Researching Prospects of the New Financial Ecosystem: an international conference on Digital Currency (CBDC) and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) was opened at the Stamba Hotel. The event, which will be held during May 4-5, was initiated by the National Bank of Georgia and the USAID Economic Security Program, with the involvement of the World Bank.

The goal of the two-day meeting is to facilitate dialogue between private and public stakeholders on central bank digital currency and decentralized finance issues. Dialogue is a good opportunity to raise stakeholder awareness of digital finance and fintech, which also demonstrates the benefits of digital GEL, such as faster, less expensive and more secure transactions for businesses and individuals.

Koba Gvenetadze, Governor of the National Bank of Georgia, spoke at the CBDC & DeFi conference about the actions taken by the NBG to develop digital GEL.

"As most of you might know, for the last two years, we have been conducting comprehensive research around the Central Bank Digital Currency concept and the growing range of Decentralized Finance. The financial system is already transforming, as the growth of decentralized finance pushes us to the next steps of evolution. We believe that in the modern era of finance, the NBG should expand the regulatory policy to cover new areas which would ultimately guarantee customer protection and create a level playing field financial system, deepen competition and build a safe and healthy digital financial environment. Moreover, we aim to go further with CBDC. It is not just all about the introduction of another payment method but rather the ambition to make the case for the development of the ecosystem where decentralized and centralized finance will meet and coexist for the benefit of Georgian users," said Koba Gvenetadze.

The international conference was attended by Levan Davitashvili, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Peter Wiebler, Mission Director of USAID/Georgia, Mark T McCord, CoP of USAID Economic Security Program, Sebastian Molineus, World Bank Regional Director for the South Caucasus, representatives of international financial and donor organizations, commercial banks, fintech companies, business associations and leading companies in the financial and information technology sectors.