Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and their Governance Implications

The eleventh lecture in the series was given by Vivian Fang (Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota and ECGI) on the topic “Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and their Governance Implications”. 

Cryptocurrencies were born in the wake of the financial crisis, bestowed with the mission to address governance failures in the traditional financial system. The idea is that a decentralized system works to circumvent the centralized control of money and the use of cryptography and blockchain technology keeps records secure and transparent. Ironically, FTX, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange at its peak, went down as one of the greatest governance failures in history. In this lecture, Professor Fang shared insights from corporate governance and disclosure research and present a realistic perspective on how features of cryptocurrency and blockchain may address some governance challenges (e.g., by reducing contracting costs) while fueling others (e.g., by exacerbating information asymmetry), particularly in the absence of regulation and disclosure requirements.

The public lecture series is organised by Institute for Corporate Governance (ICG), in partnership with the Ostrom Workshop at Indiana University and ECGI.