Holger Neuhaus

Head of Market Innovation & Integration

European Central Bank

Holger Neuhaus is Head of the European Central Bank's (ECB's) Market Innovation and Integration Division in the Directorate General Market Infrastructure and Payments.
His Division develops the ECB/Eurosystem’s approach in relation to innovation and integration in the field of payments and post-trade services.

He coordinates the Eurosystem's work aimed at developing a long-term, innovative ecosystem for DLT-based wholesale markets in Europe (Appia) to foster safer and more efficient financial markets, also through continued use of central bank money.

Speaking at

12:00–1:30pmTue 23 JunGFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 3, Ground FloorOpen
Blueprint for Digital Assets

Agorá - How Moving Money Matters

GFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 3, Ground FloorOpen
About this session

Project Agorá tests the hypothesis that a multi-currency settlement mechanism that leverages tokenization and programmability could mitigate inefficiencies and frictions in cross-border payments, making them faster, more transparent and safer.
To examine this, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) combined forces to convene seven central banks and over 40 international financial institutions to test the tokenization of commercial bank deposits and central bank reserves on a unifying ledger. The roundtable will bring together Project Agorá public and private sector participants to reflect on the project and lessons learned.
2:00–3:30pmWed 24 JunGFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 2, Ground FloorOpen
Blueprint for Digital Assets

GL1 Dialogue: Institutional-Grade Ledger Infrastructures

GFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 2, Ground FloorOpen
About this session

As digital assets continue to expand across global markets, public and private sector stakeholders face growing complexities around operations, regulations, and scalability. Some advocate for a single global ledger, while others favour consistent standards to be applied across networks to enable seamless interoperability.

This roundtable will examine these perspectives and explore what it will take to build a scalable digital asset ecosystem on institutional-grade infrastructure.
12:00–1:30pmThu 25 JunGFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 2, Ground FloorOpen
Blueprint for Digital Assets

Building a Practitioner's Guide for Tokenization in Finance: Working Group Members Convening

GFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 2, Ground FloorOpen
About this session

The problems that constrain tokenization at scale do not belong to one working group, one institution, or one regulatory perimeter. Cross-ledger settlement, stablecoin licensing fragmentation, FMI readiness in developing markets, and the legal enforceability of smart contracts are structurally connected with each a precondition for the next, each requiring actors across infrastructure and regulation to work from the same evidence base.
This session brings both working groups together for the first time in person. Working Group 1 (Interoperability and Infrastructure) and Working Group 2 (Regulation, Trust, and Governance) will each present their problem statements before presenting to the Oversight Panel. The purpose is to establish shared understanding of the initiative's full scope, test framing with peers who approach the same challenges from different vantage points, and sharpen the asks that each working group will direct to the Oversight Panel in the session that follows.
About the initiative
GFTN has launched _Tokenization in Finance: Evidence and Implementation Pathways_, a structured, multi-stakeholder initiative convening two working groups drawn from leading financial institutions, infrastructure providers, and market participants to assemble a practitioner-oriented evidence base spanning spanning digital money and payment rails through to tokenized real-world assets, securities, funds, and capital markets infrastructure. At Singapore FinTech Festival in November 2026, the initiative will publish a practitioner guide designed to give financial institutions a structured basis for sequencing their digital asset strategies, and to equip regulators and finance ministries in emerging and developing economies with implementation pathways they can draw on directly.

Featured speakers

Hosted by

Holger Neuhaus

Speaking at

Agorá - How Moving Money Matters

GL1 Dialogue: Institutional-Grade Ledger Infrastructures

Building a Practitioner's Guide for Tokenization in Finance: Working Group Members Convening