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Hosted by
Karin Keller-Sutter
Federal Councillor & Head of the Federal Department of Finance, Switzerland
Matthias Obrecht
Head Supervision New Technologies
Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)
Matthias Obrecht serves as the head of the Fintech Desk at FINMA (Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority). The Fintech Desk acts as the center of competence for fintech-related matters within FINMA. Matthias is responsible for authorizing and supervising institutions operating in the fintech space. Matthias is an attorney at law and holds an MBA degree from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul.
Speaking at
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4:00–5:30pmWed 24 JunGFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 1, Ground FloorOpenModerator
Blueprint for Digital Assets
Investor Protection in the Age of Cryptocurrencies: Risk Management at Every Step of the Journey
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Jasper BetsSenior Supervision Officer MiCAR/CryptoDutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM)
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Merion AnggerekDirector & Head of Capital Markets Policy Division, Markets Policy & Consumer DepartmentMonetary Authority of Singapore
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Richard GabbertChief of Staff, Crypto Task ForceUS SEC
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Ryosuke UshidaDirector for International Policy, International Affairs OfficeFinancial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA)
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Sarah JungoAttorney-at-law / Senior policy advisorState Secretariat of International Finance
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Scott BauguessVP, International and Regulatory PolicyCoinbase
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Prof. Susan EmmeneggerProfessorUniversity of Bern
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Léonard BôleMember of Executive BoardSwiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)Moderator
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Matthias ObrechtHead Supervision New TechnologiesSwiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)Moderator
About this session
In recent years, the function of popular cryptocurrencies has shifted. While originally designed as payment instruments, they are nowadays more frequently used as highly volatile investment objects by a variety of investors including retail investors. While a BIS Working Paper showed that between 2015 and 2022 an estimated 73-81% of retail investors have likely lost money on their initial investment in Bitcoin, recent reviews by IOSCO and FSB found that investor protection is still underdeveloped in this area.
This raises the question how and to what extent investors, especially retail investors, must be protected. Starting with a discussion on the available data, the panellists will discuss gaps in current regulation and concepts for an appropriate cryptocurrency regulation architecture in the area of (retail) investor protection. -
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4:00–5:30pmThu 25 JunGFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 1, Ground FloorOpen
Blueprint for Digital Assets
Beyond De-Risking: Are Stablecoins the Future of Trusted Cross-Border Payment Infrastructure?
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Adam GagenGlobal Head of Government AffairsRevolut
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Bridget Rose Mesina-RomeroDirector, Payments Policy and Development DepartmentBangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
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Calvin ChengChairmanPaymonade Tech
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Carine ChartouniDeputy Division Chief, Legal DepartmentInternational Monetary Fund
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Dr. Guerino ArdizziDeputy Head of the Analysis & Database Division (Retail Payment Instruments & Services Directorate)Banca d'Italia
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Jeannie LimCo-Founder & Head of GrowthXweave.io
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Juan López CarreteroHead of Market Development EuropeStellar Development Foundation
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Julie GuettaManaging DirectorThitsaWorks
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Mathias ImbachCo-founder & Group Chief Executive OfficerSygnum
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Matthias ObrechtHead Supervision New TechnologiesSwiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)
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Steven McWhirterGlobal Policy LeadBinance
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Prof. Yesha YadavBoard Member & ProfessorFintech Foundation, Vanderbilt Law School
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Lucy InghamVice President of ResearchFXC IntelligenceModerator
About this session
Cross-border payments remain among the most expensive, slowest, and least accessible financial services globally. Stablecoins have emerged as a working alternative in the corridors underserved by traditional correspondent banking, processing significant volume alongside traditional rails, but questions of trust, reserve integrity, adoption, and systemic risk remain unresolved.
As regulatory frameworks mature across jurisdictions, this roundtable will explore the question of whether stablecoins are poised to graduate from a parallel system into genuine cross-border payment infrastructure, and what has to be true about their design, governance, and regulatory treatment for that to happen.
With payment-native banks, institutional settlement networks, and central banks at the table, the conversation will move beyond the technology debate to the harder questions of standards, coexistence, and who bears the risk when settlement infrastructure fails at scale.
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