The World Economic Forum in Davos will have two sessions

The World Economic Forum in Davos will have two sessions dedicated to cryptocurrencies

The World Economic Forum will devote a lot of time to cryptocurrencies: two sessions will be held today and Thursday, entitled „Resetting Digital Currencies“.

During the World Economic Forum in Davos, which will be held from 25 to 29 January, there will be two different sessions dedicated to the world of cryptocurrencies: further proof that Crypto Bank digital assets have permeated the mainstream consciousness.

These sessions, entitled ‚Resetting Digital Currencies‘, will take place today and Thursday. The first will feature five keynote speakers, including Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, and Hikmet Ersek, President and CEO of Western Union.

Thursday’s panel will include four speakers, including Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s government minister, and Zhu Min, president of the Beijing-based National Institute of Financial Research.

The prospectus for both sessions reads:

„COVID-19 has accelerated the move away from cash. Meanwhile, Central Bank Digital Currencies are emerging, which could transform the way people use money around the world. […]

What policies, practices and partnerships are needed to exploit the opportunities presented by the rise of digital currencies?“

The five-day Davos summit will be attended by many leading figures from the world of finance and government. The two meetings on cryptocurrencies are part of the „Fairer Economies“ theme; other topics include „Tech for Good“, „How to Save the Planet“ and „Healthy Futures“.

The World Economic Forum is devoting more resources to understanding blockchain and crypto technology. The Geneva-based organisation has even created a working group on cryptocurrencies, which last month published a study on the various use cases, „beyond price and speculation“, of digital assets.

According to the authors of the research, blockchain technology will be a key factor in „sustainable digital finance“: distributed ledgers and smart contracts could „unlock the hidden value of legacy digital systems“.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are an area of research that the Forum has been exploring over the past 18 months. In January 2020, the organisation announced that it had created a framework to help banks „assess, design and potentially implement CBDCs“. This framework was developed in collaboration with more than 40 central banks, financial institutions and academic researchers.