Elise Soucie Watts Executive Director, Global Digital Finance
Elise is the Executive Director of Global Digital Finance (GDF), Policy & Regulation & Board Member.
Elise was formerly at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) where she led the division’s Digital Assets and Data Strategy work, with a focus on emerging regulation such as the Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation and the European Commission’s targeted consultation on open finance and data sharing in the financial sector. Furthermore, she also worked closely with global standard setters, driving and guiding engagement between the capital markets industry and bodies such as the FSB and IOSCO.
Prior to her work at AFME, Elise was in the public sector, working at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in both their Technology, Resilience and Cyber Division and International Division. Notably she pioneered the FCA’s International Digital Assets strategy in 2022 and led technical policy dialogue on DLT, Consumer Risks, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC’s), and Decentralised Finance (DeFi), among other topics.
Elise was named ‘Next Generation Leader of the Year’ at the 2022 Women in Finance Awards UK.
What led you to global finance?
Originally I wasn’t led to finance at all! I come from an international relations background and used to work for a think tank focused on counterterrorism and geopolitical threats. However, I have always had an interest in the interconnectedness of political science and economics, so my work in counterterrorism ended up being a useful foundation when I moved to financial services.
I initially moved into finance, still having a keen interest in security, and worked in the Technology, Resilience and Cyber division at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. While there I focused on CBEST testing for globally systemically important banks (GSIBs) and my background was a useful preparation for threat intelligence and assessing the operational resilience of firms.
While at the financial regulator, I then moved to their international division where I refocused on policy, but specifically digitisation. As I progressed my work on digital assets policy, moving from the regulator to the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) where I worked with capital markets banks, it was clear to me that the future of financial services is both global and digital. We are at the threshold of a paradigm shift and an infrastructure transformation of global financial markets. This is the most exciting time to be in this industry.
Tell us about Global Digital Finance (GDF).
GDF is the leading global members association advocating and accelerating the adoption of best practices for crypto and digital assets. It is a not-for-profit industry body that aims to promote and facilitate greater adoption of market standards for digital assets and other innovations in digitisation through the development of best practices and governance standards in a shared engagement forum with market participants, policymakers and regulators.
Established in 2018, GDF has convened a broad range of industry participants – including some of the most influential digital asset and token companies, academics and professional services firms supporting the industry.
Our work broadly spans both technical programmes where we produce reports on topics such as tokenisation and run protocol interoperability experiments in sandbox environments, and our policy and regulatory work which takes place around the world via responses to consultations, roundtables convening the public and private sector
I came to GDF to lead their policy and regulatory work and it is now my honour to continue to do that in my role as Executive Director, alongside my board responsibilities.
Global policy & regulation have been your focus for several years with an emphasis on emerging regulatory frameworks for new technologies. Tell us about your work.
As I said, I began my career in regulation in the public sector and have now in my past two roles grown increasingly passionate about how to bring both the public and private sector together to build future proof regulatory frameworks that enable responsible innovation to thrive. At GDF, this work takes place in several ways.
We have active working groups spanning the globe where we respond to regulatory consultation papers and share consolidated industry feedback with policy makers. This enables industry to speak with one voice, while also providing technical feedback to the public sector. In 2024 we responded to nearly two consultations a month ranging from topics on crypto taxation to DeFi to stablecoins. See here for GDF’s recent consultation responses.
GDF also runs strategic policy engagement programmes around the globe through roundtables and forums in Washington DC, evidence sessions in Westminster through our Digital Finance All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) in London, NYC Digital Finance Week, Staking Sessions to brief EU and UK authorities, and similar programmes in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, and Frankfurt.
All these sessions have the aim of bringing the public and private sector together to discuss a forward path for the future or regulation that can meet regulatory objectives while also supporting the industry leaders in harnessing the benefits of new technology. A foundation of smarter regulation, can enable large scale economic benefits for whole sectors and nations. At GDF we aim to stimulate the creation and implementation of these frameworks for the good of the ecosystem.
You are passionate about global regulatory harmonisation as well as future proof requirements that support responsible innovation. How is Global Digital Finance a leader in this area?
GDF convenes a unique working group, the Regulators’ Only Forum, to support this exact aim. The Forum is a closed loop session open only to public sector participants where major jurisdictional regulators and agencies (over 60 receive discretionary invites) to meet on a quarterly basis to discuss global regulatory developments on crypto and digital assets. This enables them to share key regulatory focus areas for their jurisdiction, as well as upcoming consultations topics of interest to the broader regulatory community. GDF provides the secretariat function for this group in order to support broader harmonisation across global regulators.
Furthermore, we also launched the Digital Finance Forum as a separate fixture that is open to the broader financial services community. This forum provides policy updates, overviews of the live global consultations, and updates providing the latest digital asset market data. Launched only in 2024, the forum saw broad uptake from both the public and private sector with active GDF member contribution to sharing data, as well as public sector participation and notable fireside chats with Matthew White, CEO of VARA and the EBA & ESMA on their staking Q&A. The forum then shares the resources from each session with the wider public in order to further regulatory alignment and industry compliance. All resources can be found here.
Finally, we also work towards regulatory harmonisation and supporting innovation across industry through our focus on collaboration and industry cooperation where possible. Global industry coordination can maximise policy impacts and also work towards sustainable and forward looking outcomes for the whole of the digital finance industry. Notably, GDF worked collaboratively with GFMA, ACI FMA, ANNA, CCI, DTIF, GLEIF, The Digital Pound Foundation, The Stablecoin Standard, UKCBC, Web3Harbour and several other global industry bodies to jointly respond to consultations where possible, as well as coordinating on broader engagement with regulators.
You serve as a board advisor to several startups on policy and regulatory issues. Take us through your initiatives.
Yes – and I absolutely love working with the companies that I am on the board of! Two UK based start-ups are still in the early stages of their development and I work with them on issues like licensing, considering how they should prepare for their regulatory journeys from engagement with regulators to building the right teams, and how to build a compliance first approach within their organisation from day 1.
I am also on the Policy Advisory Board for Mesh, a US based company that aims to build an open, connected, and secure financial ecosystem. As a modern financial operating system, Mesh enables digital asset transfers, crypto payments, account aggregation, and trading within a unified platform. With over 300 integrations, Mesh is pioneering the creation of an embedded financial ecosystem that benefits both businesses and users.
It is an honour to be part of the Mesh Policy Advisory Board, which is a group of esteemed industry experts who will work together to advocate for effective, innovative and responsible regulations for the industry at large. The members of the board reflect a diverse set of perspectives on the key policy, regulation, and compliance issues facing the crypto space. Mesh will convene the Policy Advisory Board on a quarterly basis, and the board will issue dual-sided guidance for both regulators and companies on key regulatory issues.
Tell us about written policy & regulation pieces for CityAm and your work as a contributor to FintechTV.
One of the ways I am aiming to raise awareness about critical policy and regulatory issues is through writing. My work with CityAM was a great way to do this via a monthly column where I shared regular policy and consultation updates from around the world, as well as the latest digital innovations in institutional markets. Drawing awareness to consultations and pieces of legislation that will impact the wider industry is important for regulatory preparedness, while also encouraging industry to feed back their views in order for the public sector to develop better regulation.
I also really enjoyed my work with the FintechTV team where I have interviewed founders and industry leaders in the digital finance ecosystem, and also shared my own analyses on the latest policy and regulatory developments. FINTECH.TV stands out as a leading news source for specific financial services topics such as blockchain, technology, sustainability, impact investing, SDGs, and ESG. It was a pleasure to be able to contribute to the work that their team is doing.
What is your vision for 2025?
2025 will be a year of continued acceleration. The most watched regulatory developments will be from the new US government. Many global financial services giants have been waiting for US legal certainty as well as regulatory clarity in order to further scale their crypto and digital assets businesses. If legislation and effective implementation can be driven across the line in the US, we will see greater global digital growth as well as new innovations as a direct result. At GDF we will be very active in the US with our members, public sector leaders, and industry partners.
I also envision 2025 being a year of lessons learned. In other jurisdictions such as the EU, regulatory frameworks such as MiCA are being put into action for the first time. The smartest jurisdictions will be quick to pivot, change and adapt based on what works and what does not. As things go to court for the first time, jurisprudence will be established in areas where previously it was lacking – this means court cases will also be important to pay attention to as they will be laying the groundwork for future conflict resolution.
Finally, I am also bullish on the Middle East as a leader in digitisation and as a home for many companies in 2025. GDF wrapped up 2024 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi where we participated in Abu Dhabi Finance Week but also hosted a public/private sector event which included a roundtable and panel discussions brought together industry leaders, regulators, and stakeholders to explore the evolving intersection digital finance topics which may fall outside the boundaries of existing regulatory frameworks. The discussions evidenced both the energy in the region, but also the clear focus that exists in the Middle East on how to truly support innovation, while also meeting key regulatory objectives of consumer protection, technological innovation, and industry collaboration.
Overall, 2025 promises to be a year for building solid future-proof regulatory frameworks as well as high growth potential for the digital finance industry. It will be crucial for industry in this time of growth to demonstrate maturity alongside momentum in order to build for a lasting and scalable future.
