About the miniseries
Crypto-Dollarization is the idea that an early and unambiguous ‘killer app’ of public blockchains is their ability to settle dollar-denominated liabilities. Whether these are liabilities for digital dollars held in banks, or liabilities of an over-collateralized system like Maker, there is obvious and demonstrated demand for this product. While there are still obvious points of failure and trusted third parties present, this virtualization of bank reserves is a way to distribute dollars on a direct-to-customer basis to individuals around the world, in a permission-less manner.
We believe that this phenomenon has the ability to cross the chasm from a handful of traders who use the IOUs as an inter-exchange settlement mechanism, to a more mainstream product used by individuals around the world who seek non-bank, dollar-denominated savings and settlement tools. This could quite possibly accelerate informal dollarization movements like the one happening in Venezuela today.
For more on this topic see Nic’s op-ed in Coindesk, and his follow up op-ed. For a longer treatment see Max Bronstein and Avi Feldman's piece Crypto Dollars and the Evolution of Eurodollar Banking. Lastly, see the Castle Island whitepaper, Cryptodollars: The Story So Far.
Prof. Ladislav Krištoufek (Charles University) on the market effects of stablecoin issuance
Economics professor at Charles University Ladislav Krištoufek joins us for a discussion centered on his new paper, On the Role of Stablecoins in Cryptoasset Pricing Dynamics.
Ruben Galindo (Airtm) on distributing USD to Venezuelan healthcare workers
Ruben Galindo, cofounder and CEO of Airtm, joins the show to discuss Airtm’s move to distribute USD to health workers in conjunction with Juan Guaido.
Building remittances on Bitcoin with Kyle Powers (LibertyPay)
Kyle Powers, CEO and Cofounder of LibertyPay, joins the show to talk about building a remittance business on top of crypto-financial rails.
Ryan Rabaglia (OSL) – Cryptodollars: the view from Hong Kong
Ryan Rabaglia, Global Head of Trading at OSL, joins the show to talk crypto-dollarization and Tether from the perspective of a large Asian OTC desk.
Paolo Ardoino (Bitfinex/Tether) – Managing the growth of Tether
Paolo Ardoino, the CTO of Tether and Bitfinex, joins the show to discuss Tether’s design and explosive growth in 2020.
Dan Matuszewski (CMS Holdings) – What explains the growth of Tether?
Dan Matuszewski, cofounder of CMS Holdings, joins the show once again to share market commentary.
Matt Ahlborg (UsefulTulips.org) – Bitcoin as a Bridge Currency
Matt Ahlborg, creator of UsefulTulips.org, discussed his work elucidating Bitcoin’s role as a bridge currency in Latin America.
Patrick Dugan (Tradelayer) – HyperCryptoDollarization
Patrick Dugan, founder of TradeLayer, and coiner of the term ‘crypto-dollarization’, joins the show to talk stablecoins.
Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj (Warwick) – What Keeps Stablecoins Stable?
Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj, Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School, joins the show to discuss his recent paper on stablecoins and Tether.
Lawrence White – Free Banking in the Age of Crypto
George Mason professor and monetary economist Larry White joins the show to discuss free banking, crypto-dollarization, and cash in the digital age.