Fintech Week 2018 Program Overview
Day 1: 8:15 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., November 5, 2018
Theme: Crypto Assets (Part 1)
Georgetown Law
Hart Auditorium, McDonough Building
600 New Jersey Avenue NW | Washington, DC 20001
8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. — Coffee & Registration
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m — Crypto-Law (Re)Thinking the Nomenclature and Taxonomy
Regulating crypto assets requires precise terminology in order to fully understand the opportunities and challenges and solutions posed by them. But key terms, from “decentralization” to “utility token” to “exchanges” remain imprecise. This session works to developing working principles.
10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. — Fireside chat
William Hinman, Director, Division of Corporate Finance, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. — Crypto Assets: New Developments
The crypto asset sector has been transformed by a variety of developments that are designed to support, improve or transform even first-generation cryptographic infrastructures and services. In this panel we provide an overview of some of the most important.
12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. — Evolving Crypto Use Cases
Crypto assets are being used for more than just fundraisers and investments. In this session, we will examine the evolution of crypto assets as instruments for capital management, liquidity, payments and bridge facilities.
1:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. — Lunch
1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. — Fireside Chat
Sheila C. Bair, former Chairman, U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. — Emerging Blockchain and Crypto Asset Financial Infrastructures
Neither crypto assets nor underlying blockchain infrastructures have reached mainstream finance due to a number of technological and regulatory concerns and hurdles, as well as incumbent support systems. This panel examines the status and development of the sector, from custodial challenges to institutional trading environments.
3:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. — Fireside Chat
Craig S. Phillips, Counselor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury
4:45 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. — Cocktail Conversation and Networking
Private and Public Rulemaking for Fintech Policy with Perianne Boring, Founder & President, Chamber of Digital Commerce
Day 2: 8:15 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., November 6, 2018
Theme: Crypto Assets (Part 1)
International Monetary Fund, Headquarters 2 (HQ2) Visitor Center
1900 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW | Washington, DC 20431
Photo ID Required.
8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. — Coffee & Registration
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m — Crypto-Economics
Whether (and if so, how) crypto assets redefine canonical economic principles and expectations is a matter of intense debate. This panel explores the issue, as well as its implications for associated questions of utility, scalability, and transactional efficiency for capital markets.
10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. — Emerging Financial Risks and Legal Issues in Crypto Assets
It is well understood that crypto assets present significant challenges for banking and securities regulators. In this session, we examine the difficulty of mapping regulatory frameworks to these risks — and the strategies regulators.
12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. — Crypto Assets and Monetary Policy Transmission
Crypto assets present unique policy opportunities and challenges for banking and monetary officials. Perhaps none is more apparent than that facing monetary policy. Nonetheless, some central banks are exploring means of not only cultivating the industry, but also creating their own crypto assets. This panel explores the policy implications and economic repercussions
1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. — Lunch
Bryan Stirewalt, Chief Executive, Dubai Financial Services Authority
2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. — Crypto Assets and Economic Development
The deployment of crypto assets as means of fostering economic development has been an area of increasing interest among many financial authorities, especially in emerging markets. This panel investigates the feasibility and risks of such strategies in stress-scenarios and various regions of the world.
3:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. — Fireside Chat
David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director International Monetary Fund
4:45 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. — Cocktail Conversation and Networking
Taxing crypto assets with Itai Grinberg, Professor of Law, Georgetown Law, Institute of International Economic Law
Day 3: 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., November 7, 2018
Theme: Understanding and Financing Innovation
Georgetown Law
Hart Auditorium, McDonough Building
600 New Jersey Avenue NW | Washington, DC 20001
8:30 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. — Coffee & Registration
9:15 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. — Fireside Chat
Joseph M. Otting, Comptroller of the Currency, U.S. Department of the Treasury
10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. — Alternative Data, Fintech Analytics and Financial Inclusion
Fintech offers the potential for expanding financial access and the opportunities for underserviced consumers, savers, entrepreneurs and even investors. But it can also create barriers to inclusion where faulty data or even discriminatory practices are programmed into autonomous systems. This panel explores the attendant risks and opportunities, as well as regulatory trends in the sector.
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. — The Future of Exchanges and Digital Marketplaces
The electronification and digitization of exchanges continues to enable profound changes in the services and products they offer. New marketplaces, trading techniques and digital products are emerging, along with novel applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning. This panel explores recent cutting-edge developments, as well as the novel technical and policy issues they raise.
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. — Lunch
1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. — Keynote Address
J. Christopher Giancarlo, Chairman, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. — Fintech Company Valuations: Past, Present and Future
Valuing fintech companies has proven notoriously difficult over the last several decades. However, investors are refining their tools and methods with which they perform their analysis. On this panel, experts share their insight as to fintech company valuations of the past, and as well as future trends in the industry.
3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. — Fintechs and the Small Business Marketplace
Pradeep Belur, Chief of Staff & Chief Operating Officer, U.S. Small Business Administration
4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. — Fintech Sharktank (with Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business)
- Blockchain Accounting
- BondCliQ
- Overstone Art Services
- Synswap
Day 4: 8:10 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., November 8, 2018 with the IFM on Capitol Hill
Theme: Smart Regulation
Top of the Hill Conference Center
1 Constitution Avenue NE at First Street NE | Washington, DC 20002
8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. — Coffee & Registration
9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. — How to Build a Regulatory Sandbox
Regulatory sandboxes are increasingly discussed as a possible tool in assisting officials foster technological innovation in a safe and responsible manner, while staying true to their mandates. Just what this means in American context remains, however, a subject of debate. This panel will explore policy options concerning regulatory innovation, and their attendant risks, opportunities and tradeoffs.
10:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. — Making or Taking Innovation? Regulatory Competition and the Race for Fintech Dominance
Intense competition for technological innovation is informing not only business strategies for participants in financial markets, but also regulatory policy in jurisdictions seeking to raise their profile as fintech hubs. Whether or not such jostling for technologists and entrepreneurs will result in a race to the “top” or “bottom”— is yet to be decided. This panel will examine the phenomenon and discuss the national, cross-border and global implications.
12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. — Security and Resiliency in the Cloud
Financial institutions are increasingly leveraging cloud technology in hopes of better serving and protecting their customers. But unlike traditional outsourcing in the financial sector, many cloud services are standardized and provided globally, even as domestic authorities maintain local oversight. This panel will explore the implications of fragmented oversight for security and resiliency in the cloud.