Digital Finance Forum 2026

Gilles Roth was born on 1 March 1967 in Luxembourg.

After graduating from the Athénée de Luxembourg in 1986, Gilles Roth studied law at the Centre Universitaire de Luxembourg and the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Belgium, where he obtained a degree in law. He then completed his university studies in 1991 with a degree in business administration and management from the Institut d’Administration et de Gestion of UCL.

Following the legislative elections of 8 October 2023, Gilles Roth was appointed Minister of Finance on 17 November 2023 in the coalition government formed by the Christian Social Party (CSV) and the Democratic Party (DP).

Gilles Roth was elected municipal councillor in 1993 and became mayor of Mamer in 2000. Gilles Roth joined the Parliament in April 2007 and in 2013 he became Chairman of the CSV political group. Successively re-elected to Parliament, he co-chaired this political group from 2021 until he joined the Government. From 1991 to 1994, Gilles Roth practised as a lawyer, then as Avocat à la Cour at the Luxembourg Bar. In 1995, he became a government attaché at the Ministry of Finance, before being seconded to the Luxembourg Court of Auditors and the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the European Union in Brussels. In 1998, he returned to the Ministry of Finance and became government advisor (Conseiller), then senior government advisor (Premier Conseiller de Gouvernement). He also held the position of Government Delegate to the Administrative Jurisdictions until 2007.

Emilie Allaert is an innovation passionate who aims to implement impactful solutions. She is renowned for her DLT and tokenisation expertise associated with her in-depth knowledge of the financial industry challenges and is convinced technology and innovation are the paths to follow to maintain one’s business competitivity. In this field, she has published various reports and is active in numerous working groups (ALFI, ERC3643 Association).

Strong of her experience as the Head of the Luxembourg Blockchain Lab, and previously at the LHoFT, KPMG, JP Morgan AM and Alpha FMC, she has an extensive understanding of number of industries and can make the connection between various industries. She founded Digital Minds to answer the needs of companies to be guided in their innovation digitalisation journey.

She believes dissemination of knowledge is key to adoption and gives lectures on digital innovation and DLT technology.

Emilie holds a BSc in Economics and Management from the University of Luxembourg; a MA in Financial Management from the University of Durham Business School and a Certificate in Climate & Renewable Energy Finance from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. She also followed the Aspiring Directors Programme at INSEAD.

Emilie’s contribution to the industry has been widely recognised, including by a nomination in the Women in Fintech Powerlist (2017), in the 50 Who’s Who in Tech in Luxembourg (2021), Tech 100 (2023), NextGen leader (2024) and 100 Women On Board 2025. She has been awarded Woman in Web3 Europe by Women in Tech (2024) and Personality of the Year in Digital Assets 2025 by Deloitte.

Sean Byrne has been the CEO of PayPal Europe since June 2020.  Previously, Sean served as the Chief Operating Officer for PayPal Europe where He was responsible for the Credit business, Technology and Outsourcing Management.  During his 22 years at PayPal, Sean has had various roles in the areas of Finance, Risk and Strategic Planning and has worked in Luxembourg, Dublin and Shanghai.

Prior to PayPal, Sean was Head of Operational Risk for Daiwa Securities, Finance & Risk Manager at NatWest Bank, and Auditor at PWC.

Sean is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, and a graduate of the University of Limerick and University College Dublin in Ireland.

Thomas Campione joined Deloitte in 2025 with 15+ years of experience in Big-4 audit and consulting practices in the financial and non-financial sectors. He currently serves as Director in the Strategy, risk and transaction practice and focus on the Digital assets sector which he specialized in for the last 5 years.

Over the years Thomas developed strong relationships with the digital assets ecosystem, in-depth understanding of industry dynamics and use cases as well as applicable regulatory frameworks. Through this, he developed an ability to bridge between traditional and DLT/digital assets trends in asset management, capital markets and banking and gained a strong expertise in a broad range of services including: Digital assets strategy and market entry assessment, Digital assets target operating model definition, Regulatory considerations applicable to digital assets, Crypto-funds setup and assets tokenisation, and Crypto-assets valuation and accounting considerations.

Thomas holds a master in finance (Engr.), is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and successfully went through the MIT Executive program in Blockchain technologies. He is fluent in French and English.

Jerome Dave is President at Bitstamp Europe by Robinhood.

He is a financial services expert with over 25 years of experience in payments, consumer finance, and cryptocurrencies. He has a strong background in finance, regulatory compliance, operations, and business development. He is a proven leader in securing licenses for credit institutions, payment institutions, and crypto asset service providers.

Before joining Bitstamp in 2022, Jerome held senior roles at major tech companies like PayPal and Rakuten.

Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux brings over two decades of senior leadership experience across global financial services, payments, and digital assets. Prior to joining Coinbase, he served as Group Chief Executive Officer of Bitstamp, where he scaled the business and led the company through its strategic acquisition by Robinhood in 2025.

Earlier in his career, he held executive and governance roles at PayPal as Chief Compliance Officer for EMEA and at eBay Europe, where he drove regulatory strategy, complex cross-border initiatives, and board-level decision-making.

At Coinbase, Jean-Baptiste is focused on building institutional partnerships, executing Europe’s MiCA strategy, and driving disciplined, long-term growth through regulatory clarity, strategic execution, and market leadership—advancing Coinbase’s mission to expand economic freedom globally.

Raoul Heinen specialises in the structuring, setting up and distribution of a wide range of investment funds, with a particular focus on alternative investment funds investing in all major asset classes including real estate, debt, private equity and infrastructure.

He has also gained deep knowledge of retail investment funds (notably UCITS) by advising major global asset managers on their multibillion Luxembourg flagship funds.

In parallel, he advises global financial institutions on a variety of regulatory matters, notably licencing requirements, major financial services regulations (e.g. MiFID, AIFMD, PSD, AML), and Luxembourg regulatory aspects of acquisitions and group restructurings.

Raoul’s regulatory expertise has naturally driven him to the FinTech sector, where he advises on all aspects of EU payments regulations, digital assets (e.g. issuance and custody, fund structuring and tokenisation, MiCAR), and regulatory considerations of outsourcing arrangements (including to the cloud).

Raoul is part of several working groups of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) and the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), including on MiFID 2 and FinTech, and is part of the payments forum and the FinTech and Innovation Forum of the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL).

Chris Hollifield is Head of Business Development at Luxembourg for Finance, where his work involves advising FinTech and financial companies looking to develop cross-border activity through Luxembourg-based platforms. He also advises on the development of the ecosystem in Luxembourg and on synergy creation with other key financial centres, with a focus on East Asia.

Prior to working at Luxembourg for Finance, Chris worked in the strategy department of Clearstream Banking SA, an International Central Securities Depository that facilitates the settlement of interbank transactions in over 50 markets worldwide. Here, his work focused particularly on strategic projects concerning distributed ledger technology and other FinTech topics.

With a strong focus on the fintech sector, Dan Jones advises some of the world’s leading financial services firms on all aspects of their UK and European regulatory obligations.

He regularly works with his colleagues in the U.S. and Asia to support clients with their financial services digital strategy.

His clients include global retail and investment banks, asset managers, e-money issuers and payments services providers, crypto-asset issuers, wallets and exchanges.

Dan’s notable work includes advice to several global banks on their strategy for stablecoin and tokenised deposits, the development of a digital only retail bank for a U.S. headquartered global bank and preparing the regulatory license applications for a broad range of crypto-asset service providers.

Ananda Kautz moved to Luxembourg in 2006 to join PwC, where she worked on financial centre development studies and advisory projects. She then joined ING, where she held management positions at strategy office and data analytics, and commercial position in corporate payments and cash management.

In August 2020, she joined the Association des Banques et Banquiers, Luxembourg (ABBL) as Head of Innovation, Payments & Digital, with the objective of supporting members in their digital transformation, fostering collaboration with innovative service providers and strengthening Luxembourg’s role as an international payments hub.

Since January 2022, Ananda has been a Member of the Management Board, overseeing key areas such as innovation, IT, digital policy, payments and cross-sector coordination within the association. She contributes to defining the ABBL’s strategic priorities and ensures alignment across teams to strengthen Luxembourg’s position as a leading and forward-looking financial centre.

Rafal Kwasny is the Conducting Officer for Distribution, Marketing, and TA Oversight at Franklin Templeton Luxembourg, and Head of International Intermediary Oversight. He also serves as Fund Board Director for private asset products.

With over 25 years in financial services, before moving to asset management 7 years ago he previously managed businesses, product management, and operations for large asset servicers in Luxembourg, Ireland, and Poland. Rafal holds an Executive MBA from the University of Illinois and is a member of ALFI, Findel Group, and ILA.

Matthew Osborne is Policy Director for Europe & UK at Ripple, the leading provider of digital assets infrastructure to businesses. He is passionate about new technologies and believes that well-designed regulation plays a key role in supporting sustainable innovation.

Matthew previously worked at the Bank of England, where he led the payments policy team working on innovations such as stablecoins and distributed ledger technology. Prior to that he held a number of senior policy roles at the Bank of England and was seconded to NatWest Bank’s global treasury.

He has a PhD in Finance from Bayes Business School and has authored numerous papers and blogs on financial services policy topics. He serves on the Board of Blockchain for Europe and the advisory council of the Digital Pound Foundation.

Ala Presenti is the co-founder and CFO of Investre, Luxembourg’s first licensed Controlling Agent under the Blockchain IV Law, and a co-founder of Moniflo, an impact-driven investment platform focused on regulated sustainable funds.

With over a decade of experience in regulated finance and digital innovation, Ala works at the intersection of capital markets, technology, and governance. She co-built Investre into a fully CSSF-authorised investment firm, pioneering blockchain-native infrastructure for the issuance, control, and safekeeping of dematerialised securities. In 2025, Investre set a European benchmark for compliant fund tokenisation, covering the full fund lifecycle from issuance to distribution.

Through Moniflo, Ala translates institutional-grade infrastructure into an accessible retail experience, promoting transparent and responsible investing without compromising regulatory standards.

A systems thinker with an endurance mindset, Ala brings clarity to regulatory complexity, shaping practical and scalable models for capital markets and the future of regulated fund distribution in Luxembourg and across Europe.

Jean-Louis Schiltz is the co-chair of the Ministerial advisory board for AI in finance.

Jean-Louis Schiltz is the Senior Partner at Schiltz & Schiltz and a Professor (hon.) at the University of Luxembourg.

From 2004 to 2009, Jean-Louis Schiltz served as Cabinet Minister in Luxembourg. His portfolio included media, telecommunications, technology, international development and defence.

He is a regular speaker at conferences with a focus on innovation and tech law. He is a FinTech pioneer and one of Luxembourg’s leading experts on AI & regulation.

Jean-Louis Schiltz is an alumnus of the Sorbonne in Paris.

David Shrier is a globally recognized expert in translational innovation, with expertise in artificial intelligence, fintech, cybersecurity, and collaborative innovation. He is Professor of Practice (AI & innovation) with Imperial College London, where he is Founding Director of the Imperial Trusted AI Alliance.

He leads venture studio Visionary Future, helping Global 2000 companies create breakout growth as well as incubating new technology-enabled businesses.

David has published 10 books including Welcome to AI: A Human Guide to Artificial Intelligence (Harvard Business Publishing) and Global Fintech (MIT Press).

Denzel Walters is Head of Luxembourg for B2C2, a global leader in institutional liquidity for digital assets.

He leads the company’s Luxembourg office where he is responsible for local strategy implementation, provision of OTC liquidity to institutional clients and B2C2’s European regulatory efforts.

Prior to B2C2, Denzel worked at Optima Partners in a consulting and business development capacity, and at Bank of England and the Prudential Regulatory Authority supervising the UK’s largest banks.

Martin Watkins is Chief Executive of Montis Digital SA, where he is creating an innovative, post-trade infrastructure in Luxembourg, to bridge the TradFi/DeFi divide.

Using DLT to issue and settle traditional and natively digital security tokens, Montis is an applicant CSD seeking Securities Settlement System designation from BCL and CSD authorisation from the CSSF. An active member of the ECB’s New Technology Working – Contact Group, Martin contributes to Project PONTES and Project APPIA regarding Euro CBDCs. 

Martin has held high profile executive management, practitioner and advisory roles in London, Paris, Brussels, and New York with leading FMIs, Big Four audit and global technology firms. Prior to creating Montis, Martin spent 7 years at Ernst & Young (EY) as EMEIA Lead for Exchanges and FMIs, working on 12 blockchain engagements.

Before EY, Martin was a member of senior management at Euroclear in London settling £2 Trillion per day. This followed several years in Paris as an Executive member of AtosEuronext, running LCH.Clearnet S.A. technology services across Europe, clearing €1.7 Trillion per day. 

Martin is a Board member of Delta Capita Distributed Ledger Software Limited, and a former Board member and Trustee of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment in London.

Martina Weimert is the CEO of EPI Company, since the early days of the initiative established in December 2020. Martina has been supporting and guiding European banks and acquirers to build the foundation of the EPI Company, aiming to build an independent European solution and connecting Europe’s payment industry.

With 20 years of experience in international consulting, she has in -depth experience in payments and payment solution set -up, fintech, blockchain and retail banking in Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. Prior to joining EPI, she was a partner in the Financial Services Practice of the consultancy Oliver Wyman in Paris, leading the European payments practice, previously holding the positions of Senior VP at Capgemini Consulting, and Marketing & Sales Director for Deutsche Bank in France.

Martina graduated from the Institute of Political Science Paris in European business development and holds a Master degree in International Administration (DESS) from Sorbonne University, and studied before Political Science at the University of Bonn.