April 26th, 2023, Starling Hotel, EPFL

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) started out with the promise to disrupt the financial industry by removing third parties and centralized institutions from financial transactions and hence allowing consumers direct access to capital and financial services.

Until now, however, DeFi’s disruptive forces have not manifested themselves purely favorably. In 2022 crypto currencies lost nearly $2 trillion in market value. Furthermore, the DeFi industry – often where it evolves into actually more Centralized Finance (CeFi) platforms – continues to be plagued by a disconcerting number of hacks, failures and bankruptcies (an insightful timeline here). While it might not be the underlying DeFi blockchain infrastructure that is to blame as such and some failures might also be excused through the to-be-expected glitches of a nevertheless still early-stage technology and its applications, some of the challenges can rather be attributed to the shortcomings of governance, regulation or the interfaces with centralized financial services and institutions.

During this conference we aim to shed light on what works and what does not in decentralized finance and how to build trust in it. Finally we discuss the way forward for socially and economically sustainable DeFi and what the next generation of DeFi may look like. Inevitably, the question whether more regulation will stifle or stimulate innovation, whether it may lead to a level-playing field that enhances security, compatibility between established and emerging players as well as consumer trust will arise. What are the key trends around the globe that influence an inherently interconnected market? What are the most promising options at hand?

This event is organized jointly by the Finance and Technology Programme and the Center for Digital Trust, EPFL, in collaboration with The Enterprise for Society Center (E4S).

For onsite participation:

The onsite event is limited to approx. 100 attendees and preference will be given to the C4DT and sfi communities. Nevertheless, you may apply for a spot via the “request onsite participation” button. You will receive a confirmation by April 3rd the latest. An onsite participation will allow you to interact with the speakers and panelists and network with peers. A standing lunch and coffee will be provided for all onsite participants.

For online participation:

The conference will be streamed live via Zoom. To register and obtain your Zoom link for the webinar please click on the “Zoom Link” button. Registration is free but mandatory. Please note that online participation will be limited to viewing only with no interaction with the speakers and panelists.

08h30

Registration and welcome coffee

09h15

Welcoming words

by Damir Filipovic, Professor, Head of the Swiss Finance Institute, EPFL

09h40

Talk: DeFi as the universal banking gateway: What will be the role of banks?

by Carlos Martin, Product Manager Digital Assets, Swissquote

10h00

Talk: On The quality of cryptocurrency markets: centralized versus decentralized exchanges

by Prof. Angelo Ranaldo, Chair in Finance & Systemic Risk, University of St. Gallen

10h30

Networking Coffee

11h00

Talk: Central bank digital currencies and the emerging financial infrastructure

by Prof. Co-Pierre Georg, EDHEC Business School

11h25

Talk: Governance minimization and immutability

by Dr. Robert Lauko, Founder and Head of Research, Liquity

11h50

Networking lunch

13h00

Talk: Is blockchain it the right tool for DeFi? Understanding the fundamental limitations

by Prof. Rachid Guerraoui, Head of Distributed Computing Laboratory, EPFL

15h00

Coffee break

15h30

Keynote: Elements of the future monetary system

by Hyun Song Shin, Economic Advisor and Head of Research, Bank for International Settlements