“The financial sector is evolving quickly and there is an urgent need for deeper understanding among participants and regulators to keep pace with innovation,” said Capponi. “We are in the midst of a digital financial revolution and the Center will be a hub to investigate ways to make this innovation scalable and accessible, particularly for the large section of society that is currently unbanked.”
The Center will explore emerging financial technologies and digital assets, advancing knowledge in everything from crypto tokens and securities, decentralized finance, blockchain consensus protocols, regulation, and blockchain market design. The Center has five initial industry and foundation partners on board: Ripple, the Global Risk Institute, Stellar Development Foundation, the Ethereum Foundation, and the Arcane Group. It plans to bring on more partners who share the Center’s mission and goals.
“True innovation happens at the convergence of disciplines,” says Shih-Fu Chang, Dean of Columbia Engineering. “By bringing together computer and data scientists, economists, and experts in operations research and the financial sector, we will be able to make advances in addressing some of the most important questions in the area of fintech and decentralized finance.”
Together with Columbia Business School, the Center will host the Columbia Digital Finance Seminar Series focused on the latest developments in crypto and blockchain economics. The Center will also be co-organizing the 3rd Annual Crypto and Blockchain Economics conference on May 5, 2023.
