Earlier this year, GBBC CEO Sandra Ro joined Point Zero Forum (PZF), a three-day conference centered on blockchain and other emerging technologies, sustainability, and the future of the digital economy.
At PZF, Sandra moderated the panel, ‘Tokenisation Building Block 1: Building Digital Asset Infrastructure’ and attended various offerings throughout the conference alongside leaders and changemakers from around the globe.
From her experience at PZF, Ro shares her perspective on the future of the digital economy, regulation, and the best steps forward to increase bilateral collaboration across industries.
Point Zero Forum (PZF, June 21-23, 2022) is an annual gathering of select global leaders, founders, and investors with the purpose of developing new ideas to advance the future of financial services (FOFS), driving investment activity by bringing together leading founders, and dissecting regulatory considerations related to each FOFS development. To that end, Point Zero Forum is a top ‘must attend’ for digital assets-focused leaders across industries and the regulatory and private sectors.
Key Takeaways
- There is a Need for Global Dialogue and Collaboration
- Investors Need Help Crossing Barriers
- Embracing the Shift to Web3 is Pivotal
- The Need for Global Dialogue and Collaboration
PZF underscored the importance of bringing together a high quality, curated, cross section of senior executives across the digital assets, blockchain, government and financial services industries. The collaboration of leaders across industries led to much-needed conversations in the industry. Matters such as gaps in understanding, common taxonomy, and macro level issues amongst stakeholders persist. By connecting and addressing the matters that often get overlooked, we were able to foster meaningful conversations across industries. In short, we must resist sitting in ‘echo chambers’ within industry or government silos and collaborate as this technology requires.
- Barriers Facing the Investment Community
At the Investor Summit held during PZF, I observed and discussed with fintech investors regarding the high demand to learn more about digital assets, cryptocurrencies, and crypto / blockchain companies. The theme of these conversations highlighted the hurdles that investors face in approaching fintech – for those who have not been following the rapidly evolving space, the barriers to entry are high in understanding the key players, risks, challenges, and technology involved. To overcome these barriers, increased education, information, and common taxonomy to the investment community are critical.
- The Mindset Shift Necessary for Web3
From the series of conversations held surrounding the Web3 / Crypto space, the takeaway was evident; both the private and public sectors need each other to make the transition to Web3 successful. In order for industries to shift to the Web3 / Crypto space effectively, there must be bilateral collaboration – one will not thrive without the other. However, striking the balance between encouraging innovation / economic opportunities and prudent regulatory guardrails is tough without openness and mindset change. Web3 remains a novel concept to many, which includes digital assets, and represents a big mindset shift in how we organize, interact, transact, and govern.
In Conclusion
The inaugural PZF, with the support of the Singapore and Switzerland governments, showed us how we can come together to shed light on the opportunities, challenges, and ultimately the work towards thoughtful, global, solutions over time.
By Sandra Ro, CEO, Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC)
For more information, please contact [email protected]