ITHACA, N.Y. – In 2020, as the influence of fintech and the digital economy on world finance exploded, the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business established its Fintech at Cornell initiative, a global open nexus of industry and academic expertise, hosting frequent roundtables and events. The initiative hosted a roundtable in June, prompted by President Biden’s Executive Order on Ensuring the Responsible Development of Digital Assets. The product of that discussion is the cross-industry white paper, The Cornell Convenes 2022 Digital Assets Report, reflecting nuanced opinions from the regulatory, academic, and industry perspectives.
“We’re facing wholesale, potentially seismic changes in the structure of the way the financial world works, and this requires broad-based participation, beyond legislative input,” said Susan Joseph, Fintech at Cornell’s Executive Director.
Observing Chatham House Rule to encourage open dialogue, 26 academics, industry experts, and former regulators debated topics from first principles, asset definitions, methods and requirements for disclosure, regulation, and preservation of American leadership while benefiting from trial-and-error use-case evidence in other countries and states. Some participants collaborated in after-event collaborations contributing to working reports included as appendices.
One participant framed the discussion with a series of cautions. Citing crypto’s “quasi-legitimacy,” the inevitable centralization of the decentralized, and the vexing question of crafting regulation to serve both markets and society, he claimed, “It’s incumbent on us to think about how we can meet these objectives and create an ecosystem that can support benefits.” Innovation should be promoted, but damage (intentional and other) prevented. The potential for confusion and contamination between traditional finance and decentralized finance was much-mentioned (and this pre-FTX).
Although the report reveals general agreements about the importance of credentialing, disclosure, and education in this field where fast-paced development and pursuit of equity are both top of mind, it provides insight into a fintech ecosystem bearing central conflicts. Above all else, the group concluded that continued discussion is essential, so that industry can help regulators navigate the changing landscape, so that scholars can deepen understandings of how to proceed. “An open, thoughtful conversation like this is invaluable, as emphasized in the Commerce Department’s own report,” concludes Joseph. “Cornell Convenes will continue to stand up events like these, next up this spring 2023.”
Read the Cornell Convenes Digital Assets Roundtable Report here.
Read more at the Fintech at Cornell website.
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