Who owns the collateral of the world?

Energy, money and market infrastructure in the new age of economic statecraft

As energy routes, payment rails, reserve currencies — and the return of gold as a strategic asset — are reshaped by geopolitical power, post-trade infrastructure is moving from the background to the strategic centre of global finance. This panel asks whether custody, collateral, settlement and payment systems are still neutral plumbing — or whether they are becoming the control layer of the next financial system.

• How energy security, sanctions and payment rails are reshaping the global monetary system

• Why collateral, custody and settlement are becoming questions of financial sovereignty

• Stablecoins, tokenised Treasuries and digital wallets: the new offshore dollar system?

• What multipolarity means for European asset owners, custodians and market infrastructures

• Who controls the next financial system — states, banks, FMIs, Big Tech or blockchain networks?