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Fintech, cryptocurrencies and blockchain as ‘disruption’ of financial sector: opportunities and limits of a new monetary and financial regime
Last modified: 2018-06-20
Abstract
Invention of Bitcoin and blockchain after the 2008 crises questions the possibility of the
disruption of the current monetary regime and the financial sector. Using the French
monetary institutionalism and the political-cultural approach of Fligstein (2001), this paper
tries to address those questions. We show first the foundation of blockchain and how it
addresses the problem of trust in money. We show then the limits and instability of a pure
Bitcoin-based regime and the potentiality of less libertarian cryptocurrency-based regime.
Finally, we show the large possible application of blockchain in the financial sector and how
it can change the business models of banks and financial conglomerates. However, a total
disruption of financial sector by fintech actors remains doubtful at the moment.
disruption of the current monetary regime and the financial sector. Using the French
monetary institutionalism and the political-cultural approach of Fligstein (2001), this paper
tries to address those questions. We show first the foundation of blockchain and how it
addresses the problem of trust in money. We show then the limits and instability of a pure
Bitcoin-based regime and the potentiality of less libertarian cryptocurrency-based regime.
Finally, we show the large possible application of blockchain in the financial sector and how
it can change the business models of banks and financial conglomerates. However, a total
disruption of financial sector by fintech actors remains doubtful at the moment.
Keywords
Cryptocurrency, blockchain, banking, central banks
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