Decentralized exchanges (DEX) are a leading example of Decentralized finance (Defi) platforms. A number of DEXes have come up since Uniswap was launched in 2019. They have helped create liquidity for investors in digital assets such as crypto currencies and stablecoins. Investors typically contribute pairs of digital assets in pools…

Even with stable coins and CBDCs, can we use them for transactions involving assets denominated in two currencies ? — Single currency pegged stable coins such as USDT, USDC and others as well as Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) currently in discussion or pilots in China, France, Switzerland and other countries have yet to answer the question on how transactions for payments and settlement of trades in two currencies can…

Regulatory compliance is key for security tokens. What options do we have on regulation compliant issuing and trading ? — Security tokens and Digital securities are terms that are often used interchangeably. They are not the same. Digital securities are electronic records of shares, bonds, fund units and other financial instruments with centralized securities depositories that are directly supervised by securities regulators in national jurisdictions. For example, in the countries…

Security tokens represent shares, bonds, fund units and other mostly private, unlisted financial assets. How do we value them ? — The focus so far in the decentralized finance (Defi) and digital assets space has been on issuing and trading of collateralized crypto assets. While that is new and interesting, tokenization of financial assets is the big opportunity. Tokenization of privately held, unlisted financial assets will enable distribution of tokenized assets…

The Via is a multi-currency token which tracks exchange rates and returns on fiat currencies using a novel interest rate mechanism. The Via is usable on any blockchain platform that supports contracts such as the ERC20 standard on Ethereum. The Via is designed to function as a payment token but…

What should digital currency operators consider before creating one? — While the discussion on stable coins and their design in the crypto community has been going on for the past couple of years, the public hearings and the huge interest around Libra are highlighting a number of issues that any digital currency will face in the real world if it…

Thoughts on how securities and derivatives are an opportunity to integrate digital currencies to real world financial markets. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are something most entrepreneurs have probably given up on. Investors most definitely have. Not all regulators have positively treated them. So, when it comes to a topic such as…

What is it that cryptocurrencies can really do for cross border transactions ? A lot of talk around blockchains and cryptocurrencies being used for payments is based on the idea that it will cut costs of transactions. The correspondent banking model where a payment remitter’s bank and the beneficiary’s bank…

Is Bitcoin a currency ? Or for that matter, is any other cryptocurrency a currency ? This is a question that is often asked. And the answer that is often given is that just like any other currency, they allow for the transfer and store of value. By using a…