Cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology have been created as an alternative to regulated financial markets. But the almost 15-year history of Bitcoin, digital ledgers, and decentralized finance shows that these digital systems do not live in a vacuum: they exist for and through people.

Mirjam Eggen and Christian Sillaber of the Institute for Civil Law and Christian Cachin of the Institute of Computer Science start a new, multi-year research project in 2023 that connects central-bank digital currency (CBDC) with existing regulation, new technologies and future regulation.

Topics to be investigated from the perspective of CBDCs include:

  • Trust models and consensus protocols
  • Civil law, contract law, and finance law
  • Privacy technologies, privacy-preserving cryptographic protocols, and privacy assessments
  • Data protection law

This project is supported by the digital transformation of the University of Bern.

If you hold a MLaw and are interested to join the project on the legal side, please consider this open position at the Institute for Civil Law.