Panel Discussion
Central Bank Digital Currency: Is the U.S. Losing the Race?
Zoom Webinar
Thursday, February 17, 2022 | 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET
Central Banks around the world are quickly realizing digital currencies may be our economic future. While there are thousands of virtual currencies in existence (cryptocurrencies), governments are now exploring the new technology, potentially changing the global financial landscape. What are the benefits of central bank digital currency (CBDC)? What considerations must countries make before launching CBDC, and what challenges might they face? What are the national security implications? Tune in for a discussion of Central Bank Digital Currencies on Thursday, February 17th, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM EDT, when we are joined by David L. Yermack, Albert Fingerhut Professor of Finance and Business Transformation at New York University Stern School of Business; Julia Friedlander, C. Boyden Gray Senior Fellow & Director of The Atlantic Council’s Geoeconomics Center; and JP Schnapper-Casteras, Founder and Managing Partner of Schnapper-Casteras, PLLC.
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SPEAKERS:
David L. Yermack
David L. Yermack is the Albert Fingerhut Professor of Finance and Business Transformation at New York University Stern School of Business. He serves as Chairman of the Finance Department and Director of the NYU Pollack Center for Law and Business. Professor Yermack teaches joint MBA – Law School courses in Restructuring Firms & Industries and Bitcoin & Cryptocurrencies, as well as PhD research courses in corporate governance, executive compensation, and distress and restructuring.
Professor Yermack has been with NYU Stern since 1994. His primary research areas include boards of directors, executive compensation, and corporate finance. Professor Yermack has published more than 25 articles in leading academic journals in Finance, Accounting, Economics, and Law. He is a Faculty Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and has been a Visiting Scholar at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.
Professor Yermack received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics (1985), Master of Business Administration (1991), Juris Doctor (1991), Master of Arts in Business Economics (1993), and Doctor of Philosophy in Business Economics (1994) from Harvard University.
Julia Friedlander
Julia Friedlander is the C. Boyden Gray senior fellow & director of the Economic Statecraft Initiative in the GeoEconomics Center. Ms. Friedlander served as senior policy advisor for Europe in the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2015-2017 and from 2019-20, where she collaborated with EU partners on global sanctions policy and combatting illicit finance. She also served as a macroeconomist in the Europe Office in Treasury’s Department of International Affairs.
From April 2017 to July 2019, Julia was detailed to the White House as the director for the European Union, Southern Europe and Economic Affairs at the National Security Council, charged with coordinating U.S. interagency policy on transatlantic relations and the European Union and staffing the national security advisor on European engagements. Her work encompassed all aspects of security and economic relations, but focused on trade, financial policy, and investment security.
Before joining the Treasury in 2015, Julia held multiple analytical positions within the Central Intelligence Agency, focusing on global economic stability and energy security.
Julia is a Young Leader of the Munich Security Conference and the Atlantik-Brücke.
Julia holds a B.A. in European History from Princeton University, where she wrote her senior thesis on the historical and economic origins of the European Union, and an M.A. in International Economics and International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Before graduate school, she spent two years in Berlin on a fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), working on European security and energy issues at the German Council on Foreign Relations and German Marshall Fund. She speaks French and German fluently, and has working knowledge of Russian. Julia lives in Washington with her husband Oliver Bose, a software architect from Berlin.
JP Schnapper-Casteras
JP Schnapper-Casteras is the founder and managing partner of Schnapper-Casteras, PLLC, a boutique law firm that advises technology companies, non-profits, and individuals about cutting-edge regulatory issues, litigation, and compliance. JP is also a nonresident senior fellow with the GeoEconomics Center at the Atlantic Council, focusing on financial technology, central bank digital currency, and cryptocurrency. Previously, he worked on a broad array of constitutional and civil cases as Special Counsel for Appellate and Supreme Court Advocacy to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and in the appellate practice of Sidley Austin LLP.
JP’s speaking engagements include Harvard Law School, NYU Law, Northwestern Law, Georgetown University Law Center, American Bar Association, and American Law Institute. He has published in outlets such as The Washington Post, Politico, FinTechPolicy, Bloomberg Law, Harvard Law Review Blog, Harvard Kennedy School Review, SCOTUS Blog, Defense One, and World Affairs Journal. He is the chairman of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice and a trustee emeritus of the American University of Iraq.
JP clerked on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit as well as on the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. He holds a JD from Stanford Law School, an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School, and an MA and BA with Honors from Stanford University.
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