2026 Speakers
2026 Distinguished Speakers
Dr. Mark Staples
Chief Technology Officer
Digital Finance CRC
Dr Mark Staples is the CTO for the Digital Finance CRC, and a Senior Principal Researcher in Australia's national research institute CSIRO. He has led research and standardisation on blockchain since 2015, including leading technology work on CBDC pilot research projects jointly with the Reserve Bank of Australia. He holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Cambridge.
Speaking at
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11:10–11:50amTue 24 MarSummit StageWinthrop HallOpen
Blueprint for Digital Assets
How to Build Better Money - Trust Stack for Money in Motion
Summit StageWinthrop HallOpen
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Alvinder SinghHead, Innovation Acceleration OfficeMonetary Authority of Singapore
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Effie DimitropoulosChief Executive OfficerAUDD Stablecoin
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Kate CooperChief Executive OfficerOKX
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Dr. Mark StaplesChief Technology OfficerDigital Finance CRC
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Maha El DimachkiChief Executive Officer, GFTN SolutionsGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)Moderator
About this session
Money is critical infrastructure & most people only notice it when it fails. This session explains how trust in digital payments & settlements can be strengthened as cyber threats rise, economies digitize, and quantum moves from theory to threat. You’ll leave with practical trust upgrades that matter most for the decade ahead - access to resilient, secure money & payments in the age of disruption.
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1:30–2:45pmTue 24 MarPublic-Private RoundtablesUniClub - Roundtable Room 1Invite-Only
Blueprint for Digital Assets
[Closed-Door Roundtable] Indo-Pacific Digital Money Infrastructures - Building the Next Wholesale Payment Rails
Public-Private RoundtablesUniClub - Roundtable Room 1Invite-Only
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Alvinder SinghHead, Innovation Acceleration OfficeMonetary Authority of Singapore
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Doulos LeeManagerBank Negara Malaysia
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Kylie StewartDigital Currencies Senior ManagerReserve Bank of Australia
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Dr. Mark StaplesChief Technology OfficerDigital Finance CRC
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Robert PorterHead of Digital Asset Services (Business)Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ)
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Steve VallasChief Executive OfficerBlockchain APAC
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Victoria RichardsonPartnerID Partners
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Maha El DimachkiChief Executive Officer, GFTN SolutionsGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)Moderator
About this session
Wholesale digital money is moving from experimentation to infrastructure. Across the Indo-Pacific & Europe, central banks, regulators & financial institutions are testing tokenised settlement models to improve cross-border payments, liquidity efficiency & risk management through initiatives such as Project Acacia (Australia), Project Guardian and BLOOM (Singapore).
This closed-door session convenes senior leaders from policy, banking, market infrastructure, and technology providers to compare takeaways from leading pilots and align on what it will take to move from proofs-of-concept to interoperable, secure, scalable wholesale settlement rails across jurisdictions.
The roundtable builds on GFTN’s recently launched Digital Money principles, emphasising interoperability, sovereignty, resilience, trust, and inclusion. Participants will also consider enabling foundations underpinning trusted digital markets. -
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10:35–11:15amWed 25 MarSummit StageWinthrop HallOpen
Blueprint for Digital Assets
Tokenizing Real-World Assets: Can Pilots Mature into Real Markets?
Summit StageWinthrop HallOpen
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Kassia KazmerChief Executive Officer and Co-founderProspEx Group
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Dr. Mark StaplesChief Technology OfficerDigital Finance CRC
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Rob AllenHead of Hedera Enterprise Adoption TeamHashgraph
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Robert PorterHead of Digital Asset Services (Business)Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ)
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Amy-Rose GoodeyChief Executive OfficerDigital Economy Council of Australia (DECA)Moderator
About this session
Tokenization is moving beyond experiments into economic infrastructure across trade, commodities, energy, carbon & finance - but only when it becomes institutional-grade in terms of custody, legal clarity, interoperability & governance. This session focuses on the leap from “interesting demo” to scalable market workflows that banks, industry & regulators can trust. Participants gain practical insight into how tokenized corridors can reduce friction, improve provenance, accelerate settlement & unlock new financing pathways.
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1:30–2:45pmWed 25 MarPublic-Private RoundtablesUniClub - Roundtable Room 2Open
Next-Gen Transactions
[Roundtable] Cutting the Costs of Cross-Border Trade – Modern Digital Money in Practice
Public-Private RoundtablesUniClub - Roundtable Room 2Open
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Alvinder SinghHead, Innovation Acceleration OfficeMonetary Authority of Singapore
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Amy-Rose GoodeyChief Executive OfficerDigital Economy Council of Australia (DECA)
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Belle LouFounderBloom Fintech
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Prof. David Lee Kuo ChuenChairmanGlobal Fintech Institute
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Effie DimitropoulosChief Executive OfficerAUDD Stablecoin
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Prof. Kadambot SiddiqueHackett Professor of Agriculture Chair and DirectorThe UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia
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Laura DinneenHead of Product MarketingZodia Custody
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Dr. Mark StaplesChief Technology OfficerDigital Finance CRC
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Michael PrendivilleChief Executive OfficerJellyC
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Dr. Andrzej GwizdalskiCo-founder & ChairmanWestern Australia Web3 AssociationModerator
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Jannah PatchayExecutive in Residence & Board MemberGlobal Digital FinanceModerator
About this session
Western Australia’s economy is highly export-driven. With exports over $240 Billion, it makes nearly half of the total Australian goods exports. Yet cross-border payments still carry potentially avoidable friction such as settlement delays, layered fees, FX spreads, manual exceptions & compliance overheads, costs that hit SMEs hardest & compound across large trade flows.
This session is a practical, industry-first discussion focused on one question:
How can WA reduce the costs & friction of cross-border export payments & safely adopt modern, regulated digital settlement tools where they deliver clear benefits while maintaining strong compliance, consumer protection, operational resilience & effective supervision? -

