Digital Money and Decentralised Finance

Aims

Our society is evolving towards digital payments and the elimination of physical cash. Digital alternatives to cash require trade-offs between various properties including unforgeability, traceability, divisibility, transferability without intermediaries, privacy, redeemability, control over the money supply and many more, often in conflict with each other. Since the 1980s, cryptographers have proposed a variety of clever technical solutions addressing some of these issues but it is only with the appearance of Bitcoin, blockchain and a plethora of copycat cryptocurrencies that a new asset class has now emerged, worth in excess of two trillion dollars (although plagued by extreme volatility). Meanwhile, most major countries have been planning the introduction of Central Bank Digital Currencies in an attempt to retain control. This seminar-style interactive module encourages the students to understand what's happening, what the underlying problems and opportunities are (technical, social and economic) and where we should go from here. We are at a historical turning point where an enterprising candidate might disrupt the status quo and truly make a difference.

Notes

This is a new course for 2024-25 and the syllabus and assessment criteria is still being finalised