Currency Conference Introduces Updated Agenda Topics

The 2025 Currency Conference is returning to Bangkok, Thailand, from 26-29 May 2025. Conference organiser Currency Research expects to welcome nearly 400 delegates from 70 countries, including 70 central banks and 150 organisations in total. At the time of publication, nearly 50 central banks have already registered for the event.

The Currency Conference is described as the premier event for the sector, where senior-level central bankers, printworks representatives, and leading industry suppliers gather to discuss the most vital issues around currency policy, regulation, and innovation of the whole cash cycle.

Working in coordination with the event’s Advisory Committee, Currency Research has refined and updated the topics for the program. The theme this year is ‘Panta Rei — Currency in a Rapidly Changing World,’ with three high-level topics — adapting to changes in cash usage, sustainability, and new technologies — serving to anchor conference discussions. Detailed topics include:

• The Changing Roles of Cash Cycle Participants: With evolving consumer behaviours impacting the roles of traditional cash cycle participants, this session will explore who is responsible for maintaining an efficient and effective cash cycle.
• Regulation to Protect Cash: The focus here will be on the various regulatory approaches best suited to guarantee access to and acceptance of cash.
• Ready for the Next Crisis: This topic will explore how cash, in the face of declining usage at the point of sale, can be preserved as a critical lifeline in the event of disruptions to digital infrastructure.
• The Risk of Systemic Failure: This session will examine whether contracting markets, shrinking revenues, and declining levels of competition and innovation could result in systemic failure and what the industry can do to offset this risk.
• Cash Advocacy and Education: This session will explore how the industry should be advocating for cash usage to convince younger consumers that non-digital payment methods matter.
• The Cash Product, from Cradle to Grave: This topic will explore ways to make the entirety of the cash cycle more sustainable, focusing on achievements to date and work yet to be done.
• Cash Logistics and its Significant Carbon Footprint: This topic will look at how cash can reduce its sizeable carbon footprint and who will fund the necessary investments.
• Artificial Intelligence: Will AI change everything? This topic examines the risks and opportunities for the cash industry resulting from the rise of AI and robotics.
• Quantum Computing: Could a ‘cash renaissance’ result from quantum computing-induced security breaches? This topic will explore this question and how the cash industry should prepare.
• Digital Currencies: This session examines the extent to which retail CBDCs and private digital currencies may impact the retail payments landscape and whether they could erode cash’s traditional function as a store of value.