On September 16, 2026, the SCOR Foundation hosted a webinar titled: Digital Currency in a Fragmenting World: Dollar Stablecoins, e-CNY, and Uncertainty Ahead.

This webinar was led by Dr. Sylvia Xiaolin Xiao, Associate Professor of Economics at Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. 

Geopolitical tension is reshaping money, payments, and safe assets. Two models of currency digitalization are now competing on the global stage – market-led dollar stablecoins and the state-led e-CNY, each with its own cross-border infrastructure. Meanwhile, regulation is converging on licensed, fully reserved stablecoins.

For (re)insurers this is not a distant story: it touches reserve and asset allocation, cross-border settlement and FX risk under sanctions, and new risk classes such as custody failure and de-pegging.

Which digital form of money will carry the world’s safe assets – and who bears the risk when it breaks?

Dr. Xiao’s work focuses on monetary economics and digital currency. She has published in the Journal of Monetary Economics, the International Economic Review, and the European Economic Review. She leads China’s national research projects on CBDC (central bank digital currency) and on dollar stablecoins and monetary sovereignty, and has contributed to policy advisory work for Chinese authorities, including the People’s Bank of China.

Dr. Xiao has held academic positions in the United States and New Zealand and spent a recent sabbatical year visiting New York University and the University of California, Santa Barbara.