Welcome Remarks by the OECD's Deputy Secretary-General Masamichi Kono.

This keynote speech will explore the role of distributed ledger technology in digital finance for fostering inclusion and resilience, and how private and public sector initiatives could fit into this picture. 

In this session, senior Central Bankers and global stable coin experts discuss the current status of their explorations of this new monetary frontier.

This interview will discuss the changes to the role of central banks when shaping a foundation for tomorrow’s monetary and financial system. Questions on how and why central banks are working together on reshaping our classic monetary and financial system will be raised.

In this session, the International Transport Forum will release some of the insights from its forthcoming publication of the Corporate Partnership Board on the use of distributed ledger technologies in transport and supply chains. It will give example of case studies highlighting best practice, and address the question of how can policy best support the relevant adoption of distributed ledger technologies.

This session outlines how DLT can leverage the potential of remittances for the provision of financial services in least developed countries. It introduces findings from “The Finance Against Remittances (FAR) project” in Nepal, which demonstrates how policies centred on innovative technological solutions like blockchain can create new opportunities for migrants to improve their financial resilience. The securitisation of remittances represents a powerful tool for rebuilding sustainable and better livelihoods, particularly in the context of Covid-19.

2020 has seen the continued development and adoption of DLT, but what impact will this have on policy? This 50-minute workshop will provide a short introduction to DLT and the questions it raises for policymakers.

Competition agencies are beginning to encounter Blockchain business models in the course of their cases and investigations and are considering whether the technology calls for an adjustment to their policy stance. This session will hear the perspective from the EU, the US and the French agencies, which are at the forefront of efforts to understand the impact that Blockchain will have on competition policy.

Biodiversity impacts and dependencies are not taken into account yet in most financial and business decisions, despite increasing awareness amongst financial actors and businesses. This session will explore how new and emerging fintech solutions for biodiversity can help channel financing in support of biodiversity action.

This session will consider the role of stablecoins particularly in the light of emerging CBDCs.

The current Covid-19 pandemic is showing us the risks and challenges of our trade and supply chain system when it comes to transparency and efficiency. This session will discuss both the risks and inefficiencies of implementing DLT in the global supply chain sector, as well as the potential of DLT, including for trade finance.

This discussion will explore the large-scale blockchain infrastructure initiatives in the public and private sectors, and their implications for fostering DLT innovation.

Decentralised applications (DApps) have gained traction in recent months, particularly in the financial sector. This panel session will review the opportunities and challenges of DApps,  including DeFi applications, and the policy implications they raise.  

The session will aim to clarify expectations with respect to digital security regarding blockchain. Many people simply don't understand how blockchain works and question its basic security (e.g. assuming that a ledger that is stored everywhere cannot be secure), while many others view blockchain as a panacea for security (e.g. it will solve all our security challenges). Where is the reality? To which extent can we trust this technology from a digital security perspective? How can it help resolve existing digital security challenges?

Governments and education institutions are exploring new opportunities for the recognition of diplomas and other credentials using DLT, making a case for easy (transnational) student transfers and to tackle fraud. At the same time, they face many new challenges that come with the technology.

What is a smart contract and how does it work? This 50-min workshop will dive deeper into the technical aspects of smart contracts and their implications for policy makers.

This session will discuss how distributed ledger technology can be used to underpin digital identity and its policy implications.

While the use of DLT is increasing across a broad range of sectors, it remains a relative outlier in terms of tools for sustainable development. This session incorporates both donor and investee/partner country perspectives on how DLT can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Smart contracts relying on DLT challenge governments in different ways, notably because they may disrupt the way legal contracts operate. To shed light on this question, the session will discuss the regulatory challenges faced by governments as regard DLT-based smart contracts and some of the recent regulatory responses that have been implemented by countries.

What does the future of DLT hold, and what role must different stakeholders play to achieve its potential? This fireside chat with Chairman and Co-Founder of Bloq Matthew Roszak and Forkast News' Angie Lau will touch on these issues.

As advances are made in DLT innovation, a number of countries have begun to devise coordinated policy approaches. This panel discussion will explore the latest national strategies, and what policy objectives governments are seeking to achieve.

Forkast Editor-in-Chief Angie Lau sits down for a one-on-one conversation with Yoni Assia, Founder & CEO of eToro.

Emerging technology is often touted as the way for emerging and developing markets to economically leap forward. What's the reality of the state of DLT innovation and adoption in these markets, and what can we expect in the coming year?

As blockchain-based digital assets are rapidly gaining traction and central banks are looking into issuing CBDCs, the Bank of Lithuania has chosen the niche area of numismatics to serve as a “playground” for experimentation with blockchain in a real-life environment. During the workshop you will learn:  What challenges had to be overcome to create the world’s first blockchain-based digital collector coin  Possibilities for broader application of the underlying LBCOIN technological infrastructure, including for CBDC experimentation  What does digital transformation mean for consumers and the financial sector You will have the chance to:   Meet the technical team that turned LBCOIN from an idea to reality  Win LBCOIN yourself!

In September 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) publishes a report of Virtual Assets Red Flag Indicators of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. Based on more than one hundred case studies from members across the Financial Action Task Force Global Network, this report covers the trends in the misuse of virtual assets, and highlights six categories of red flag indicators that could suggest criminal, money laundering, and terrorist financing activities involving virtual assets. In this panel discussion, we will bring together financial intelligence and law enforcement experts, sharing their operational experiences and lessons learnt in detecting, investigating, and prosecuting the misuse of virtual assets. The panel will also exchange views on current and emerging money laundering and terrorist financing risks brought by virtual assets. The FATF report of Virtual Assets Red Flag Indicators of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing can be found here: http://bit.ly/3mfs8Pb

This session will explore how DLT can support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Data privacy concerns pose barriers to using DLT to manage the vast stores of personal health data within health systems and even for the use of DLT to support patient identity management, and management of dynamic patient consent to data collection and data access and sharing permissions. This session will explore why DLT's strengths - transparency and immutability - may raise barriers to DLT deployment in the health sector and ways to reduce data privacy risks.

Why traditional institutions need to reimagine their services to support those in need from the COVID and to support the wider social change agenda we need to solve the UN SDGs by 2030. Success in the future will be equally measured by the community return along with financial return. The returns to our communities can and will be measured in tangible changes to our community across areas such as access, inclusion, affordability, employment, employment creation.

What do we mean when we talk about interoperability, and why is it important (or not) to the future development of the industry?

This interview will provide us a glimpse of what DLT holds for the future of financial markets. What are the key innovations we can expect, and what are their implications?  

In the last couple of years, the global use of tokenised assets has expanded. Policy makers have been exploring new approaches, including legal frameworks and sandboxes, in response to industry demand. Where do we stand in 2020?

Frameworks to support governance of fully-distributed systems (e.g permission-less DLT) are receiving close attention globally as important factors for the long-term health of the sector. In this session, participants discuss the challenges, the options for addressing them, and what this means for different stakeholders in the ecosystem.

This session will provide a market perspective on asset tokenisation. What are the policy hurdles they are facing and what policy steps need to be taken?

This session will explore how the U.S. government is using DLT for more efficient and transparent grant disbursement.

Digital financial assets based on DLT and cryptography – referred to as “virtual” or “crypto” assets – have emerged as an important issue for policymakers since their creation in 2009 and their subsequent growth and increasingly widespread use. Crypto-assets, which span a vast spectrum of heterogeneous forms and purposes, have a number of inherent and unique characteristics that pose challenges for tax policymakers. These challenges arise due to their lack of centralised control, (pseudo-)anonymity, valuation difficulties, hybrid characteristics including both aspects of financial instruments and intangible assets, and the rapid evolution of the underpinning technology as well as the form of these assets. This session will discuss key tax policy and tax transparency concepts in relation to virtual currencies and crypto-assets, providing an overview of country tax policy treatments around the world, the tax implications of emerging developments in blockchain and token technology, and insights into how tax transparency and reporting frameworks may be able to be adapted to encompass these assets and address their challenges.

While DLT technology has the potential to transform the functioning of a wide range of industries and open up new opportunities for SMEs, there also remain challenges. We invite entrepreneurs developing B2B blockchain solutions to discuss use cases relevant for SMEs, share their experiences working with businesses and discuss challenges of SME adoption.

So far, government implemented DLT projects have had minimal impact. Most are stuck at the proof-of-concept or pilot stage, or have fizzled out entirely. Why is this the case? Does DLT still hold promise for public service transformation? Based on analysis of real-world project and discussions with public innovators, this panel will discuss lessons learned potential factors that may contribute to project success or failure.  

The use of decentralised finance (DeFi) has experienced an increase in recent months, similar in some ways to the 2017 ICO boom. This session will explore the changing DeFi landscape, and take a look at the road ahead.

This keynote speech will delve into France's strategy to encourage distributed ledger technology innovation.

This keynote will explore how DLT can facilitate new ways to share, leverage, and protect data in the digital age, and the data management and privacy risks that come with them.

This high-level discussion will consider the implications of distributed ledger technology for data privacy, both as a tool to achieve it and the challenges it poses to existing frameworks.

This high-level session will explore the policy issues that arise with the integration of blockchain and other transformational technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.

Closing remarks by Caroline Malcolm, Head of the OECD's Global Blockchain Policy Centre.