Research

Publications

An Introduction to Zero-Knowledge Proofs in Blockchains and Economics, with Aleksander Berentsen and Jeremias Lenzi, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, Fourth Quarter 2023, pp. 280-94.

With a zero-knowledge proof (ZKP), a party can prove that a statement is true without revealing any information except for whether it is indeed true or not. The obvious benefit is privacy since the prover does not need to reveal any additional information, and the second benefit is that it can significantly reduce the cost of verifying the correctness of a statement. ZKPs are increasingly adopted in blockchain applications, where privacy and efficiency still have a lot of room for improvement. While it is expected that ZKP technology will also become ubiquitous in many other areas, the term remains cryptic to many people without a computer science background. In this review article, we shed light on what ZKPs are and how they improve privacy and efficiency and describe applications for blockchains and other use cases.

Token Sales: Eine Analyse des Blockchain-basierten Unternehmensfinanzierungsinstrument, with Fabian Schär, Corporate Finance (2018/05).

Sog. Token Sales haben im letzten Jahr vermehrt an Bedeutung gewonnen und sind zu einem verbreiteten Finanzierungsinstrument herangereift. Wie unsere Analyse zeigt, nahm das investierte Kapital im Jahr 2017 gegenüber 2014 um ca. 15.000% zu. Interessant ist, dass sich die Token Sales in ihrer Durchführungsform stark unterscheiden können. Mit unserem Artikel analysieren wir die Ausgestaltungsmöglichkeiten dieses neuartigen Unternehmensfinanzierungsinstruments. Insbesondere nehmen wir eine Gliederung in Repräsentation, Funktionalität, Deckelung und Veräußerungsverfahren vor und schaffen dadurch ein Framework zur Kategorisierung von Token Sales.

Other work

A Walk-through of a Simple Zk-STARK Proof, with Aleksander Berentsen and Jeremias Lenzi

This article serves as an extension to the introductory article on zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) by Berentsen, Lenzi and Nyffenegger (2022). We provide one specific example of a zk-STARK and discuss all mathematical steps needed. The goal is to make the example accessible and intuitive. Furthermore, this article comes with an accompanying Python notebook that will let the reader execute a numerical example provided in the article.

Scaling Bitcoin (Master's Thesis, 2018)

In our paper, we aim to give a detailed insight into the Bitcoin scaling debate and discuss some of the most relevant proposals. If Bitcoin shall become a widespread method of payment, the basic protocol introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 has to be enhanced with new technical concepts. We focus on a blocksize increase, Segwit, payment channels and the corresponding payment channel networks. These topics are by far not the only concepts that aim to improve Bitcoin's scalability. To our knowledge, however, they are the most advanced ones which have played a dominant role in the scaling debate.

Working Papers

Central Bank Digital Currency and Bank Intermediation: Medium of Exchange vs. Savings Vehicle

This paper analyzes the effects of a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) on bank intermediation within a general equilibrium model and provides a quantitative assessment. In the model, banks offer both transaction and savings deposits. This allows to study how a CBDC's impact varies based on its usage as a medium of exchange or as a savings vehicle. When a CBDC is used as a savings vehicle that competes with savings deposits, the level of disintermediation almost doubles compared to a scenario where the CBDC is used solely for transactions and competes only with transaction deposits.

A Proposal for a Layer-2 CBDC on a Rollup

This paper discusses a proposal for issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) within a public blockchain environment, specifically on a layer 2 rollup. There are several reasons why a CBDC on a blockchain is worth examining, such as the potential demand for public money on blockchains or utilizing blockchain fundamentals for programmable payments. In a straightforward implementation, a CBDC could be issued directly on the blockchain. However, this approach has drawbacks such as dependencies on the rules of the network or limited privacy. Instead, I propose a design where a CBDC is issued on layer 2 through a rollup architecture and discuss the technical specifications and economic considerations, as well as the advantages and limitations of this design. The main proposal describes an intermediated CBDC in which the central bank cooperates with licensed intermediaries that provide tokenized deposits. I also extend this design to facilitate a retail CBDC where the public can open accounts with the central bank.

CBDC and Bank Lending: The Role of Financial Frictions, with Fernando Cirelli.

We examine the impact of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) on bank lending, emphasizing the role of different financial frictions. Within a stylized general equilibrium model, we integrate a banking sector characterized by market power on deposits and leverage constraints, together with liquidity in households' utility. Calibrating the model to US data and simulating a CBDC introduction as a shift in households' preferences for public money, our results indicate that a CBDC increases bank lending when market power is the primary operating friction in the banking sector. However, this outcome reverses when leverage constraints are binding for banks.

Work in Progress

More soon.

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Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Education

2019 - Present
Ph.D. in Monetary Economics University of Basel. Supervisor: Prof. Aleksander Berentsen.
2019 - 2020
Swiss Program for Beginning Doctoral Students. Study Center Gerzensee, Foundation of the Swiss National Bank. Econometrics, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics.
2017 - 2018
Master of Science in International and Monetary Economics. University of Berne and University of Basel.
2014 - 2016
Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics University of Basel.

Experience

2019 - Present
Research and Teaching Assistant, Chair of Economic Theory, University of Basel.
2019 - Present
Research Assistant, Center for Innovative Finance, University of Basel.
2018 - 2019
Internship, Swiss National Bank. Organisation unit: Economic Analysis International.
2016 - 2018
Junior Assistant, Chair of Economic Theory, University of Basel.
2017 - 2018
Research assistant, Center for Innovative Finance,  University of Basel.
2017
Research Assistant, NCCR - on the move, University of Basel.

Academic Awards

Best Master Degree Award of the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Basel 2017/2018 sponsored by the “Vereinigung Basler Ökonomen” (VBÖ).
Best Master Thesis Award of the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Basel 2017/2018 sponsored by the “Foundation of the Basler Kantonalbank”.

Seminars and Conferences

2024: The Hub Davos 2024
2023: SNB Technology and Finance Seminar; The 2023 Rice-LEMMA Monetary Conference at Paris-Panthéon-Assas University; Research Seminar Center for Innovative Finance University of Basel; Workshop in Provence Economic Theory Group University of Basel; Finance meets DLT Conference in Basel (Moderator); SNB-CIF Conference on Cryptoassets and Financial Innovation (hearer).
2022: Virtual Seminar Series on Central Banking & Digital Currencies (CB&DC): Job Market Candidate Virtual Workshop; Summer Workshop on Money, Banking, Payments, and Finance at Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C.; CEBRA 2022 Annual Meeting; First PhD Workshop in Money and Finance by Sveriges Riksbank and CeMoF Stockholm University; 9th Annual MMF PhD Conference; Theories and Methods in Macroeconomics 2022; Young Swiss Economists Meeting; University of Basel lunch seminar; Reading Group Economic Theory Group University of Basel; DeFi 22 by SNB and BIS Innovation Hub (hearer); SNB-CIF Conference on Cryptoassets and Financial Innovation (hearer).
2021: Study Center Gerzensee Alumni conference (Switzerland); Reading Group Economic Theory Group University of Basel.
2018-2020: Reading Group Economic Theory Group University of Basel; Second Global Macroeconomic Workshop in Marrakech (hearer); Fifth Macro Marrakech Workshop (hearer); International Days of Macroeconomics and Finance 2018 in Rabat (hearer); Macro Marrakech – Fourth Workshop in Macroeconomics (hearer).

Research Visits

2022: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Teaching (University of Basel)

- Lecturer Money, Banking and Payment Systems (Bachelor): 2019, 2020, 2021
- Teaching Assistant Monetary Theory (Master): 2022
- Teaching Assistant Money, Banking and Payment Systems (Bachelor): 2022, 2023
- Teaching Assistant Monetary Economics and Payment Systems (Seminar about Decentralized Finance, Master): 2021, 2022, 2023
- Teaching Assistant Current Topics in Economics (Bachelor, Seminar Paper): 2021, 2022
- Teaching Assistant Introduction in Game Theory and Experimental Economics (Bachelor): 2016, 2017, 2022, 2023