Session 20: Primary Markets, ICOs, and Venture Capital, Part 2 Overview: Readings and Study Questions; Investor Protection and Howey Test; Initial Coin Offerings–Some Realities; SEC Enforcement Actions; SEC Exempt Offerings; ICOs–Pat Forward; Conclusions. Session 20: Study Questions How ICOs mix economic attributes of both consumption and investment. How ICO tokens’ design features–their risks, expectation of profits, manner of marketing, exchange trading, limited supply and capital formation–are similar to investments schemes. Why is the ICO market rife with scams and fraud? What is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s current approach to ICOs? What are the options for completing a compliant ICO? Session 20: Readings ‘Digital Asset Transactions: When Howey Met…

Session 19: Primary Markets, ICOs, and Venture Capital, Part 1 Overview: Readings and Study Questions; Review of Bakkt Discussion; Initial Coin Offering (ICO) Characteristics; Evaluating ICOs; ICO Statistics; Conclusions. Session 19: Study Questions What is the new crowdfunding mechanism of blockchain technology–initial coin offerings (ICOs)? What attributes help distinguish successful ICOs? Why have so many ICOs failed? What has the wave of ICOs meant for the venture capital field? Session 19: Readings ‘All-Time Cumulative ICO Funding’, CoinDesk. ‘Initial Coin Offerings and the Value of Crypto Tokens’, Catalini and Gans. ’10 keys for evaluating Initial Coin Offering (ICO investments)’, Crypto Potato. ‘Nearly Half of 2017 Cryptocurrency “ICO” Projects Have Already Died’,…

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 12: Assessing Use Cases Session 12 Study Questions: What potential benefits–in terms of reducing costs of trust–are there when adopting blockchain technology applications? How might potential use cases be assessed for the trade-offs of decentralized vs. centralized applications? What are the potential strategic benefits from blockchain applications? What are the attributes of potential use cases and sectors that might best capture value from such applications? How important are the benefits of censorship resistance to this analysis? How can you separate rigorous analysis from mere assertion and hype in the blockchain ecosystem? Session 12 Readings: ‘Geneva Report’ Chapters 2 & 3 (4-30), Chapter 5 (51-55), Casey, Crane, Gensler, Johnson, and…

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’…