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While monetary autonomy is self-explanatory for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin with predetermined supply path, it is of great interest to probe into the monetary structures of Stablecoins. In these supply contracts and expands and capital restrictions apply due to the existence of reserves as the exchange rate arrangement adheres to a price rule.

Ever since the launch of Bitcoin and its offspring, examination of cryptocurrencies' trading activity from the empirical finance viewpoint has received much attention and continues to do so. The particular monetary arrangements found in Stable cryptocurrencies (colloquially referred to as Stablecoins), however, have not been properly (1) classified and (2) studied within an empirical international finance and banking context. This paper provides an empirical framework analogous to Impossible Trinity for exploring monetary arrangements across Stablecoins wherein reserves are held as price stability is targeted.

The study findings of existence of the degree of achievement along the three dimensions of the Impossible Trinity hypothesis, namely monetary independence, exchange rate stability and financial openness for a representative sample able to cover all varieties of Stablecoins, provide fresh empirical insights and arguments to this growing literature with respect to the success of their embedded exchange rate stabilization mechanisms. While the hypothesis can be supported for all cryptocurrencies in question, the trade-off combination among exchange rate stability, capital openness and monetary independence varies with the categorical types of Stablecoins.

If Stable cryptocurrencies, therefore, claim the role of global monetary assets freed from sovereign limits and national boundaries, it is critical to explore whether they adhere to traditional monetary frameworks. It goes without saying that in this work the author does not use a complete catalogue of all the available Stablecoins, rather a complete catalogue of all the possible asset classes of Stablecoins. While there is a significant difficulty in finding Algorithmic Stablecoins and, so far, there is plethora of Stable Token initiatives, a broader sample to further examine these under this paper's empirical framework is suggested. Enrichment of the robustness analysis by constructing additional proxies, possibly building time series for the proposed cmo1 subindex and using additional estimation methods is encouraged.

Stablecoins have been developed aiming to address the issue of excessive price variation in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Holders of Stablecoins enjoy the combined advantages of using a blockchain-based digital infrastructure in fulfilling the functions of store of value and media of exchange and of using a traditional currency, which merely plays the role of the unit of account (and in some circumstances the trusted reserve to which is convertible to). Understanding the varieties of Stablecoins and quantifying the components for success of their price stabilization may result in designing better Stablecoins.

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies have introduced new challenges to money and banking. Cryptocurrencies, which independently float such as Bitcoin, have gained the interest so far due to price variation that allows for gains. But these should be by far not considered to be a substitute to traditional means of payment. Lately, Stablecoins have increasingly gained attention for that USD Tether/Bitcoin pair (a Stablecoin pegged to the US dollar at parity) has outrun the US dollar/Bitcoin pair as the most traded pair in digital exchanges marking the strong position and high demand for Stablecoins.

This approach uncovers the varieties of Stablecoins with respect to their monetary constraints compared to the rest of the cryptocurrencies, which independently float. In this paper, the author provides a conceptual framework for the analysis of the exchange rate mechanisms conditional on Stablecoin asset classes accompanied with an empirical study from the monetary viewpoint. This is the first work in this attempt. The empirical framework employed is analogous to the traditional theory of international monetary economics referred to as Impossible Trinityz.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/JES-06-2020-0279

The paper explores the precarious balance between modernizing monetary systems by means of digital currencies (either issued by the central bank itself or independently) and safeguarding financial stability as also ensured by tangible payment (and saving) instruments like paper money.

Which aspects of modern payment systems could contribute to improve the way of functioning of today's globalized economy? And, which might even threaten the above-mentioned instable equilibrium? This survey paper aims, precisely, at giving some preliminary answers to a complex – therefore, ongoing – debate at scientific as well as banking and political levels.

The coexistence of State's money (i.e. “legal tender”) and cryptocurrencies can have a disciplining effect on central banks. Nevertheless, there are still high risks connected to the introduction of central bank digital currency, which should be by far not considered to be a perfect substitute of current cash. At the same time, cryptocurrencies issued by central banks might be exposed to the drawbacks of cryptocurrencies without benefiting from correspondingly strong advantages. A well-governed two-tier system to be achieved through innovation in payment infrastructures might be, in turn, more preferable. Regulated competition by new players combined with “traditional” deposits and central bank elements remains essential, although central banks should embrace the technologies underlying cryptocurrencies, because risk payment service providers could move to other currency areas considered to be more appealing for buyers and sellers.

We do not see specific limitations besides the fact that the following is for sure a broad field of scientific research to be covered, which is at the same time at the origin of ongoing developments and findings. Originality and implications of the paper are, instead, not only represented by its conclusions (which highlight the role of traditional payment instruments and stress why the concept of “money” still has to have specific features) but also by its approach of recent literature's review combined with equally strong logical-analytical insights.

In the light of these considerations, even the role of traditional payment systems like paper money is by far not outdated or cannot be – at this point, at least – replaced by central bank digital currencies (whose features based on dematerialization despite being issued and guaranteed by a public authority are very different).

No matter which form it might assume is what differentiates economic from barter transactions. This conclusion is by far not tautological or self-evident since the notion of money has historically been a great object of scientific discussion. In the light of increasingly modern payment instruments, there is no question that money and the effectiveness of related monetary policies have to be also explored from a social perspective according to different monetary scenarios, ranging from central bank digital currencies to private currencies and cash restrictions/abolition.

The originality/value of the following article is represented by the fact that it (1) refers to some of the most relevant and recent contributions to this research field, (2) moves from payment systems in general to their newest trends like cryptocurrencies, cash restrictions (or, even, abolition proposals) and monetary policy while (3) combining all elements to reach a common picture. The paper aims at being a comprehensive contribution dealing with "money" in its broadest but also newest sense.

The aim of this research is to explore multiscale hedging strategies among cryptocurrencies, commodities, and GCC stocks. Particularly, this is done by evaluating the connectedness among these asset classes covering a period with COVID-19 implications. Using the wavelet approach, the present study aims to recommend whether there exist different time horizon-based hedging abilities across the asset classes.

The approach used in this study is a multiscale decomposition of time series based on wavelets of daily prices of 13 asset classes. Since the wavelet analysis allows to decompose the time series into its frequency components at different time scales by a filtering process the study covered 1-day, 8-day, and 64-day time horizons to examine the hedging properties across those asset classes.

The results of this study show that hedging effectiveness differs among stock markets over time. In some cases, cryptocurrencies may keep their hedging properties across time while in others they switch from safe haven to hedge devices. In almost all cases, the three main cryptocurrencies showed diversifying properties as was observed by the multiscale correlation and hedge ratio estimations. In a competing sense, gold showed safe haven properties across time than cryptocurrencies except at an 8-day time scale where hedge ratios were low, positive and statistically different from zero that could be interpreted as a good hedge device in the medium term.

Though this research has considered a set of thirteen asset classes, it was limited to a period in which most cryptocurrencies started trading for the first time which reduces the number of observations compared to Bitcoin prices and stable coins such as Ethereum, Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash. Also, the research was focused on the GCC stock markets which may have different results as compared to other regional markets of Asia or Latin America. A comparative analysis in future could be another area of research in future.

This study has some significant policy implications. The cryptocurrency market is severely affected by demand and risk shocks to crude oil prices during the COVID-19 period. From the investor's point of view, diversification benefits can be obtained by combining cryptocurrencies along with oil-related products during episodes of financial turmoil and COVID-19 pandemic. The GCC region is constantly endeavoring to adopt more scientific tools and mechanisms of investment, and therefore, this study's results will provide some useful directions to the government, policymakers, financial institutions, and investors.

The current study covers a big bunch of 13 assets spanning across financial and real assets. This is based on literature gap and hence, will be a significant addition to the existing literature. Moreover, the GCC region is emerging as a global investment hub and this study will provide investors dynamic hedging strategies across these asset classes.

Fat‐tailed distributions have been found in many financial and economic variables ranging from forecasting returns on financial assets to modeling recovery distributions in bankruptcies. They have also been found in numerous insurance applications such as catastrophic insurance claims and in value‐at‐risk measures employed by risk managers. Financial applications include:

As decentralized finance (DeFi) has collected substantial promotion, investment and cryptographic development as a new model for numerous financial operations over the last months. As DeFi models and technology are quite unique, authorities have not been engaged much yet. However, these non-regulated financial markets will be overlooked for no long by the regulators. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyse and evaluate the new challenges for financial crime compliance which need to be tackled very soon.

The research relied on secondary sources of data, using secondary research to collect archival data in the form of documents. Content and thematic analyses were used to synthesize the collected data

DeFi is considered to be one of the major steps towards adopting crypto masses. It is expected that DeFi will play a significant role in future and provide the present banking system with a feasible alternative. Therefore, it is crucial that the DeFi industry must address the main risks to ensure its “user” full compliance.

This research is the first to analyse the emerging challenges of fighting financial crime in the DeFi ecosystem.

This paper aims to examine the framework for the regulation of crypto assets in Germany, the UK and Switzerland focusing on anti-money laundering (AML) laws. It comprehensively addresses the risks of crypto assets and the benefits along with the changes made to the existing laws to regulate cryptocurrency.

Qualitative data was analyzed to collect information for the case study and to challenge/examine the existing data and statistics.

The findings suggested that the AML laws are additionally modified to include the cryptocurrencies violations of the legislation, as it is the decentralized financial systems generating opportunities for crimes and terror financing. The moderate or mild laws were found in Switzerland following Germany and the UK has the most traditional and stringent laws of money laundering.

The paper has focused on the comparison of the three states in their AML laws comprehensively along with their attitude toward the crypto businesses.

This paper aims to explain the implications of the impending establishment of national blockchain infrastructure by governments around the world, and how these structures can be integrated with existing legislation and assist in the prevention of financial crime.

The methodology used is a literature review and analysis of progress being made to establish national blockchain infrastructure. It provides a discussion of the connection between blockchain and financial crime, and how this infrastructure will interact with existing regulatory frameworks, and particularly, financial crime legislation.

This paper documents financial crime risks posed by digital currencies and smart contracts and the role that national blockchain infrastructure can potentially play in mitigating these risks. It highlights the need for governments to devote resources to developing this infrastructure and associated regulatory frameworks.

There are few, if any, academic papers in the financial crime, or wider literature, that have examined the potential for national blockchain infrastructures prevent financial crime, including the implications for existing regulation in the field.

The purpose of this paper is to develop conceptual designs for blockchain implementations aimed at reducing corporate fraud. The proposed framework consists of different levels of implementation with specific examples for each level.

The paper uses a multi-level framework to highlight the properties of blockchain technology as suitable for reducing corporate fraud. The five levels of technological complexity designed for this research include information storage, information flow, information processing, information enhancement and information and financial integration. Specific cases of corporate fraud are discussed to complement the proposed methodology.

The potential ability to limit fraud and increase transparency could greatly improve faith in financial reporting. These benefits accrue to all capital market participants. The blockchain infrastructure can significantly improve the existing monitoring system and provide value added in detecting, deterring, and documenting possible fraud.

The paper contributes to the growing field on corporate fraud and blockchain technology. The paper is novel in the implementation of the nascent blockchain methods to detect and deter fraud at the organizational level. The proposed five conceptual levels provide practical use.

Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies are set to disrupt the real estate sector in all areas: ownership, sale, management and investment. Tokenization moves physical real estate to the digital space and could result in substantial cost savings in the pre- and post-tokenization process. This article discusses whether real estate as an asset class is ready for digitalization in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Globally, the APAC region has the highest digital adaptation/adoption rates. Regulators in the region are also moving fast to clarify their stance on digital assets. This article adopts a holistic view, from trends, regulations, and technology, to discuss the benefits and challenges of digitalizing real estate in APAC.

Real estate tokenization is a nascent market but platforms like BrickX, KASA, ADDX, and Minterest have successfully launched real estate tokens in Australia, South Korea, and Singapore, respectively. Tokenization may prove to be a viable funding source for those relatively poorly capitalized financial markets in the APAC region.

This paper discusses the current regulatory and business contexts in relation to the pace of tokenization of real estate in APAC. Opportunities and difficulties are outlined in a concise manner to facilitate more discussion in this area.

Existing reports and research articles tend to focus on the western markets. This article provides a new perspective on tokenization, specifically in the APAC context.