Jo Yeo

The January 2026 publication of the GDF Global Stablecoin Regulatory Playbook marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of digital asset oversight. For the first time, a comprehensive, principles-based framework has been developed, by and for stablecoin issuers, to establish shared terminology, foundational concepts, and outcome-oriented principles for stablecoin regulation across jurisdictions. 
 
Yet the core challenge identified by the Playbook remains urgent: despite growing convergence on broad objectives, significant divergence persists in legal classification, terminology, reserve requirements, and redemption standards across the US (GENIUS Act), EU (MiCA), UK, Singapore, UAE, and beyond.  
 
This fragmentation creates compliance burdens for global issuers, undermines cross-border scalability, and risks undercutting the very benefits - frictionless payments, financial inclusion, monetary efficiency - that stablecoins are positioned to deliver. 
 
This roundtable convenes regulators, policymakers, and senior industry participants to analyse the GDF Playbook's findings, stress-test its recommendations against real regulatory experience, and identify actionable pathways toward greater international alignment. 
 
Why Now? 
Stablecoins have moved decisively from experiment to infrastructure. The GENIUS Act has established a federal US framework; MiCA has come into force across the EU; Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE, and the UK have each enacted or are finalising their regimes. The window for shaping global interoperability, before these frameworks calcify into divergent silos, is narrow. 
 
The GDF Playbook provides a neutral, issuer-grounded reference point from which regulators, policymakers, and industry can build shared understanding. This roundtable is designed to translate that reference point into regulatory action - identifying where equivalence determinations are ripe, where supervisory cooperation agreements should be deepened, and where international standard-setters should focus their attention. 

The consensus is clear: global payment networks see collaboration, not competition, as their path to future dominance. Major networks are already building bridges – Mastercard with Ant International, Swift with blockchain layers, NGP's Nexus connecting instant payment systems worldwide. But as these technical integrations accelerate, a critical question emerges: what policy frameworks will govern this interconnected future?
 
When payment networks interoperate across borders, whose rules apply? How do regulators ensure consumer protection when a transaction touches multiple jurisdictions and networks? As networks become more interdependent, how do policymakers balance innovation with systemic risk? And perhaps most importantly – how can policy frameworks evolve to support beneficial network effects while preventing any single player from wielding excessive market power?
 
This roundtable brings together payment network leaders, financial regulators, and policy experts to explore how regulatory frameworks must adapt to govern an era of payment network collaboration. The stakes are high: get the policy right, and we unlock unprecedented efficiency and inclusion in global payments. Get it wrong, and we risk creating new systemic vulnerabilities or stifling the very innovation that promises to transform how the world moves money.