Andrew Work is the author of the only report on China’s forthcoming Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DC/EP) system, also known as People’s Bank of China’s digital currency. Published by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, it is titled “Crypto RMB: Finance Innovation or New Tool for Control?”
Mr Work a Hong Kong-based policy analyst and a co-founder and Director of The Lion Rock Institute (est 2004), Hong Kong’s first and only economic think tank focused on providing free market solutions to Hong Kong issues ranging from trade and taxation policy to budgetary planning and competition law. In November, he stepped down as the Managing Director, Head of Media, Asia and Europe at NexChange Group, a digital asset merchant bank and venture platform.
He is the founder and Editor in Chief of Harbour Times (est. 2014), a publication focussed on Hong Kong policy and politics (a New Work Media company). He is frequently called on to explain Hong Kong policy, politics and economics to local and global audiences and is widely quoted in global media. He is the former Executive Director of The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, and worked for The Economist Group, Penton Media and on Parliament Hill with a senior Cabinet Minister in Ottawa. He holds a Bachelor of Science from McGill University and an MBA from the University of Victoria.
Here’s a snippet from his report:
While the world’s central banks write conceptual reports about what future national digital currencies could look like, one country isn’t waiting. It isn’t in stealth mode, hoping to steal a Sputnik moment on the world’s financial superpower, America. This leap forward has been known to the blockchain community and monetary enthusiasts since 2014 — just as the development of Sputnik 1 was known to the scientific community of the 1950s.
But like Sputnik, the world will be shocked when its digital currency finally arrives, outstripping the idle talk of the rest of the world’s nations. The world’s first fully formed central bank digital currency (CBDC) could launch this year, tested and market-ready. And no one else is ready for it.
The People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC’s) digital currency is on the launchpad and is just waiting for the countdown. The rest of the world will just get to see it when it passes in orbit, far above their heads.
Read the rest of the article here.
Andrew Work is a top-notch high energy Master of Ceremonies, adept in formal business situations as well as high drama. He is a registered speaker-consultant for the World Bank and has worked for them across Asia and Europe. He MC’ed a Tatler Top 10 Party of the Year (2017) and regularly hosts events across Asia and Europe. Andrew has introduced heads of state, Hollywood stars, NBA legends, captains of industry and more.
As a live auctioneer, Andrew combines high dynamism and humour to entertain live audiences while extracting maximum value from high net worth clientele.
In addition, Mr Work is the founder of an economic think tank, The Lion Rock Institute, and he speaks many times a year on Hong Kong’s history and peculiar economic structure in a lively and engaging manner. Dry economics this is not!
Andrew is also an expert in fintech and blockchain business and technologies. He has MC’ed Hong Kong Fintech Week, Hong Kong Blockchain Week, Consensus Singapore and Token 2049. He has keynoted at the Seoul Asian Financial Forum and other leading financial services events.
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