The State of Digital Money 2018

The State of Digital Money is the premier professional event and conference focused on the conversation of the evolving trends and emerging technologies disrupting the global financial system and worldwide transactions. This established event will address the trends shaping the digital money landscape in 2018. As Fintech adoption builds momentum, considerable shifts are being witnessed across the entire financial services landscape.

In addition to showcasing some of the most pioneering Fintech success stories, The State of Digital Money will explore future Fintech design, start-up opportunities, innovation and entrepreneurship. There are two tracks of panels throughout the day covering topics ranging from blockchain

“Digital money can really be a variety of things but in essence, it is a monetary value that exists in electronic form. The obvious example is a digital wallet or a payment method — like PayPal or Apple Pay, which has revolutionized the way people shop online or even at the point-of-sale inside a physical store. Digital money can also mean a peer-to-peer (P2P) experience like Venmo in the US. P2P allows the free movement of money between people without the hassle of needing banking numbers or other sensitive information to make the transaction possible — its convenience has really changed the relationship that consumers have with money. The definition of digital money has changed even more recently with the immersion of cryptocurrency such as bitcoin, which is less prevalent but definitely a trend.” - Klas Bäck, GM of International & Payment Strategy at Braintree, a Paypal Service & Panelist on “The Growth in Innovative Payment Platforms”

Consumer banking continues to be the central driver in digital transformation with recent high profile Fintech partnerships hitting the headlines. Consumer banks are also the pioneers in adopting Blockchain technology and this trend looks set to increase in 2018. They are closely followed by payments companies with Blockchain investment looking set to double by 2020.

The State of Digital Money will deep-dive into the following topics:

• Adapting the Traditional Investment Models for the Blockchain Era

• The evolution and adoption of Digital Money in major industries and opportunities for disruption

• The future of blockchain technology and use cases in multiple sectors

• Payments innovation for merchants, consumers, and in remittances

• Assessment of the viability of cryptocurrencies for practical uses

• Future financing models, alternative lending, and hot new trends like ICOS

• Regulations and compliance issues and future trends in regtech

• In-depth look into AI and machine learning and how it is disrupting finance, wealth management, and other industries

• How companies are cultivating and implementing data for a competitive advantage

• Assessment of cybersecurity risks and the viability of various protection strategies through AI and blockchain

Asset and wealth management companies are increasingly investing in digitally-driven technologies across the Fintech spectrum to yield smarter decision-making by increasing end-to-end efficiency, improving the research process and enhancing analytical capabilities.

“If you look at the money supply today, most of it (like over 90%) is “digital”. Only a small portion of the money supply is cash. So money is already “digital” insomuch as it’s represented by numbers in bank ledgers that we see in our browsers when we log on to internet banking. But when I think of digital money, I think of a new denomination— a new species of money— a tech-enabled currency that moves freely and without friction. One that can be safely stored in places other than traditional bank accounts. Again, Bitcoin has already demonstrated this is feasible. So I think of a future where banks and/or central banks begin issuing “tokens” that represent a claim on fiat reserves, which can be freely exchanged on open interoperable networks, enabling all sorts of efficiencies and new applications, operating on a global, rather than a national scale.” - Jesse Lund, Vice President at IBM Blockchain & Panelist on “The Evolution of Blockchain”

Speakers include:

• Jesse Lund, Vice President at IBM Blockchain

• Klas Bäck, GM of International & Payment Strategy at Braintree, a Paypal Service

• Jim Kresge, Head of Digital Commerce Engineering at Capital One

• Vinny Lingham, Co-Founder & CEO at Civic

• Michael Hughes, Senior Director, Equity Crowdfunding & Token Sales at Indiegogo

• Danny Aranda, Managing Director at Ripple

• Joshua Ashley Klayman, Founding Chair, Blockchain at Morrison & Foerster LLP

• Eric Brown, CEO & President at Aliant Payment Systems Inc

• Alyse Killeen, Managing Partner at StillMark Co. & StillMark Capital

• Scott Robinson, VP & Founder at Plug & Play Fintech

• Christian Martin, CEO of TeraGroup & Executive Director for the Wallstreet Blockchain Alliance

• Justin Newton, CEO at Netki

• Rajesh Shakkarwar, President & CEO at Verient

• Mike Kane, Co-Founder at Hydrogen and Hedgeable

• Arjan Shutte, Founder and Managing Partner at Core Innovation Capital

• John Mercurio, Deputy Global Chief Communications Officer at Bitfury

“We have been interacting with money digitally for almost 25 years. Traditional on-line banking or trading stocks on-line set the stage for what has happened in the last 10 years with the innovation of Bitcoin and all the subsequent iterations. I loosely equate adoption of digital money to the digitalization of trust. Or thought of another way it’s the commoditization of trust.” - Christian Martin, CEO of TeraGroup & Executive Director for the Wallstreet Blockchain Alliance  & Panelist on “The Current State of Cryptocurrency”