Tag Archives: cryptocurrency

Interdependencies in Crypto Ecosystems: Drivers, Implications and Policy Responses 

By | May 24, 2023

Crypto assets and crypto-related financial activities are generating considerable discourse among global regulators and financial supervisors. As key actors in the emerging alternative finance ecosystems, crypto and its market actors have drawn increasing attention to their potential policy implications, particularly on financial integrity, consumer protection and financial stability. This is primarily because crypto ecosystems remain… Read More »

The Contagion Risk of Cryptocurrency Markets 

By | May 18, 2023

Since the inception of Bitcoin in 2008, crypto assets, have long been perceived as one of the riskiest assets.1 Unlike traditional assets, many cryptocurrencies are decentralized, limited in supply, and difficult to value, leading to speculation, high divergence of opinion, and extreme price volatility. These features, combined with the rapid growth of crypto markets during… Read More »

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) as an Investment Class 

By | February 27, 2023

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been in the spotlight for several years now following a trading frenzy and spectacular returns. An NFT is a digital record of ownership, created and stored on a blockchain, and thus tamper-proof and auditable. Blockchains are decentralized ledgers of transactions that are designed to run perpetually, hence providing the basis for… Read More »

Lee Reiners’ Oral Testimony to the Senate Banking Committee

By | February 15, 2023

The following is Lee Reiners’ oral statement delivered in front of the United States Senate  Committee on Banking, Housing, And Urban Affairs  at the Committee’s February 14th hearing entitled, “Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets.”    Thank you for inviting me to testify at today’s hearing. My name is Lee… Read More »

Excluding Crypto-Exposed Companies from ESG Funds 

By | February 13, 2023

This essay summarizes new research findings regarding cryptocurrency-exposed companies (companies that hold cryptocurrencies) and why they should be excluded from Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment funds. ESG is an amorphous term with no universally agreed-upon definition. The environmental factor includes considerations like a company’s pollution, water usage, and effects on biodiversity. Social factors include… Read More »

Herding in the Non-fungible Token (NFT) Market 

By | January 19, 2023

As a new species of cryptographic asset based on blockchain technology, the non-fungible token (NFT) became prominent and attracted attention from academia and practitioners. Unlike cryptocurrencies, which primarily serve as a medium of exchange, NFTs are blockchain-recorded digital assets that can be anything digital, e.g., images, videos, and songs. The NFT market reached its peak… Read More »

Angels and Devils: The Early Crypto Entrepreneurs

By | January 18, 2023

This post is a summary of a paper that was selected for inclusion at the inaugural Digital Assets at Duke Conference at Duke University on January 20 and 21.  The past year was not a good one for crypto, with Sam Bankman-Fried’s massive fraud through FTX/Alameda, Do Kwon’s failed algorithmic stablecoin experiment (Terra Luna), and… Read More »

Who Sells Cryptocurrency?

By | January 2, 2023

On March 9, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a pivotal Executive Order “outlining the first ever, whole-of-government approach to addressing the risks and harnessing the potential benefits of digital assets and their underlying technology.” Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) considers protecting “main street” investors to be at the heart of U.S. financial… Read More »

Are Blockchain and Cryptocurrency M&As Harder to Close?

By | December 29, 2022

Blockchain has been one of the fastest-growing technologies in the last decade. While some of this impressive growth has been organic, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have aided substantially, particularly in the last several years. The recent cryptocurrency report of PricewaterhouseCoopers emphasizes the extent of this contribution by documenting that “(t)he total value of crypto M&A… Read More »

Legal Liability of a 51%, Goldfinger Cryptocurrency Attack

By | December 28, 2022

Introduction  With a market cap of over $1 trillion, cryptocurrencies have quickly gone from an obscure novelty to an alternative currency juggernaut. The recent collapse of FTX, related entities, and others in the crypto ecosystem has drawn heightened attention to this important technology. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized digital currencies; cryptocurrencies also rely on the blockchain, described… Read More »