Cryptocurrencies, blockchain and decentralized finance were designed to address weaknesses in traditional finance, such as the systemic risk and government profligacy at the heart of many financial crises. Yet, failures of prominent crypto firms highlight the flaws in this argument. Crypto is...

This report offers an analytical framework that allows for more systemic assessments of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and its applications. It examines the evolution and typology of the emergent technology, its existing and projected applications, and regulatory and policy issues that they...

The European Commission published its new Digital Finance Strategy on 24 September 2020 (DFS 2020). One of the centerpieces of the Strategy is the draft regulation on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (known as PilotR). The PilotR Proposal foresees...

Cross-border payments suffer from a lack of speed and transparency and limited access, resulting in higher overall costs than domestic payments. This paper analyses how the best execution principle developed in the context of securities and derivatives could be applied to cross-border payments....

DeFi – ‘Decentralized Finance' – has joined FinTech, RegTech, cryptocurrencies and digital assets as one of the most discussed emerging technological evolutions in global finance. Yet little is really understood about its meaning, legal implications and policy consequences. This article...