Thank you, learners!
We are very happy to announce that the HKU / edX "Introduction to FinTech" course has officially reached 100000 enrolled students!
The course continues to be the most popular FinTech course on edX reaching to learners in 208 countries / territories across the world. The top regions where learners have taken the course online are once again the US, Hong Kong / China and India.
We would like to extend our appreciation to the course's contributors and guest speakers as their contributions will continue to have a positive impact on our enrolees.
Going forward, we will enhance the course's content with a diverse set of new speakers and contributors to push forward our commitment in keeping our learners updated on all relevant academic and industry insights.
To expand on our global outreach, we will be launching Russian and Arabic translations to "Introduction to FinTech" in addition to the existing English and Chinese subtitles.
Cheers to the next 100K!
Celebrate with us and send your comments to our LinkedIn page - HKU FinTech
Revisiting the August 2021 World Wide Web
In this episode of Looking Back Looking Forward, Professor Douglas Arner revisits August 1991 in the global breakthrough of the World Wide Web created by Tim Berners-Lee. Thirty years of transformation since the discovery of the internet is reflected in the context of finance which began from an analog industry and redefined into a digitised industry, through the existence of email and large-platform companies growing into tech giants. Data and information processed into amalgamation by giant big-tech platform companies have triggered responses from the EU, with its personal data protection initiatives, and China, with its data infrastructure system controlling information flows. Professor Arner also discusses the questions surrounding free flows of data and potential standards which may alleviate the way in which jurisdictions themselves can oversee data information.
A newly published paper, The Transnational Data Governance Problem by Douglas Arner, Giuliano Castellano and Eriks Selga, explains the fragmentation of transnational data governance due to political or cultural reasons, including why data is approached differently in major jurisdictions with competitive systems for access to such markets.
The Future of Money: Flash Loans, Etherium, NFTs
In Issue 58 of this series, which covers recent topical developments, Henri Arslanian shares some ideas on:
- What Are Flash Loans?
- Why Did the Ethereum Blockchain Split This Week?
- What Is Happening in the Crazy World of NFTs?
Read the post here
Regulating Cryptoassets
The University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law is happy to announce the scheduled release of Rethinking the Regulation of Cryptoassets: Cryptographic Consensus Technology and the New Prospect by Syren Johnstone, Executive Director of HKU’s LLM in Compliance & Regulation programme. Mr. Johnstone critiques the application of a financial regulation narrative to cryptoassets, questioning the assumptions on which it is based and whether regulations developed in the 20th century remain fit to apply to a technology emerging in the 21st. Look out for this thought-provoking book that challenges the way we think about regulating cryptoassets.
Mr. Johnstone will speak about this book on the Stanford Law School’s Codex group on 3 September (4:30am HKT) | 2 September (1:30pm California PST) | (9:30pm London). Follow us on LinkedIn for the talk registration link.
Cryptocurrencies as Legal Tender
Webinar: Adoption of Cryptocurrencies as Legal Tender and the Future of Money (14 Sep 2021)
In the past years, cryptocurrencies have attracted the attention of investors, consumers, academics, and regulators from all over the world. While they have been used for several purposes, cryptocurrencies originally emerged as a means of payment. This webinar will analyse the potential of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, the legal and financial challenges of adopting cryptocurrencies as legal tender, and whether the new form of assets, mainly relying on blockchain technology, will reshape the future of money and payment systems.
Speakers: Douglas Arner, University of Hong Kong, Rosaria Maria Lastra, Queen Mary University of London, Nydia Remolina, SMU Centre for AI and Data Governance, Angela Walch, St. Mary's University and Aurelio Gurrea-Martínez, Singapore Management University. This event is organized by the SMU Centre for AI and Data Governance.
Register here
HKU FinTech Indices Reveal Post-Pandemic Biz Optimism
HKU FinTech Indices reveal businesses’ optimism on post-pandemic performance amid uncertainty on regulations and investment environment.
The HKU FinTech Index Series Project introduces the Hong Kong FinTech Growth Index (FGI) and the Hong Kong FinTech Buzz Index (FBI) to gauge local FinTech companies' outlook on the industry and the general sentiment on the sector as reported by local press.
FGI is a yearly index with four sub-indices on Business Environment, Business Performance, Investment on R&D and Demand for Talent. It is a forecast of the Hong Kong FinTech sector's market situation in the coming year and an assessment of the situation in the current year. FBI is a quarterly index representing a quantified sentiment of the local FinTech-related news articles in Chinese in the past three months.
Read the insights here
Shanghai Financial Openness Roundtable
The Shanghai High People's Court held its 13th International Seminar on the Rule of Financial Law to further enhance the professional level of financial adjudication and optimise the law-based business environment of Shanghai as an international financial centre.
In its segment on "Justice and Supervision in Response to Institutional Openness of Capital Market", Professor Douglas Arner discussed upon various topics including the trend of globalisation to balance opportunities and risks caused by the 2008 Financial Crisis, the G20's Financial Stability Board in response to COVID-19's economic impacts and the use of digital technology's transformation towards financial operations globally.
Watch the seminar (in Mandarin) through the KNews website
Comments