Understanding Cryptocurrencies

Abstract

Cryptocurrencies refer to a type of digital cash that uses distributed ledger – or blockchain technology - to provide secure transactions. These currencies are generally misunderstood. While initially dismissed as fads or bubbles, most large central banks are considering launching their own version of national cryptocurrencies. In contrast to most data in financial economics, there is a plethora of detailed (free) data on the history of every transaction for the cryptocurrency complex. Further, there is little empirically-oriented research on this new asset class. This is an extraordinary research opportunity for academia. In this talk, the speaker will provide a starting point for discussion and offer insights on cryptocurrency mechanisms, summary statistics and the potential avenues for future research on financial economics.

About the speaker

Prof. Wolfgang K. Härdle received his doctoral degree in natural sciences from Heidelberg University in 1982. He furthered his career as a Research Associate in Goethe University Frankfurt during 1983-1985 and The University of Bonn during 1985-1989 respectively. Prof Härdle joined the Universite Catholique de Louvain as a Professor in 1990 and moved to Humboldt University of Berlin in 1992, where he is currently a Professor of Statistics.

Prof. Härdle’s research interests focus on smoothing methods, discrete choice models, statistical modelling of financial markets and computer-aided statistics. His more recent work deals with the modelling of implied volatilities and the statistical analysis of financial risk.

Prof. Härdle was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (1992) and a Fellow of the International Statistical Institute (1997). He was also elected a Member of the Australian National Centre for Econometric Research during 2006-2010.

About the seminar series

For more information, please refer to the website http://ias.ust.hk/seminars/qfs/ for details.