Digital Assets Spotlight
Be Part of The Digital Assets Conversation On:
- Unveiling the current landscape and future trends of global payments in the digital age
- Primer on new functionalities added to different types of digital money and their impact on financial services
- Commercial adoption of tokenisation projects
- Creating an open and interoperable infrastructure
Hear From These Digital Assets Leaders:
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Antonio Alvarez
Chief Compliance Officer, Crypto.com
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Ben Brophy
Head of Blockchain, Fidelity International
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Cecilia Skingsley
Head of BIS Innovation Hub, Bank for International Settlements
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Dante Disparte
Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Global Policy, Circle
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Darko Stefanoski
Partner, Legal, Regulatory & Compliance – Financial Services, Ernst & Young S.A., Switzerland
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David Newns
Head, SDX
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Denis Beau
First Deputy Governor, Banque de France
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Fernando Luis Vazquez Cao
Chief Executive Officer, SBI Digital Asset Holdings
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Jo Yeo
Head, Payments Development and Data Connectivity Office, Monetary Authority of Singapore
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Jos Dijsselhof
Chief Executive Officer, SIX
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Lauren Belive
Head of Public Policy US, Ripple
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Maha El Dimachki
Centre Head - Singapore, BIS Innovation Hub
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Mathias Imbach
Co-founder & Group Chief Executive Officer, Sygnum Bank
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Melvin Deng
Chief Executive Officer, QCP
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Morten Bech
Centre Head - Switzerland, BIS Innovation Hub
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Rahul Advani
Head of Public Policy, APAC, Ripple
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Sergey Nazarov
Co-Founder, Chainlink
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Stu Alderoty
Chief Legal Officer, Ripple
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Umar Farooq
Co-Head of Global Payment Sales, J.P. Morgan & Chief Executive Officer, Onyx by J.P. Morgan
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Yuval Rooz
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Digital Asset
Antonio Alvarez
Chief Compliance Officer
Crypto.com
Antonio is responsible for leading worldwide regulatory compliance across Crypto.com's entire product ecosystem. His compliance background expands across payments, remittances and cryptocurrency offerings. Prior to joining Crypto.com, Antonio led a successful Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program that was deployed across European and Asian markets at Coinbase. Antonio also served as senior business leader at Visa and has held senior roles at a number of other payments companies including Western Union. During a 13-year tenure at American Express, Antonio was responsible for leading the business transformation and compliance governance programs across multiple business lines and geographies.
Ben Brophy
Head of Blockchain
Fidelity International
Ben has over 10 years’ experience leading Blockchain and Digital Asset related teams, startups, VCs and projects, focused on Blockchain infrastructure, DeFi, RWA, payments, NFTs and Metaverse. With the formative part of his career being with RBS/ Natwest in their Strategy function within the Corporate Bank, across Mobile, Data, and Payments/ International Cash Management. Joined Fidelity International in 2022, as Global Head of Blockchain Centre of Excellence, leading on our initiatives across Tokenisation, Wallets, Technical Infrastructure and Web3 Loyalty - to enable the firm to transition to new products, infrastructure, and markets.
Cecilia Skingsley
Head of BIS Innovation Hub
Bank for International Settlements
Cecilia Skingsley became Head of the BIS Innovation Hub in September 2022. She is a member of the BIS's Executive Committee. Previously, she held the position of First Deputy Governor of the Riksbank since November 2019. Most recently she chaired the BIS's Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures Future of Payments Working Group, was the Governor of the Riksbank’s alternate on the General Council of the ECB and member of the Advisory Technical Committee (ATC) of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB). Prior to holding the position of Deputy Governor of the Riksbank from May 2013 to November 2019, Ms Skingsley held various roles including Head of FX and Fixed Income Research and Chief Economist at Swedbank (2007-2013); financial journalist and Head of Financial Market Section at Dagens Industri (2000-2007); Macro Analyst, ABN Amro Bank (1998-2000).
Ms Skingsley holds a degree in economics and political science from Stockholm University. She received a financial analyst degree from SSE Executive Education at Stockholm School of Economics (formerly IFL at Stockholm School of Economics) and studied journalism at Poppius School of Journalism in Stockholm.
Dante Disparte
Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Global Policy
Circle
Dante Disparte is Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle, responsible for overseeing company strategy, communications, policy and public affairs. Since joining Circle in 2021, his leadership in driving market expansion, regulatory engagement, and more have been integral in furthering the company’s mission to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of financial value.
Prior to joining Circle, Dante served as a founding executive of the Diem Association, leading policy, communications, membership and social impact. He also brings two decades of experience as an entrepreneur, business leader and global risk expert, most recently as founder and CEO of Risk Cooperative. He also served as an appointee on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Advisory Council. Currently, he is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Additionally, he is co-author of “Global Risk Agility and Decision Making” (Macmillan 2016).
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Goucher College, is a PLD graduate of Harvard Business School, and has an MSc in risk management from NYU Stern School of Business. Outside of work, Dante enjoys speaking and commentating, such as in media outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fortune, BBC, Forbes and Diplomatic Courier.
Darko Stefanoski
Partner, Legal, Regulatory & Compliance – Financial Services
Ernst & Young S.A., Switzerland
Darko Stefanoski is a partner at EY in Zurich and leads the law (including innovative digital law) team for EY Switzerland. In his role, he advises SMEs (small-scale enterprises) and large companies in Switzerland and abroad on various legal and regulatory questions including in relation to future technologies such as cryptocurrencies, digital assets, blockchain and AI. He also lectures on these topics at the University of Zurich as part of the CAS Financial Market Law and Banking & Finance.
David Newns
Head
SDX
David Newns was made Head SIX Digital Exchange in October 2021 with a mandate to lead SDX in building the next generation fully regulated digital market infrastructure and establish SDX as a leader in global institutional Digital Assets and Cryptocurrency services. David is an entrepreneur and financial services professional with over 20 years of experience in capital markets. Prior to SDX, he was Senior Managing director at State Street and Global Head of GlobalLink Execution Services. In this role he was responsible for the award winning Currenex and FX Connect independent multi-asset class trading platform businesses. Previously, David was Global Head of Currenex and SwapEx. Before that, he held the roles of Chief Operating Officer for State Street Global Exchange Trading & Clearing and State Street eExchange EMEA.
In 2001 David joined Currenex as a founding member of Currenex’s London operation. Before joining Currenex, David held several positions in technical services at MicroStrategy, a leading global provider of enterprise software platforms for business intelligence.
Denis Beau
First Deputy Governor
Banque de France
Denis Beau was appointed Deputy Governor of the Banque de France on 1 August 2017, and was reappointed First Deputy Governor on 12 January 2024.
In this capacity, he was appointed by the Governor of the Banque de France to represent him as Chairman of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) and, with effect from 17 January 2024, he was appointed Chairman of the Observatory for the Security of Payment Means. He is also a member of the Board of the AMF and of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank (ECB). Since 1 January 2023, Denis Beau has been Chair of the ECB's Budget Committee (BUCOM).
His tasks as Deputy Governor include in particular the Banque de France's micro-prudential activities, the cash industry, innovation, the Bank’s branch network activities and the internal management of the institution.
Fernando Luis Vazquez Cao
Chief Executive Officer
SBI Digital Asset Holdings
Fernando is the CEO of SBI Digital Asset Holdings, a company that oversees and operates digital asset-related businesses, under the SBI Holdings umbrella. SBI Digital Asset Holdings aims to transform capital markets and banking value chains to create end-to-end digital asset solutions for financial institutions. Fernando is an open-source software industry veteran with over 20 years of experience across technology innovation and governance, capital markets and digital assets. He holds unparalleled knowledge of the Asian financial services sector from both a business and technical perspective. Fernando started his career in academia where he became deeply involved with the Linux community. This led him to the corporate world with several roles at the Japanese NTT Group. Fernando has held different roles at SBI Group, including Director of SBI VC Trade, CTO of Japannext, CEO of SBI DigiTrust and CEO of SBI Security Solutions.
Jo Yeo
Head, Payments Development and Data Connectivity Office
Monetary Authority of Singapore
Jo is a division head at the FinTech & Innovation Group (FTIG) at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Her division, the Payments Development and Data Connectivity Office, is responsible for developing the Singapore payments ecosystem and driving payments development initiatives in addition to the development and implementation of cross-border data connectivity. She has led a number of landmark payments policy and infrastructure projects including Direct FAST, PayNow cross border connectivity linkages with Thailand, India and Malaysia, Project Nexus, SGQR, Payments Council, and the cessation of cheques in Singapore. In her previous role as payments policy lead at FTIG, Jo was the project director for the Payment Services Act.
Prior to joining FTIG, Jo was Assistant General Counsel at the MAS Legal Department. In that role she advised extensively on financial services regulations and free trade agreements. Her private practice experience was at Allen & Gledhill and Amica Law.
Jo graduated from the National University of Singapore with an LLB (Hons) Degree, and was called to the Singapore bar. She has a Master of Laws from University College London, and is a non-practising solicitor of England and Wales.
Jos Dijsselhof
Chief Executive Officer
SIX
Jos Dijsselhof joined SIX in January 2018 as CEO. He holds degrees in computer science and business administration, and has a long track record in international management in the financial sector. He has previously held positions at ABN Amro Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and ANZ Australia & New Zealand Banking Group in various countries including Hong Kong and Singapore. His most recent role was Chief Operating Officer (2014–June 2017) and CEO ad interim (2015) at Euronext in Amsterdam.
Lauren Belive
Head of Public Policy US
Ripple
Maha El Dimachki
Centre Head - Singapore
BIS Innovation Hub
Having been newly appointed, most recently Maha was Head of Department for Early and High Growth Oversight leading the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) response to the Kalifa review of Fintech. A Senior Leadership Team member, she is setting up this new department from the ground up as part of the FCA’s strategy.
Prior to this, Maha served as Chief Payments Officer at Pay.UK on secondment from the FCA, responsible for running the payments operations of BACS, Faster Payments, Image Clearing Services and related managed services.
Maha joined the FCA in 2017 to set up the first Payments Department and was responsible for crafting and implementing the FCA supervisory strategy for the UK Payments Sector. This included leading the implementation of the Second Payments Services Directive (PSD2) and Open Banking.
Maha has a keen interest in observing and participating in the many exciting changes that are unfolding in the financial services, innovation and fintech environment. She recently sat on the SteerCo developing the strategy and blueprint for the UK’s newly created Centre for Finance Innovation and Technology.
She has a Degree in Commerce from Macquarie University and a Masters in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Mathias Imbach
Co-founder & Group Chief Executive Officer
Sygnum Bank
Mathias is a Co-Founder and Group CEO of Sygnum. Prior to Sygnum, he was General Manager at RNT Associates, Mr. Ratan N. Tata’s personal investment platform, which he joined as the first team member. He led multiple venture capital and private equity investments and participated in blockchain and DLT-related equity deals globally. Mathias started his career at Bain & Company where he led advisory projects for private equity funds, family offices and technology companies. He holds a PhD from the University of St. Gallen and a Master of Science from the London School of Economics (LSE).
Melvin Deng
Chief Executive Officer
QCP
Melvin Deng is the CEO of QCP Capital, a full suite crypto trading firm and a global leader in the options market. Inspired by the potential of cryptocurrency to disrupt financial services, he left a more than 15 year banking career to join QCP Capital in 2021. As the CEO, Melvin’s vision is to bring the company’s institutional-grade experience, research and infrastructure to the crypto and traditional finance ecosystem. He was previously the Head of Treasury for a global bank in Singapore, responsible for business and balance sheet strategy.
Morten Bech
Centre Head - Switzerland
BIS Innovation Hub
Morten Bech joined the BIS in mid-2011. Before taking up his current assignment in 2020, he was the head of the secretariat supporting the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures with responsibility for coordinating and contributing to the activities of the Committee and its various working groups. He has also served as Secretary to the Markets Committee. He previously worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Danish central bank. In 2009, he was a visitor at the Monetary Affairs Division of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington DC. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has written on various issues relating to monetary policy implementation, money markets, the network topology of financial markets, large-value payment systems and systemic risk.
Rahul Advani
Head of Public Policy, APAC
Ripple
Rahul Advani is the Head of Public Policy, APAC at Ripple. Based in Singapore, Rahul is responsible for leading Ripple’s engagement and advocacy with regulators and policymakers in the Asia Pacific region to support and develop regulation that promotes responsible innovation in digital assets and blockchain technology.
Prior to joining Ripple, Rahul spent over 12 years in financial services, most recently as the Head of Public Policy, Asia Pacific at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. Prior to that, Rahul worked with Bloomberg L.P. in their offices in Mumbai, Singapore, and Hong Kong in multiple roles across valuations, business development, and sales for both exchange-traded and OTC derivative products.
Rahul is the Chair of the Blockchain Association of Singapore Stablecoin and CBDC Subcommittee. He holds a Master in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Mumbai University.
Sergey Nazarov
Co-Founder
Chainlink
Sergey Nazarov is the co-founder of Chainlink, the gateway to onchain finance. As the industry-standard Web3 services platform, Chainlink has enabled trillions of dollars in on-chain transaction volume and is used by the world’s leading financial institutions and blockchain protocols. Chainlink provides global enterprises with a universal gateway to all blockchains and cross-chain interoperability between any public or private blockchain.
Stu Alderoty
Chief Legal Officer
Ripple
Stuart Alderoty is the Chief Legal Officer at Ripple, overseeing the legal, compliance and regulation departments. Stuart brings more than 30 years of legal experience to the role with expertise in financial services and regulatory affairs. He’s been General Counsel and part of the executive leadership teams at CIT Group and HSBC North America Holdings. Stuart also was Managing Counsel at American Express where he served on the leadership team of the President and CEO of American Express’ Consumer Card Business. Stuart began his career in private practice and was a partner with the international law firm of LeBouef, Lamb, Greene and MacRae where he specialized in complex litigation.
Umar Farooq
Co-Head of Global Payment Sales, J.P. Morgan & Chief Executive Officer
Onyx by J.P. Morgan
Umar Farooq is the Co-Head of Global Payments Sales and CEO of Onyx by J.P. Morgan. Onyx is a J.P. Morgan business unit that leverages cutting-edge technologies like Blockchain to develop innovative products, platforms and marketplaces. Prior to this Umar was the Global Head of Digital Wholesale Payments and Head of Blockchain for the Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB). Previously he was the CFO responsible for financial oversight and business management across CIB Technology, Operations, and Controls. Umar has also held leadership positions in Chase Bank in the past including Head of Small Business Segment and National Sales Manager for Chase Business Banking. Umar holds a B.S. in Computer Science, B.S. in Economics and M.Engg. in Computer Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Umar received his JD from Yale Law School.
Yuval Rooz
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Digital Asset
Yuval is a visionary leader at the intersection of finance and technology. Yuval co-founded Digital Asset in 2014 to fill a gap in the blockchain space, ultimately taking the technology beyond cryptocurrencies and using it to bring greater efficiency to financial services.
Under his leadership, Digital Asset has grown from a fledgling start up to a leading enterprise blockchain company whose technology is used by top institutions and market infrastructures around the globe. With a vision for a world where businesses seamlessly connect regardless of the underlying technology, he is taking Digital Asset to the next level by creating new networks of value that will fundamentally change the future of business and how companies interact.
During his tenure, Yuval hired the majority of the company’s executive leadership, established its presence in six countries, and facilitated the acquisition of four tech startups in two years. He has secured more than $300 Million in financing for the company from a range of strategic investors, including leading financial and technology companies Citi, Goldman Sachs, IBM, J.P. Morgan, and Samsung, among others, and more recently, private equity firms 7RIDGE and Eldridge. Yuval has built trusted relationships with Digital Asset’s clients and partners, growing its customer base threefold. Digital Asset’s customer base includes organizations across financial services, healthcare and insurance, such as BNP Paribas, Broadridge, Cboe, Deutsche Börse, Goldman Sachs, HKEX, HSBC, and Nasdaq, among others.
Previously, Yuval managed an algorithmic trading desk at DRW Trading and he launched DRW Venture Capital as a member of the firm’s investment team. He also worked as a developer at Citadel. Yuval is a member of the Digital Asset Markets subcommittee of the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Global Market Advisory Committee. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Blockchain Business Council, a leading global industry association for the blockchain technology ecosystem. He is also a frequent speaker at industry events and is often quoted in well-respected media outlets such as Bloomberg, Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among others, talking about enterprise blockchain in the context of digital assets, market infrastructure, privacy, digital currencies, clearing and settlement challenges, and sustainable finance.
Yuval holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is based at the company’s headquarters in New York City.
Digital assets | PAyments | Tokenisation
Decoding Digital Money and Payments
This report offers an in-depth look at policy roadmaps and technological advancements shaping digital payments and cross-border transactions. Download this report for a strategic guide on the opportunities, complexities and future state of digital money.
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