Money 20/20 Europe 2025: Key themes to look out for

Money20/20 is almost upon us! As the world’s largest event dedicated to the global money ecosystem, this year’s conference will see leaders across payments and financial services converge in Amsterdam to explore the latest trends and developments driving the future of money.

This year’s event promises to be special, with speakers from trailblazing companies such as Revolut, Google, NatWest and PayPal set to take the stage over the three-day conference. 

This year’s agenda is built around four core content pillars, each exploring some fundamental shifts happening in the world of money:

• Digital DNA: Will Identity Become The Ultimate Currency?
• Beyond Fintech: What is the Future of Money?
• Embedded Intelligence: What Happens When Money Thinks For Itself?
• Governance 2.0: How Do We Regulate A Future Not Yet Written?

With these in mind, we believe there will be three key talking points throughout the event:

The future of stablecoins:

With incoming legislation such as the US Stablecoin Bill and the European Union's (EU's) Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) set to establish standardised regulations around stablecoins and give them legitimacy, focus is shifting onto these digital assets and their capabilities for payments. 

Stablecoins, pegged to fiat currencies and therefore avoiding the volatility that plagues other cryptocurrencies, have proven themselves to be a game-changer for cross-border payments. 

Traditional payment methods with banks can take up to five days and involve multiple intermediaries. Stablecoins, through tokenisation, eliminate these inefficiencies, providing faster settlement and reducing costs. 

The ‘Paying Out At Hyperspeed: Stablecoins in Action’ fireside chat with BVNK and Worldpay will be an interesting discussion, which will look at how stablecoins are currently being used, what this means for the payments ecosystem and the next steps in achieving adoption. 

Providing real-world business insights, the 'Every Company Needs A Stablecoin Strategy' panel, featuring Neetika Bansal, Stripe, Ran Goldi, Fireblocks, Job van de Voort, Remote and Simon Taylor, Sardine, will showcase how businesses are already leveraging stablecoins to solve real-world payment challenges.

The drive towards instant payments:

Another key discussion point, which intersects with the increasing role of stablecoins in payments, will be the regulatory drive towards instant payments.

In Europe, the first stage of the EU Instant Payments Regulation is already complete, with all PSPs in the euro area now required to be able to receive instant payments. The second deadline, in October 2025, will require PSPs to send instant payments while also complying with additional obligations, including enhanced fraud controls, pricing parity with standard credit transfers, and the provision of Verification of Payee (VoP) services.

One panel set to examine instant payments regulation is the ‘Seize the Moment With Instant Payments’ panel, featuring Sylvain Lemenager, HSBC, Inge van Dijk, De Nederlandsche Bank, Audrey Murray, AIB, and Natasa Christou, Hellenic Bank Public Company Ltd. This panel will delve into the wider implications of Instant Payments Regulation and what impact it will have on innovation beyond fintech.

Another interesting panel to watch will be 'Regulating for Innovation in Payments: Challenge or Opportunity?' This will explore how both the UK and US are responding to evolving payments regulation.

The future of AI in finance:

Despite having been the buzzword of fintech for the past few years, AI shows no signs of relinquishing its hold over finance, with money now becoming not just digital, but intelligent.

AI’s role in finance extends far beyond chatbots for customer service, with large language models now being used for payment processing, fraud detection, client reporting, investment research and more.

Several panels at this year's Money20/20 are dedicated to exploring the future of AI in fintech. One of the most intriguing discussions is set to be between Georgios Kolovos NVIDIA and Carlo Bruno from Adyen. In their fireside chat 'Owning the Future of Payments: AI's Untapped Potential,' Kolovos and Bruno will examine whether we are truly harnessing AI's potential for payments or merely skimming the surface as they delve into the balance between frictionless automation and control; innovation versus regulation; and how AI can provide measurable value to merchants and end users.