Regulating Digital Currencies: Central Bank-Sponsored and Stablecoins

Professor Schwarcz will be delivering a presentation on "Regulating Digital Currencies: Central Bank-Sponsored and Stablecoins" which will be followed with commentary from Dr Jason Allen.

Biography:

Steven L. Schwarcz is the Stanley A. Star Distinguished Professor of Law & Business at Duke University and Founding Director of Duke’s interdisciplinary Global Capital Markets Center (now renamed the Global Financial Markets Center). His areas of research and scholarship include insolvency and bankruptcy law, international finance, capital markets, systemic risk, corporate governance, and commercial law. He holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering (summa cum laude) and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School. Prior to joining the Duke faculty, he was a partner at two of the world’s leading law firms and Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School. He also helped to pioneer the field of asset securitization, and his book, Structured Finance, A Guide to the Principles of Asset Securitization (3d edition), is one of the most widely used texts in the field. In 2021, Professor Schwarcz will take up a Liberty Fellowship at the University of Leeds. 

Abstract:

Digital currencies have the potential to improve the speed and efficiency of payments. The most urgent goal is to facilitate payments among consumers on a day-to-day basis, as an alternative to cash, both domestically and across national borders. This Article critically examines the ongoing progress to try to develop retail digital currencies, focusing on the two realistic approaches: central-bank-sponsored currencies, and privately-issued currencies that are backed by assets having intrinsic value (stablecoins). The Article also analyzes how these digital currencies should be regulated and supervised. 

Professor Schwarcz’s presentation will be followed with commentary from Dr Jason Allen (Humboldt University, Berlin). 

This seminar will be moderated by Dr Suren Gomtsian, University of Leeds. 

Joining details:

The event will be held on Zoom, register now via Eventbrite.