Audrey Metzger

This roundtable gathers experts from key organizations involved in shaping the future of wholesale cross-border payments. In this early phase—focused on collecting diverse requirements, shaping the technological fundamentals and establishing a multi-stakeholder project organisation—participants will share initial lessons learned and discuss anticipated challenges for future phases of Project Agorá. The discussion is designed to foster robust debate and exchange innovative ideas from various perspectives.

It aims to discuss the driving forces and motivation behind project Agorá and synthesise early insights around key coordination, technical, and operational challenges in building a resilient next-generation tokenised cross-border payment platform. Further the roundtable aims to share and ideate on possible strategies to resolve identified challenges and consider emerging technology trends in future phases of the project.

The discussion will produce a report of synthesised insights, current challenges and proposed solutions and strategies, to effectively and efficiently enable the future of cross-border payments with future phases of Project Agorá.

Institutional players are increasingly adopting digital assets, including private sector stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), tokenized real-world assets, and tokenized deposits, as part of their financial infrastructure. With 2025 poised to be the breakout year for digital money, this session brings together financial institutions, regulators, and leaders in the digital assets space to discuss:

• The emerging use-cases and commercial opportunities for on-chain assets, such as improved cross-border transactions and programmable money applications
• The risks institutions will have to navigate when managing their digital money assets, including financial volatility, cyber risks, and compliance concerns
• Integrated approaches to managing assets across the traditional finance and decentralised finance landscape

European startups continue to face fragmented, unclear and overlapping regulations, bureaucratic hurdles, and uneven market access when scaling beyond their home countries. This session will bring together startup founders and policymakers to address key barriers and discuss solutions for a more integrated European startup ecosystem.

• Are European startups at a disadvantage compared to the US and Asia?
• How can policymakers help startups scale cross-border without excessive compliance costs?
• Is it time for the EU to rethink its traditional regulations-first stance and begin to take informed steps towards becoming innovation-first?

Stablecoins have introduced a new paradigm for digital finance, offering the promise of faster payments, greater financial inclusion, and seamless cross-border transactions. But with this potential comes risk—from financial crime and illicit activity to consumer protection gaps and systemic market threats. As regulators race to put the right guardrails in place, the question remains: What does an optimal regulatory framework for stablecoins look like?

Tighter oversight could bring greater legitimacy and mainstream adoption, but at what cost? Could excessive restrictions stifle innovation and limit stablecoins’ ability to compete with traditional finance? Meanwhile, financial institutions are stepping into the space, bridging the divide between regulated banking and digital assets—but is this the answer to ensuring stability, or simply a step toward the centralization of stablecoins?

This discussion brings back the banking and crypto voices from the three-part debate (Battle Royale of Payments,  Digital Currency Showdown and Stablecoins vs Tokenised Deposits) with policy experts to tackle the key risks of ML/TF compliance, consumer protection, and financial stability. Expect a hard-hitting discussion on the future of stablecoin regulation as we break down the real risks, real opportunities, and real regulatory solutions that will determine whether stablecoins remain an experimental asset class—or the foundation of the next financial revolution.