LECTURE SERIES: MONETARY POLICY AND THE FINANCIAL SECTOR (MPFS) You are cordially invited to the following Webinar: "Decentralized Finance" Aleksander Berentsen Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Basel Friday, March 18, 2022 10:30-12:00 via MS Teams After registering by email (Cornelia.Berger@wu.ac.at), you will receive the MS Teams link for the Webinar which can be opened directly from your web browser without having to install MS Teams. Aleksander Berentsen is one of the leading scholars worldwide in the fields of monetary theory and cryptoeconomics. His current research focus is distributed ledger technology (DLT), Blockchain and Cryptoassets, and monetary policy instruments such as negative interest rates or balance sheet policies. He is a research fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and a technical advisor for the Bank for International Settlements in Basel. He publishes in top academic journals such as the American Economic Review, the Review of Economic Studies, and the Journal of Monetary Economics. He is also co-author of the book "Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Cryptoassets" published by MIT-Press. Abstract: The paper 'Bitcoin: A Peer-To-Peer Electronic Cash System' describes how several technological components can be linked together to create a virtual asset that is substantially different from any other asset. For the first time in history, ownership of virtual property is possible without the need for a central authority - a development with the potential to fundamentally change the current financial system and many more areas in business and government. In this presentation, we focus on decentralized finance (DeFi) which allows for financial transactions of any kind without intermediaries (similar to Bitcoin). We discuss various protocols that allow the user to be 'his own banker'. In particular, we show how to trade assets on decentralized exchanges and how to borrow or lend assets on decentralized money markets. Furthermore, we discuss leverage, trade derivatives, bootstrap projects, farm tokens, and acquire insurance without any intermediaries. Bitcoin itself will over time assume a role similar of that of gold. DeFi will revolutionize the entire financial sector. The true potential of this new technology will become apparent only many years, or possibly decades, after it is widely adopted. The webinar is part of the Lecture Series "Monetary Policy and the Financial Sector" (MPFS) jointly organized by Aurel Schubert, former Director General Statistics, ECB and by Guido Schäfer, Department of Economics, WU Vienna. ------------ Guido Schäfer Department of Economics, WU Vienna Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna, Austria Tel.: + 431 31336 4579 Email: Guido.Schaefer@wu.ac.at