Session 17: Secondary Markets and Crypto-Exchanges Overview: Readings and Study Questions; Crypto Exchanges Review; Public Policy Challenges; The Path Forward; Conclusions. Session 17: Study Questions How have crypto-exchanges become a critical gateway for the vast majority of crypto secondary market trading? How does the business model of crypto-exchanges compare to traditional securities and derivatives exchanges? How do centralized crypto-exchanges compare to decentralized crypto-exchanges? What do all the hacks, reports of manipulation and failures tell us about the current state of security and investor protection of crypto-exchanges? Session 17: Readings ‘Move deliberately, fix things: How Coinbase is building a cryptocurrency empire’, Washington Post. ‘Robinhood rolls out zero-fee crypto trading as it…

Session 16: Central Banks & Commercial Banking, Part 2 Overview: Readings and Study Questions; Review of Central Banking & Approaches to Blockchain Technology; Private Banknotes and Stable Value Tokens; Central Bank Digital Currency; Conclusions. Session 16: Study Questions What lessons, if any, can be drawn from related experimentation–Ecuador, Senegal, Philippines–to date? Might stable value coins spur central banks into adopting CBDCs? What might Mastercard be considering with their patent for ‘blockchain currency’ fractional reserves? What recommendations would you have for Sweden’s Riksbank (dating from 1668, the world’s first central bank) for possible adoption of e-krona? Session 16: Readings ‘The Riksbank e-krona project Action plan for 2018’, Sveriges Riksbank. ‘The World’s…

Session 15: Central Banks & Commercial Banking, Part 1 Session 15 Study Questions: What strategic considerations should go into Central Banks thinking of expanding access to digital reserves through central bank digital currency (CBDC)? How might design considerations–retail vs wholesale access; token or account based; interest bearing and level of service–weight in such decisions? What are the challenges CBDCs might pose to commercial banking models, monetary policy implementation, payment systems resilience and financial stability? Session 15 Readings: ‘Central Bank Digital Currencies’, BIS. ‘The Future of Money: Digital Currency’, Garratt. ‘Central Banks and Digital Currencies’, Broadbent. ‘A Perspective on Electronic Alternatives to Traditional Currencies’, Camera. ‘Bitcoin is Fiat Money, Too’, Economist.…

Session 14: Payments, Part 2 Session 14 Study Questions: What lessons can be drawn from the challenges for blockchain related payment applications? Might Layer 2 solutions, such as Lightening, resolve these challenges? What are the opportunities in cross-border payments? In domestic P2P or P2B payments? What are tradeoffs of utilizing permissioned vs. permissionless payment applications? Session 14 Readings: ‘How Blockchain Can Finally Fulfill its Promise in global payments’, CoinDesk. ‘Extending the World of Payments to Blockchain’, ACI Worldwide. ‘The Payment Industry is About to be Struck by Lightning: Expert Take’, Coin Telegraph. ‘Why Stripe Gave up on Bitcoin and Blockchain Payments’, Fortune. ‘How XRP Fits into Ripple’s Payment Products Explained”,…

Session 13: Payments, Part 1 Session 13: Study Questions: What are the major trends–mobile apps, digital wallets, open banking, and enhanced methods of bank transfers & authentication–in payment systems today? What lessons can be drawn from non-blockchain payment innovations, such as Alipay, WeChat Pay, M-Pesa, India’s IMPS, and U.S. mobile payment apps? What are the challenges and opportunities in the current cross-border payment system architecture? Session 13: Readings: ‘The Federal Reserve Payment Study: 2017 Annual Supplement’, Federal Reserve. ‘Global Payments Report’, Worldpay. ‘The Best Mobile Apps of 2018’, PC World. ‘Why China’s Payment Apps Give U.S. Bankers Nightmares’, Bloomberg. ‘M-Pesa: How Kenya Revolutionized Mobile Payments’, N26 Magazine. ‘Cross-border Retail Payments’…

Session 11 Study Questions: How do decentralized blockchain applications affect the cost of verification and the cost of networking? How do blockchain applications affect market power? What might the economics and organization of the Internet–with its protocol layers and applications–tell us about the future of blockchain technology? What lessons should be drawn from crypto skeptics–Krugman, Stiglitz, Roubini, Gates, Buffett, Dimon, & others–about the economic potential for blockchain technology? What is an answer to the oft stated query: ‘what problem do cryptocurrencies solve?’ Session 11 Readings: ‘Why Bitcoin is and isn’t the Internet’, Ito. ‘Some Simple Economics of the Blockchain’, Catalini and Glans. ‘Transaction Cost and Tethers: Why I’m a Crypto…

Session 10 Study Questions: What are the tradeoffs of centralized institutions and markets in the financial sector? Which challenges of the financial sector–periodic crises, concentrated risks, economic rents, legacy systems, processing risks, financial inclusion–might present opportunities for blockchain applications? How does blockchain technology fit within other trends–particularly with regard to technology–facing the financial sector in 2018? Session 10 Readings: ‘Top financial services issues of 2018’ PwC Financial Services Institute ‘Sheila Bair on What Hasn’t Changed since the Great Recession’, New York Magazine. ‘The Rise of Market Concentration and Rent Seeking in Financial Sector’, Zhang. Optional: ‘Ten Years after the Crash, We are Living in a World it Brutally Remade’, New…

Session 9: Permissioned Systems Session 9 Study Questions: What is permissioned or private distributed ledger technology? How does it differ from permissionless or open blockchain applications? What are the key blockchain inspired features of Corda and Hyperledger Fabric? What is Digital Asset Holdings? What are the business tradeoffs of utilizing a permissioned vs. a permissionless application? What are the tradeoffs for consumers? Session 9 Readings: ‘Enterprises building Blockchain Confront Early Tech Limitations’, CoinDesk. ‘Technical difference between Ethereum, Hyperledger fabric & R3 Corda’ by Nandi ‘What is Corda’, Newton. ‘A Blockchain Platform for the Enterprise, Introduction’, Hyperledger Fabric. ‘What is Digital Asset? / Distributed Ledgers for Financial Institutions’, Coin Central. Overview:…

Session 8: Public Policy Session 8 Study Questions: How do key public policy frameworks–guarding agains illicit acticities, ensuring financial stability, & protecting investors–relate to blockchain technology and crypto finance? Under tax, bank secrecy, securities & commodities laws, what is the relevance if crypto tokens are deemed property? Currencies? Something of value? An investment contract? A commodity? What is the essence of the U.S. Supreme Court ‘Howey Test’? How might the ‘Duck Test’ guide thinking of blockchain technology and crypto finance? Session 8 Readings: ‘Cryptocurrencies: Oversight of New Assets in the Digital Age’, Gensler. ‘The Future of Money’, Carney. ‘Nobel-Winning Economists: Authorities will bring down ‘hammer’ on bitcoin’, CNBC. Overview: Crypto…