Fintech and the Emerging Ecosystems

Dr. Alex Zarifis conducts research and teaches on the practical applications of technology in business. He has held positions at several prestigious universities, including the University of Cambridge (UK), the University of Manchester(UK), and the University of Mannheim (Germany). Currently, he serves as a Research Affiliate at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF). Alex has contributed to large-scale research projects funded by the EU and UK governments at institutions such as the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany and Loughborough University (UK). Notably, he played a key role in developing the world's first government-recognized university degree program on blockchain technologies.Prof. Xusen Cheng is a Full Professor of Information Systems in the Department of Economic Information Management at the School of Information, Renmin University of China, Beijing. He earned his PhD in informatics from Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester in the UK. Previously, he served as the Assistant Dean of the School of Information Technology and Management at the University of International Business and Economics in China, as well as Chair of the E-business Department. His research focuses on trust development in virtual teams, collaboration process and system design, sharing economy and e-commerce, and the integration of behavioral and design issues in information systems. His work has been published in prestigious journals such as MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, and European Journal of Information Systems.

• The new centralised and decentralised Fintech technologies and business models transforming finance.- Digital alchemy: The allure of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency in a modern economy.- Informal economy and central bank digital currency.- A model of trust in Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in Brazil: How trust in a two-tier CBDC with both the central and retail banks involved changes consumer trust.- Modularizing decentralised finance: The DeFi layered stack revisited.- Modelling persistence in cross-market Bitcoin prices with a break and a memory.- External factors that affect the adoption of decentralized exchanges (DEX) for cryptocurrencies: The case of CURVE DEX.- Arena club: A case study in Web3 and Fintech innovation in the collectibles market.- The rise of Web3: Opportunities and challenges.- From the exclusion of the concept of blockchain to the delimitation of the concept of distributed ledger technology under MiCAR.- An introduction to robo-advisors, notable fintech implementations and underlying theory.- Artificial intelligence in financial technology: Challenges, opportunities, and global trends.- Metaverse: Where is it going to add value for the financial services industry and banks?.- The digital evolution of Italian financial services client behavior and market shifts.- Building Trust in AI: Leadership Insights from Malaysian Fintech Boards.- Opportunities and challenges of Fintech in Southeast Asia.- New cooperation models between banks and Fintech: A path toward digital transformation in the emerging financial ecosystem.- Fintech, banks and mobile operators: Interplays for increasing financial inclusion.- Understanding the RegTech drivers in the financial ecosystem.- Cybersecurity in Fintech from a corporate finance perspective.