Heng Wang is a Professor at Singapore Management University. He was a professor at UNSW Sydney and co-directed key research centres. Heng has received major grants and awards, including recognition as Australia’s research leader in international law. His work is often cited by intergovernmental organisations. He is a member of World Economic Forum’s initiatives and advises or speaks at institutions including the UN, IMF, World Bank, and WTO.

The Singapore Management University is a business- and economics-oriented university in Singapore. SMU consistently ranks among the world’s top universities for business and economics and, in 2018, was ranked in the top 50 of the Financial Times MBA Rankings for the first time, making it the highest new entrant.

Digital currencies are rapidly reshaping the global financial landscape. Their future will be shaped by many factors, including how we engage with intertwined relational, technological, and legal complexities. Paying attention to these layers also sheds light on potential disputes with social dimensions (diverging stakeholder interests), material dimensions (what different actors perceive to be at stake), and temporal dimensions (how issues may emerge and evolve over time). Using central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as a distinct form of public digital money, this talk offers a framework for thinking about the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Panel Discussion: What is next?

This panel explores the next phase of digital currency & payments, examining how CBDCs may move from pilots to scalable public infrastructure, how stablecoins could mature through regulation and institutional adoption, and how tokenized deposits may modernize bank money on-chain. Panelists will discuss where these models may compete, converge, or complement one another across payments, settlement, and capital markets. Attendees will gain a forward-looking view of what the digital currency landscape could look like over the next decade and what it means for financial institutions, policymakers, and market participants.