Jonathan Chiu - Latest
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Decentralized finance: Innovations and challenges
Decentralized finance surged in popularity around 2020. We explore its value and limitations and highlight some potential regulatory concerns. -
Understanding DeFi Through the Lens of a Production-Network Model
We develop a production-network model to capture how decentralized finance (DeFi) has evolved across different sectors of financial services. The model allows us to measure the value added by different DeFi sectors and to study how the connections across the sectors influence token prices. -
On the Fragility of DeFi Lending
We develop a dynamic model to capture key features of decentralized finance lending. We identify a price-liquidity feedback: the market outcome in any given period depends on agents' expectations about lending activities in future periods, with higher future price expectations leading to more lending and higher prices in that period. -
Central Bank Digital Currencies and Banking: Literature Review and New Questions
We review the nascent but fast-growing literature on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), focusing on their potential impacts on private banks. We evaluate these impacts in three areas of traditional banking: payments, lending and liquidity and maturity transformation. We also take a broader look at CBDCs and highlight two promising directions for future research. -
Grasping De(centralized) Fi(nance) Through the Lens of Economic Theory
We analyze the value proposition and limitations of decentralized finance (DeFi). Based on a distributed ledger and smart contracts, DeFi can guarantee the execution of financial contracts, potentially lowering the costs of intermediation and improving financial inclusion. -
PayTech and the D(ata) N(etwork) A(ctivities) of BigTech Platforms
Why do BigTech platforms introduce payment services? We explore this using a model in which a monopoly platform faces a trade-off between the costs associated with privacy concerns and the revenue from data services. We then analyze the feedback effects between data and payments. -
What Drives Bitcoin Fees? Using Segwit to Assess Bitcoin's Long-Run Sustainability
We explore what drives transaction fees in the Bitcoin system and consider whether Bitcoin can remain tamper proof in the long run. -
Central Bank Digital Currency and Banking: Macroeconomic Benefits of a Cash-Like Design
Should a CBDC be more like cash or bank deposits? An interest-bearing, cash-like CBDC not only makes payments more efficient but also increases total demand. This has positive effects on other transactions, inducing more deposit taking and lending and, thus, bank intermediation. -
Payments on Digital Platforms: Resiliency, Interoperability and Welfare
This paper studies the business model choice between running a cash platform and a token platform, as well as its welfare and policy implications.