DAXPO 2020

DIGITAL ASSETS IN THE POST-COVID-19 ECONOMY

Money after COVID-19 will not be the same.

The mass distribution of stimulus payments has become a standard feature in governments’ response to economic downturns. Yet many governments throughout the world have not constructed an efficient system to ensure that everyone gets money quickly. Critics are therefore claiming that fundamental changes to outdated financial structures are not being made, and many are turning to central bank digital currency (CBDC) as a potential alternative. In terms of financial inclusion, financial and macroeconomic stability, and monetary policy transmission, CBDC has the potential to bring completely different results from the current system.

So how do governments around the world view CBDC? How would the introduction of CBDC change the world’s current financial systems that center around commercial banks? China is leading the world in CBDC development. How does that threaten the status of the dollar, which has always been viewed as the dominant currency in the global economy since the end of World War II?

Amid the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19, it looks as if central banks believe they can print an infinite amount of money. Although many agree that an unprecedented crisis necessitates such a measure in the short term, nobody is certain of the sustainability of this system in the long term.

Born directly after the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin has soared in value during economic crises in Europe and South America, thus earning the nickname “digital gold.” Yet the economic shock of COVID-19 has shown us that digital gold is perhaps not the best analogy for Bitcoin.

When will cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Stablecoin have their moment? How has COVID-19 changed traditional financial institutions’ view of cryptocurrencies? What does the cryptocurrency industry need to do in order to turn crisis into opportunity?

The post-COVID-19 economy will ask us important and urgent questions regarding the future of money. Daxpo 2020 will convene the world’s leaders in blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency industry, innovators in traditional finance, financial regulators and policy makers, and academics to help answer these questions.