Raphael Auer
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raphauer.bsky.social
Raphael Auer
@raphauer.bsky.social

Economist, Eurosystem Centre head BIS Innovation Hub; founder of CEBRA.org (own views) - research site: https://sites.google.com/site/raphaelauer/home

Economics 78%
Computer science 11%

Job alert: my current role. After 4 rewarding years leading the Eurosystem Centre, I’ll be moving back into a research role early next year. We’re also re-opening the search for the Nordic Centre Head — both applications close October 14:

www.bis.org/careers/vaca...

Happy to announce Leap Phase 2: together with Swift, Nexi, Banca d'Italia, Banque de France, and Bundesbank, we are exploring the implementation of post-quantum cryptography in a European payment system:

www.bis.org/about/bisih/...

Congrats to the Leap team for launching this initiative!

2. Strategic planning: cryptographic agility, phased migration, and hybrid models
3. Pragmatism: focus on existing solutions rather than hypothetical ones, as well as, on implementation complexities and infrastructure challenges.

#CyberSecurity #FinancialServices #QuantumSafe
(3/3)

Danica Marsden, Sarah McCarthy and Andras Valko sets out a framework for the transition to quantum-safe cryptography, emphasizing:

1. Immediate action: awareness and cryptographic inventory
...

(2/3)
We must prepare our financial system for quantum threats. A new paper shows how: www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/b...

#Quantumcomputing poses a significant risk to global financial stability. This joint work with Donna Dodson, Angela Dupont, Maryam Haghighi, Nicolas Margaine, ... (1/3)

... #TVL can be inflated due to double-counting and reliance on off-chain data. We hence introduce Verifiable TVL, a more transparent and reproducible approach to measuring DeFi’s scale:

www.bis.org/publ/work126...

This is joint w Pietro Saggese, Stefan Kitzler, Michael F., Bernhard Haslhofer.
www.bis.org

How economically significant is decentralized finance (#DeFi)?

www.bis.org/publ/work126...

Total Value Locked (#TVL) aims to capture the size of any ecosystem by summing up the funds that are locked in a given ecosystem, much like the liability side of a bank’s balance sheet. However...

Reposted by Raphael Auer

Here's a new report from the Bank for International Settlements, showing the reality of digital assets with actual data.

Yes, most activity is pure speculation. BUT, there is legitimate transactional cross-border usage of stablecoins.

www.bis.org/publ/work126...
DeFiying gravity? An empirical analysis of cross-border Bitcoin, Ether and stablecoin flows
We investigate trends and drivers of cross-border flows of the two major native cryptoassets (Bitcoin and Ether) and the two major asset-backed stablecoins (Tether and USD Coin) between 184 countries ...
www.bis.org

Bitcoin and Ether remain predominantly speculative, influenced by global market volatility.

analyze a novel and extensive crypto transaction dataset across 184 countries and the four major crypto assets (USDT, USDC, #Ether, and #Bitcoin). We uncover substantial volumes but distinct roles: stablecoins serve transactional needs like remittances, while...

New data shows #Stablecoins are quietly emerging as a global transactional means and reshaping remittance flows.

Happy to share "DeFiying Gravity? An Empirical Analysis of Cross-Border Bitcoin, Ether and Stablecoin Flows," with Ulf Lewrick and Jan Paulick: www.bis.org/publ/work126...

We...

Join the BIS Innovation Hub in Frankfurt, Paris, Hong Kong, London, Basel, Stockholm, Singapore, or Toronto. We have a number of secondment opportunities. Duration is typically 6-18 months.

Find here more information on the job and how to apply:

lde.tbe.taleo.net/lde01/ats/ca...

I found this video by MIT Professor Andrej Karpathy really worth the time (3½ hours). A non-technical walkthrough on creating an LLM chatbot like ChatGPT.

youtu.be/7xTGNNLPyMI?...
Deep Dive into LLMs like ChatGPT
YouTube video by Andrej Karpathy
youtu.be

Unlocking seamless, instant, and safe FX settlements - read our brand new report on Meridian FX connecting DL3S, the Trigger solution, and TIPS Hash-link to the UK RTGS system: www.bis.org/publ/othp94....

Reposted by Raphael Auer

@raphauer.bsky.social, Cyril Monnet, & Hyun Song Shin discover that the economic gains from decentralisation of monetary ledgers are far from self-evident. One must balance decentralisation, security, and scalability.
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
#EconSky

Submission deadline for #CEBRA25 is tomorrow 20.03: www.cebra-events.org/call-for-pap...

until March 31th:
igam.escb.eu/oamcontext/p...

(Note that the above link only works from a Eurosystem PC)
ECB IDP Broker
igam.escb.eu

...found here: www.bis.org/about/bisih/...

These are Secondment positions open to current Eurosystem employees only. Candidates will hold the title of Adviser at the BIS Innovation Hub and work in either Frankfurt or Paris. A relocation and cost of living top-up is provided. Apply here: ... 3/4
BIS Innovation Hub Centre - Eurosystem
BIS Innovation Hub centre – Eurosystem
www.bis.org

... join a great team and advance critical work in digital currencies, artificial intelligence, and financial technology through collaboration with the entire hashtag#Eurosystem and the global network of the BIS Innovation Hub. More information on our projects can be... 2/4

Please share! We are happy to announce up to 4 Adviser positions (Secondment). The BIS Innovation Hub Eurosystem Centre invites applications for Project Lead, Data Engineer, Economist, and Data Scientist.

These roles offer opportunities to (1/4)...

...becomes preferable when intertemporal incentives are weaker.
- We demonstrate these results within a general framework encompassing anonymous or identified participants, permissioned or permissionless access, and monopolistic or competitive ledgers.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... (3/3)
Distributed ledgers and the governance of money
Distributed ledgers promise to enable the classical vision of money as a universal transaction record. But is it ever optimal to update a ledger throu…
www.sciencedirect.com

This aligns incentives between those using the system and those maintaining it.
- Downsides include redundant validation costs and difficulties achieving consensus.
- On balance, centralized updating is optimal when long-term rewards are substantial, whereas decentralization...(2/3)
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Is there an economic case for decentralization? Below, some takeaways from a paper with Cyril Monnet and Hyun Shin, now available in the JFE: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Decentralization can provide benefits when validators are chosen from among the system’s users.... (1/3)

Gain hands-on experience at the heart of global finance: BIS is offering internships (up to 11 months) across the Innovation Hub, Economics, and Banking. These positions are for recent graduates - application deadline is 24.03: www.bis.org/careers/inde...
🧵 Thinking about a career in international economics?

1/ Looking to combine academic rigor with policy relevance? Want to make a real impact in economic policy and research?

@gvagrad.bsky.social

Reposted by Raphael Auer

#EconSKy #EconConf The call for papers for CEBRA's 2025 Annual Meeting has been launched today. @latvijasbanka.lv together with @eestipank.bsky.social organizes a section on Monetary Policy Transmission: Dynamics and Heterogeneity.

www.cebra-events.org/call-for-pap...

...many thanks to co-organisers and local hosts Alberto Cavallo and his Pricing Lab, Egon Zakrajsek and the FRB Boston, and to Laura Alfaro & Raphael Schoenle for joining the organisation committee.

We have come a long way since hosting the first CEBRA...

It is a special honor to hold the 10th CEBRA Annual Meeting at @harvard.edu and the FRB Boston together with 30 central banks and IFIs:
www.cebra-events.org/call-for-pap...

The event will take place at FRB Boston on August 6 and at HBS on 7-8 Aug. Submission deadline is March 20, 2025....

...over 170 guests who joined us at the conference. The event brought together attendees from 39 central banks and 9 supervisory authorities and international financial institutions for discussions on the challenges quantum computing could pose for the cyber security of financial systems.

The risk that quantum computers will soon be able to break widely used financial encryption is too significant to ignore. We recently held an event to discuss this threat and how to respond to it:
www.bis.org/events/25021...

Thanks to the...