Digital assets – what are they and how have they already become relevant?  

• What are the new types of digital assets (crypto currencies and stablecoins, digital assets (representing real world assets or entitlements), utility tokens (intended to provide digital access to an application or service), NFTs? What is their interplay with traditional financial instruments and commodities through digitisation (central bank digital currencies, digital securities, tokenised deposits, crypto commodities)? 

• Adapting private law to the digital asset ecosystem - how to reconcile digital ecosystems such as distributed ledgers, DeFi or smart contracts with existing private law and conflicts of laws regimes?   

• Use of digital assets in financial transactions (custody, collateral, securitisation, derivatives, etc.) 

Q & A interaction 

Moderator:
- Benjamin Leisinger, Homburger, Zurich (Securities Law Committee)

Speakers:
- Chris Brummer, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington DC
- Mario Hoessl-Neumann, BitPanda/One Trading, London
- Linda Jeng, Digital Self Labs LLC, Washington DC
- Miguel Gallardo Guerra, BGBG, Mexico City 

Session 2 [1515-1600] The impact of digital assets on the financial system 

• The impact of decentralisation and distribution on the financial ecosystem: issues of fragmentation, reliance on third party services, governance, responsibility of identifiable entities, etc. 

• Are traditional intermediaries obsolete? 

• Digital currency or AI-powered digital marketplaces (applications, e.g. infrastructures, insurance, financial services) and machine learning models (e.g. verifying integrity of credit scoring models or securing data processing) 

• The illicit use of digital assets through fundraisings to finance criminal and/or terrorist activities 

Q & A interaction 

Moderator: 
- Theodor Härtsch, WalderWyss, Zurich (Capital Markets Forum)

Speakers: 
- Dan Konar, Stellar Development Foundation, Chicago
- Christian Sabella, DTCC, New York
- Nicole Dyskant, Dyskant Avogados, Rio de Janeiro  
- Ben Aldersey, FATF, Paris
- Lizette Neme, InStrag Public Affairs & Law, Mexico City

Break [1600-1620] 

Keynote intervention [1620-1640]

Policy discussion: The future of digital finance (decentralisation vs centralisation, public vs private sector, central bank digital currencies, macroeconomic impact on “real” economy) 

• Jon Frost, Bank for International Settlement, Mexico City  

Session 3 [1640-1730] Regulatory responses and private law remedies 

• Preventing systemic risk from crypto activities and regulatory responses (domestic and globally) 

• The importance of adapting and harmonising legal regimes  

• Application of insolvency regimes to digital asset businesses; segregation of digital assets held by custodians, recovery of digital assets 

• Private litigation and criminal prosecution  

• The impact on legal professionals and the wider legal profession (e.g.  opinions on holding, pledging, payments and settlement of crypto and digital assets, legal certainty regarding privilege and confidentiality of communication on DLT) and how lawyers can drive positive change for their clients 

Q & A interaction 

Moderator: 
- Giorgio Bovenzi, Haynes Boone, New York (Banking and Financial Law Committee) 

Speakers: 
- Luis Urrutia, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC 
- Drew Hinkes, K&L Gates, Miami
- Lee Pascoe, Norton Rose Fulbright, Melbourne (Insolvency Section)
- Mauro Wolfe, Duane Morris, New York (Criminal Law Committee) 
- Anurag Bana, International Bar Association, London

Wrap-up: Klaus Löber, ESMA, Paris (Banking and Financial Law Committee)