Digital Transactions
in Asia VII

Registration 8.30am

1. 9.00-9.30am

   Official Welcome

   • University of Peradeniya and Govt. of Sri Lanka
2. 9.30-9.45am

   Digital Transactions in Asia VII Opening Remarks

   • Adrian Athique, University of Queensland
3. 9.45-10.30am

   PLENARY

   DIGITAL ECONOMY IN SRI LANKA

   • Hans Wijayasuriya, Chief Advisor to the President, Ministry of Digital Economy
   • Chandranath Amarasekara, Senior Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka
   • Waruna Dhanapala, Secretary to the Ministry of Digital Economy, Govt. of Sri Lanka
4. 10.30-10.45am

   TEA

5. 10.45am-11.30am

   PANEL 1

   DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS IN SRI LANKA - ECONOMICS AND IMPLEMENTATION

   Moderator: Prasanna Perera, University of Peradeniya

   • The Impact of Digital Payment Platform Usage on Consumer Spending Behaviour among Paid Employees in Sri Lanka

     H.M.I.K Herath, University of Peradeniya

   • Effectiveness of FinTech on Microenterprises Through Digital Transformation: Empirical evidence from Kandy District in Sri Lanka

     Bhanuka Lakshan Kumara, University of Peradeniya

   • Digital Readiness, AI Literacy, and Online Labour Value-Chain Position: Quantitative Evidence of Sri Lanka’s Paradox in the Asian Gig Economy

     J. M. I. S. Jayathunga, University of Colombo

6. 11.30-12:15pm

   PANEL 2

   DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS IN SRI LANKA - INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION

   Moderator: A.V.K Madhavie, University of Peradeniya

   • Examining Consumer Switching Behaviour Towards Digital Payments: A Push-Pull Mooring Perspective

     Dinuka Perera, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

   • SmallBiz Accounts: A Research Informed Offline Mobile Financial Management Application for Sri Lankan SMEs

     K.A. Nethkan Kewitiyagala, Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology

   • GovPay: An Innovative Digital Payment Platform to Support eGovernance

     Thusha Mukunthan, LankaPay

7. 12:15-1.00pm

   LUNCH

8. 1.00-1.30pm

   CONFERENCE KEYNOTE

   Epistemic Capital: Fintech Boom and Economic Citizenship in China

   Moderator: Min Zhu, The University of Queensland

   • Epistemic Capital: Fintech Boom and Economic Citizenship in China

     Jing Wang, New York University Shanghai

9. 1.30-2.30pm

   PANEL 3

   DIGITAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURES

   Moderator: Jing Wang, New York University Shanghai

   • Terms of Inclusion: Digital Public Infrastructures and Digital Transactions

     Gerard Goggin, Western Sydney University and Adrian Athique, University of Queensland

   • The Authenticable Citizen: Private Citizenship Responsibilities in Digital Public Infrastructures

     Preeti Mudliar, Australia India Institute

   • Climate Security, State Capacity, and Digital Public Infrastructure: A Framework for Resilient Public Administration in Sri Lanka

     S. Lakshana, University of Peradeniya

10. 2.30-3.15pm

    PANEL 4

    INCLUSION

    Moderator: Haiqing Yu, RMIT Melbourne

    • E-commerce Hesitant: How Non-Adopting Retailers Can Help Us Understand Inclusion/Exclusion Dynamics in Platform Capitalism

      Emma Baulch, Monash University Malaysia

    • Digital Money Magic in Rural Economy and the Digital Financial Inclusion: A case of the Readymade Garment Workers and their Families in Bangladesh

      Mohammad Sahid Ullah, University of Chittagong

    • Localised Digital Platform Reputation: Worker Standing and Institutional Control in India’s Home-Service Platforms

      Anjali Pandey, IIT Delhi

11. 3.15-3.30pm

    TEA

12. 3.30-4.45pm

    SPECIAL SESSION

    RESILIENCE

    Moderator: Cheryll Soriano, De La Salle University

    • A Shade Of One’s Own: Weathering The Last Mile Of Platform Capitalism

      Giang Nguyen-Thu, University of Queensland

    • Speed And Incentive Without Protection: Concerns With And Experiences Of Health In/Around Platforms

      Jan Michael Alexandre C. Bernadas and Cheryll Ruth R. Soriano, De La Salle University

    • Digital Transactions, Disaster Relief: The 2026 Assam Floods

      Rahul Deelip Garud, IIT Delhi

    • Digital Amanah: Islamic Social Finance, Public Relief, and Transaction Resilience in South Asia — A Critical Review

      Hafeez-ur-Rehman Rajput, Government College Hyderabad

13. 4.45-5.15pm

    NEW BOOKS in 2026

    Discussant: Adrian Athique, University of Queensland

    • Langley, Paul, and Andrew Leyshon. Fintech Capital: The Digital Transformation of Everyday Money and Finance. Princeton University Press, 2026.

    • Mukherjee, Rahul. Unlimited: Aspirational Politics and Mobile Media Distribution. MIT Press, 2026.

1. 9.00-9.30am

   CONFERENCE KEYNOTE

   Money-Dealing With AI: The Envisioned Economies Of Agentic Payment In Asia

   Moderator: Adrian Athique, University of Queensland

   • Money-Dealing With AI: The Envisioned Economies Of Agentic Payment In Asia

     Paul Langley, Durham University

2. 9.30-10:30 am

   PANEL 5

   CREDIT

   Moderator: Rahul Mukherjee, University of Pennsylvania

   • Filling the Gap or Deepening the Trap?: Digital Micro-Loans and the Limits of Financial Inclusion in Crisis-Era Sri Lanka

     Anushka Wijesinha, Centre for a Smart Future

   • Lesser Sunda, More Debt? Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Lending in East Indonesia

     Oliver Knight, RMIT Melbourne

   • ROSCAs Meet Whatsapp: Performing Public Accounting Through Social Media Intermediaries In Peri-Urban Assam, India

     Dimpi Sonowal, IIT Kanpur

3. 10.30 – 10.45am

   TEA

4. 10.45 -12:00pm

   PANEL 6

   RISK

   Moderator: Akshaya Kumar, IIT Indore

   • Visual Persuasion and Gendered Vulnerability in Indonesia’s Leading Online Gambling Platform

     Desi Dwi Prianti, Universitas Brawijaya

   • Speculating With Precarity: Crypto, Platform Infrastructures, and Future-Making in the Global South

     Jonalou Labor, University of the Philippines

   • Digital Hawala of Online Gambling: Alternative Infrastructure of Digital Money in India

     Parthkumar Tanna, IIT Indore

   • How Crypto Gamers Lose Their Earnings as Amateur Traders on Blockchain

     Jiaxi Hou, RMIT Melbourne

   • Regional Belonging and the Organisation of Peer-to-Peer Cryptocurrency Exchange in India

     A.K. Abhiram, IIT Kanpur

5. 12:00-1.00pm

   LUNCH

6. 1.00-1.30pm

   CONFERENCE KEYNOTE

   Scam Capital(s) in Asia: Impersonation and (Re)distribution in Crowded Platform Ecosystems

   Moderator: Gerard Goggin, Western Sydney University

   • Scam Capital(s) in Asia: Impersonation and (Re)distribution in Crowded Platform Ecosystems

     Rahul Mukherjee, University of Pennsylvania

7. 1.30-2.30pm

   PANEL 7

   FINANCE

   Moderator: T.N. Vidanage, University of Peradeniya

   • Dissecting the Concentrated Industrial Organisation Form: A Cross-Country Analysis of Mobile Payments Markets in Asia

     M. Vyshakh, IIT Delhi, and Adrian Athique, University of Queensland

   • Cross-Border Digital Payments in Sri Lanka: Exploring Emerging Opportunities and Key Challenges

     Harsha de Silva, LankaPay

   • Stablecoins and Stability: Governing, Infrastructuring and Moralising Through the Hong Kong Dollar Stablecoin

     Tom McDonald, University of Hong Kong

8. 2.30-3.00pm

   TEA

9. 3.00-4.00pm

   PANEL 8

   RURAL TRANSACTIONS

   Moderator: Desi Dwi Prianti, Universitas Brawijaya

   • “ANTERIN”: Rural Youth Negotiating Digital Transactions through Community-Based Delivery Services in Pandesari, Pujon-Indonesia

     Sri Handayani, Universitas Brawijaya

   • Gendered Perspectives on Digital Transactions: Adoption and Social Cohesion in Rural Indonesia

     Nurul Hilmiati, University of Mataram

   • Judicious Use of Digital Transaction Platforms: Exploring Pathways to Enhancing Rural Communities’ Agency.

     Elske van de Fliert, University of Queensland and Meganusa Ludvianto, Atma Jaya University

10. 4.00 -5.00pm

    PANEL 9

    TRANSACTIONS IN AI

    Moderator: Giang Nguyen-Thu, University of Queensland

    • Transaction of Trust: Data-Model-Communication-Action Framework in Asia-Pacific’s Climate Resilience

      Haiqing Yu, RMIT Melbourne

    • Retailing Synthetic Media: How Telegram Bots and FinTechs Direct the AI Nudification Marketplace

      Akshaya Kumar, IIT Indore

    • Ambivalence of Cloudwork in the Age of AI: Entrepreneurial Adaptation and the Labor Transactions of Filipino Cloudworkers

      Cheryll Soriano, De La Salle University

11. 5.00-5.15pm

    CLOSING REMARKS

    • Adrian Athique, University of Queensland
    • Prasanna Perera, University of Peradeniya