Stay up to date with our extensive research publications

Dive with us and explore issues, subjects or just ideas around markets, microstructure, digital assets or other themes that we feel are relevant to better understand the blockchain and its eco-ecosystem.
FinancialMicrostructureRegulation
April 2021 Tether as a Central Bank

Central banks routinely issue money without any reserve backing it. Could Tether do the same and become the first decentralized central bank? I have expressed before skepticism about Tether (a.k.a USDT) and the fact that a high level of uncertainty still exists on the actual level of reserves backing the token issuance. For all the bad press […]

Read more
MicrostructureRegulationTrading
March 2021 What is prime brokerage and how does it apply to digital assets?

There is a lot of talk in the crypto economy about prime brokerage: many participants frame themselves as “prime brokers” (PB), with the usual superlatives. What exactly are we talking about? A broker is an intermediary between a buyer and a seller: for a multitude of reasons despite the costs involved, it often makes sense […]

Read more
LiquidityTrading
February 2021 Is Bitcoin a safe haven in times of crisis?

This article examines the behavior of various assets during the recent crash, specifically bitcoin, ether, equity markets (in the form of the S&P 500), bond markets (in the form of U.S. interest rates), and gold. The study specifically addresses the following question: did bitcoin withstand the downturn better than other assets, and would an investor have had an incentive to transfer some of his positions in Bitcoin before the downturn?

Read more