There are increasingly many digital alternatives to physical cash as basic means of payment, many of these offered by non-financial private sector actors. While such a trend towards a cashless society brings the convenience of digital payments to users and can encourage innovation in financial...

We document systematic differences in bitcoin prices across 11 different markets representing 26\% of global bitcoin trade volume. These differences must --- due to the identical nature of all bitcoin--- result from characteristics of markets themselves. We examine differences across the markets...

We explore the economics and optimal design of "permissioned" distributed ledger technology (DLT) in a credit economy. Designated validators verify transactions and update the ledger at a cost that is derived from a supermajority voting rule, thus giving rise to a public good provision game....

We document significant differences in Bitcoin prices across 11 different markets representing 26% of global Bitcoin trade volume. These differences must — due to the identical nature of all bitcoin — result from characteristics of markets themselves. We examine differences across the...

We document systematic differences in bitcoin prices across 11 different markets representing 26% of global bitcoin trade volume. These differences must — due to the identical nature of all bitcoin — result from characteristics of markets themselves. We examine differences across the markets...

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) promise many benefits but, if not well designed, they could have undesired consequences, including for monetary policy. Issuing an unremunerated CBDC or a wholesale CBDC does not change the objectives of monetary policy or the operational framework for...

The focus of this paper is on the use of staff policy recommendations in central banks. Based on the responses to a recent survey conducted by the Bank of International Settlements, the paper tries to answer two questions. (1) How (to what extent) do central bank decision-makers make use of...