Additional details about each session will be updated as information becomes available.
Public blockchain infrastructures present numerous risks, like theft, fraud, and money laundering. This panel will discuss different approaches to monitoring across networks, transactions, smart contracts, and assets. Panelists will also examine the latest blockchain investigative techniques.
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2023 saw major leaps forward in traditional finance’s adoption of blockchain and digital assets. Milestones include: DTCC’s acquisition of Securrency; the launch of non-custodial exchange EDX backed by Charles Schwab, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Citadel Securities; and Blackrock’s application to launch a bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the U.S. 2024 promises even more progress, and this panel will discuss all the ways traditional finance will engage with blockchain and digital assets going forward.
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2023 was a busy year for digital asset tax policy. In August, the U.S. Treasury Department and IRS released a proposed rule that defines the term broker in the context of digital assets. The IRS’ point person for digital assets joins the CEO of TaxBit, the premier tax and accounting solution for digital asset firms, for a conversation on reporting and paying taxes on crypto transactions, efforts to encourage compliance, and how best to achieve compliance and accuracy.
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Stablecoins hold promise as a means of payment and store of value. But these benefits can only be realized if regulatory and technical challenges are addressed, such as: interoperability, cyber security and operational resilience, reserve requirements, KYC/AML, and chartering authority. This panel will discuss the market today, the future, and the various approaches institutions are taking to stablecoin issuance alongside the rapid changes in banking, regulations, and payments.
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Blockchain has long been touted for its ability to transfer ownership of traditional assets from property to equities in real-time, 24/7. While many startups have been working on tokenization for a while, last year witnessed an incredible increase in the number of traditional financial institutions experimenting with tokenization. This panel will explore promising use cases and recent developments that have made tokenizing real-world-assets finally viable.
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Decentralized Finance (DeFi) embodies a variety of financial services meeting the criteria of trust-minimized, non-custodial, open, composable, and programmable. But how can DeFi provide momentum for digital assets beyond mere trading? What is the use of DeFi in areas such as credit, derivatives, insurance, and asset management? What economic, technical, operational, and regulatory issues remain unresolved? This panel will explore these issues and more.
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A total of 130 countries representing 98% of the global economy are now exploring digital versions of their currencies, with almost half in advanced development, pilot or launch stages. And yet, here in the U.S., CBDC remains a highly contentious topic. This session will explore the pros and cons of CBDC as well as look at other alternatives to improving our payment system, including FedNow and the Regulated Liability Network.
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Wall Street legend and digital asset investor Anthony Scaramucci will offer his perspective on the current investing landscape for digital assets and lessons learned from the FTX collapse.
This session will highlight successful startups that were incubated in Duke’s groundbreaking Master of Engineering in Financial Technology program.
SEC chair Gary Gensler argues that most cryptocurrencies are securities, while the digital asset industry and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) frequently disagree. What is the status of digital asset regulation, and what steps is Congress taking to provide regulatory clarity? This session will answer these questions while also addressing how other financial regulators, like the banking agencies, are approaching digital assets.
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Supra-national organizations like the IMF, FATF, Basel Committee and the Financial Stability Board are calling for worldwide standards for crypto to prevent a regulatory race to the bottom. At the same time, jurisdictions from the EU, UK, Hong Kong, and more are courting the digital asset industry by adopting, or proposing, clear rules of the road. Panelists from diverse geographies and positions offer their perspectives on how best to build guardrails to protect consumers and investors, discourage bad actors and promote financial stability.
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2023 was a busy year for digital asset-related criminal and civil actions. These include SEC charges against Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken; the Department of Justices settlement with Binance and its former CEO; and the conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried. This panel will dissect the key cases that are going to impact the future of the digital asset industry.
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ETFs, futures contracts, swaps, and other derivatives offered by centralized entities allow investors to take on exposure to digital assets without having to set up wallets or safeguard private keys. There is tremendous interest in these products, as evidenced by the fact that $4.6 billion worth of bitcoin ETF shares traded when they launched on January 11th. What impact will bitcoin ETFs have on crypto markets and institutional adoption, and what other products can we expect to see going forward? This panel will explore these issues and more.
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Thus far, digital assets have been highly speculative and tightly correlated. However, even in the wake of the November 2022 crash, firms like Fidelity and ForUsAll are offering bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the menu for retirement plans. The opportunities tied to digital assets and cryptocurrencies may lead to engagement with new customers and counterparties; enable real-time revenue sharing while enhancing transparency to facilitate back-office reconciliations; and provide access to new capital and liquidity pools. What will it take for the market to differentiate amongst various digital assets and what does the answer mean for future investment opportunities? And how will the shifting regulatory environment impact the viability of these investments?
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