Stablecoins for SMEs
Background
In an increasingly volatile global financial landscape, stablecoins offer small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a powerful tool to enhance financial resilience and operational efficiency. By combining the benefits of blockchain technology with price stability, stablecoins enable faster cross-border payments, reduce currency exchange risks, and improve access to decentralized financial services. This webinar explores how SMEs can leverage stablecoins to unlock new growth opportunities, navigate economic uncertainty, and participate more actively in the digital economy.
The webinar will discuss the potential of stablecoins for SMEs.
Discussion would focus on the promise of these digital assets to reshape the financial landscape, offer streamlined cross-border payments, real-time settlements, and improved access to global capital.
The session will highlight practical examples of stablecoins helping SMEs overcome challenges related to cross-border payments and participating in an increasingly digital and interconnected economy.
This session will also critically examine the policy landscape, risks that stablecoins may pose to SMEs, including compliance and interoperability hurdles, financial risks, and evolving regulatory frameworks.
Speakers
- Harish Natarajan, Practice Manager, Financial Inclusion and Infrastructure, World Bank
- Camilla Bullock, CEO and co-founder, Emerging Payments Asia
- Stablecoin clearing system - Nicole Sandler, Chief Ecosystem Officer, Ubyx
- Commercial bank - Rob Downes, Head of Digital Assets, Absa Group
- Global retailer/marketplace - Amira Karim, Head of Public Policy, Payments & Financial Services, Amazon
- Digital payment solutions provider - Elie Bertha, Chief Product Officer, Thunes
- Regulatory / innovation expert - Lauren Cassells, Emerging Markets Program Lead, Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR)
Organizer: The SME Finance Forum (SMEFF) is a network of 250+ members and affiliates with coverage spanning 190+ countries. The members are primarily financial services providers such as banks, fintechs, non-bank financial institutions, development finance institutions, credit guarantee companies, and microfinance institutions. The affiliates consist of policy advocacy groups, academia, SME and banking associations, training providers, and non-profit organizations.
SMEFF was established in 2012 by the G20 and is managed by the International Finance Corporation with a core objective to scale financial services for SMEs.
As the leading SME finance network globally, the forum steers industry innovations, supports replication of best practices, recognizes global champions, drives thought leadership, convenes influential stakeholders, and fosters global knowledge transfer.
