SORA Economic Forum 2024

The third annual SORA Economic Forum on November 20 will bring together governance experts from around the world to discuss how blockchain can be deployed to develop more equitable and fairer national systems.

Hosted online by the SORA Foundation, the conference sets itself apart from others in the industry due to its focus on national and supranational solutions for issues such as debt and macroeconomic imbalances, climate change, and economic constraints on prosperous futures.

Public Policy Expertise

This year, the panel of speakers includes experts from four continents, including voices from countries where cryptocurrencies have some of the most relevant use cases.

On the finance and technology side, the Forum has several policy researchers from the public sector.

French Economist Clément Berthou is working on a thesis on payment infrastructures and international monetary systems. Johannes Duong works at the Central Bank of Austria, and brings with him insights into the ongoing DLT initiatives in Austria and, more widely, in the EU.

Dr. Elwaleed Ahmed Talha has been working at the Arab Monetary Fund, a supranational fiscal and trade institution, since 2018 and was an Economist at the Central Bank of Sudan for more than ten years. Dr. Talha will discuss how monetary and fiscal policies impact economic growth in the MENA region.

And finally, Tim Swanson, the Head of Market Intelligence at Clearmatics, a blockchain technology firm, and former R3 Director. Besides an overview of developments in blockchain scalability, digital asset adoption, and regulatory frameworks, attendees can also expect a Q&A on the recent R3 Announcement.

Spotlight On Nigeria

This year, the SORA Economic Forum will focus on the West African nation of Nigeria, with three experts coming to share their insights into the country's economy and digital assets initiatives.

Nigeria is one of the most active adopters of distributed ledger technology. Despite the government's restrictive regulatory measures, cryptocurrencies play a vital role in the economy.

E-Naira, one of the first central bank digital currencies in the world, has been on a difficult path to adoption and integration into the nation's economy.

Ernest Botha, a former member of the management team on the e-Naira project and currently a Policy Analyst at Nigeria's Central Bank, will tackle how to regulate digital assets in a way that ensures stability and maximizes public well-being.

International development lawyer Ifeoma Malo, who has dedicated her life to promoting clean energy and expanding access to it and whose voice has been fundamental to shaping Nigeria's climate policy, will speak about the country's path to carbon neutrality.

And, Dr. Ayo Teriba, a member of the Governing Council of Nigeria's Ministry of Finance and an economics professor at NUTM, will discuss the country's economic outlook.

Unique Global Insights

Shiva Bissessar (Trinidad and Tobago) will be another pioneer on central bank digital currencies at the SORA Economic Forum. Recalling his experience as a blockchain adviser to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank in the CBDC pilot, he will discuss CBDC projects in the region.

From Argentina, where the use of stablecoins as an informal hedge against inflation led to the development of a thriving blockchain technology sector that is home to the highest number of blockchain startups in Latin America, Kevin Itoiz will speak about transferring knowledge and innovation from Academia to the real economy. Javier Millei's administration appointed Itoiz in February to manage the technology and science sector at the Ministry of Economic Development.

Discussing how Central Banks can influence economic development, the SORA Economic Forum will have the Senior Economist at the Central Bank of Egypt, Dr. Asmaa Sami, discuss Antitrust Policies in Egypt and the Research Economist at the Central Bank of Burundi, and Jean Baptiste Aboyitungiye to talk about how central banks can effectively deal with climate change-related financial and economic risks.

The SORA Economic Forum will be hosted by Dr. Makoto Takemiya, co-founder and CEO of Soramitsu, an infrastructure provider to the SORA network. Dr. Takemiya will also give a talk and will be available for Q&A session about the group's projects. Last month, Soramitsu launched a blockchain-based savings bond prototype system called Palau Invest in partnership with the Government of Palau and Japan's Ministry of Economy.

While working in different sectors, the panel of speakers converges on their goal of using technology to improve governance models.

Professor Richard Werner's Talk on economic abundance in Sora Economic Forum in 2022

About SORA

Since 2019, the SORA ecosystem has been growing a network where countries can find funding for national production projects without making themselves more vulnerable to debt while at the same time fostering a governance model where decision-making is transparent and inclusive.

The SORA Economic Forum is a defining moment for the ecosystem. Previous editions' talks have contributed to fine-tuning SORA's architecture while making everybody present wiser. We will be observing the forum and you can also register for the interactive session via the following link: