Gillmore Centre Academic Conference 2026
Warwick Business School Gillmore Centre Academic Conference
DeFi & Digital Currencies
Warwick Business School - London Campus at The Shard,
University of Warwick
21-22 September 2026
The conference will bring together an international group of leading scholars conducting innovative theoretical and empirical research on DeFi and digital currencies. Sessions include Decentralized Exchanges, DeFi Lending, Digital Currencies and Regulation and CBDCs. And will continue to build on the growing Gillmore Centre research community and stimulate debate and future research on emerging financial technologies, practices, and regulation.
Organised by Olga Klein, Roman Kozhan, David Skeie, Ruslan Sverchkov, Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj, Bazil Sansom, and Ka Kai Chen.Link opens in a new window
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Day 1: 21 September |
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09.20 – 09.50 |
Registration and refreshments |
| 9:50-10:00 |
Welcome and opening remarks by David Skeie and Ram Gopal (WBS Gillmore Centre) |
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Session 1: Digital Currencies and Payments Chair: David Skeie (WBS Gillmore Centre) |
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10:00-10:45 |
“Stablecoins and Safe Asset Prices” Presenter: Iñaki Aldasoro (Bank for International Settlements) with Rashad Ahmed (Andersen Institute) Discussant: Tammaro Terraciano (IESE Business School) |
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10:45 - 11:30 |
“Our Money, Your Problem: Stablecoin Regulation and Payment Sovereignty” Presenter: Jonathan Chiu (Bank of Canada) with Thorsten Koeppl (Queen’s University) and Cyril Monnet (University of Bern) Discussant: Jean Barthelemy (Banque de France) |
| 11.30 - 12.00 |
Coffee break
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| 12:00 - 13:00 |
KEYNOTE ADDRESS Campbell Harvey(Fuqua School of Business, Duke University) |
| 13:00-14:00 | Lunch |
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Session 2: Decentralized Exchanges and Automated Market Makers Chair: Olga Klein (WBS Gillmore Centre) |
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14:00-14:45 |
“Dethroning the Dollar? Multi-Currency Automated Market Making for FX” Presenter: Katya Malinova (McMaster University) with Andreas Park (University of Toronto) Discussant: Michele Fabi (Télécom Paris) |
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14:45-15:30 |
“Allocative Efficiency and Mispricing in Automated Market Maker (AMM)and ContinuousDouble Auction (CDA)Markets” (TBC) Presenter: Roland Mestel (University of Graz) with Stefan Palan (University of Graz), Erik Theissen (University of Mannheim)and Isabel Walcher (University of Graz) Discussant: Andreas Park (University of Toronto)
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15:30-16:00 |
Coffee Break |
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Session 3: Blockchain Design and Market Quality Chair: Ruslan Sverchkov (WBS Gillmore Centre) |
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16:00-16:45 |
“Blockchains and Strategic Secondary Censorship” Presenter: Maarten van Oordt(Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) with Yackolley Amoussou-Guenou (Panthéon-Assas, Paris) Discussant: Co-Pierre Georg (Frankfurt School of Finance and Management) |
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16:45 - 17:30 |
“Optimal Trading Speed on Blockchain” Presenter: Shihao Yu(Singapore Management University) with Ruizhe Jia (Stanford University) Discussant: Faycal Drissi (University of Oxford) |
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19.00 |
Drinks and dinner - Programme participants and programme committee members invited |
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Day 2: 22 September |
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| 8:45-9:00 | Registration and Refreshments |
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Session 1: Blockchain Economics and Tokenization of RWAs Chair:Roman Kozhan(WBS Gillmore Centre) |
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| 9:00-9:45 |
“Auctioning Time to Mitigate Latency Races: Theory and Evidence from Blockchains” Presenter: Brian Zhu(Columbia University) with Agostino Capponi (Columbia University) Discussant: Thomas Ernst (University of Maryland) |
| 9:45-10:30 |
“Digital Ownership: The Tokenization of Real-World Assets” Presenter: Katrin Tinn(McGill University) with Gilles Chemla (Imperial College London) Discussant: Yue Yuan (University College London) |
| 10:30-11:00 | Coffee Break |
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Session 2: Tokenization: Promise, Practice, and Policy Chair:Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj(WBS Gillmore Centre) |
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| 11:00-11:45 |
“Mainstreaming Tokenized Finance: How Money Market Funds are Going Digital” Presenter: Lorenzo Schoenleber(Collegio Carlo Alberto) with Alfred Lehar (University of Calgary), Matteo Aquilina (Bank for International Settlements)and Federico Ravenna (Collegio Carlo Alberto) Discussant: Rashad Ahmed (Andersen Institute) |
| 11:45-12:30 |
“From Bricks to Blocks: Tokenization and the Financialization of Real Estate” Presenter: Donghwa Shin(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) Discussant: Felix Irresberger (Durham University) |
| 12:30-13:15 |
“Tokenization and Digital Assets” Presenter: Kushal Balluck, Senior Manager Digital Securities Sandbox & Post Trade Innovation, Bank of England Moderator: David Skeie (WBS Gillmore Centre) |
| 13:15-13:30 |
Closing remarks by Roman Kozhan (WBS Gillmore Centre) |
| 13:30-14:30 | Lunch |
We thank the programme committee for its time in evaluating the submissions.
Academic Program Committee: Joseph Abadi, Toni Ahnert, Yackolley Amoussou-Guenou, Bruno Biais, Andrea Barbon, Ka Kei Chan, James Chapman, Irem Erten, Rod Garratt, Maxi Guennewig, Benjamin Hemingway, Wenqian Huang, Olga Klein, Roman Kozhan, Alfred Lehar, Jiasun Li, Katya Malinova, Simon
Mayer, Alistair Milne, Cyril Monnet, Maarten van Oordt, Andreas Park, Julien Prat, Fahad Saleh, Bazil Sansom, David Skeie, Ruslan Sverchkov, Katrin Tinn, Ganesh Viswanath-Natraj, Kathy Yuan, Zhengge Zhou, Marius Zoican.
Conference Organizing Committee: Olga Klein, Roman Kozhan, David Skeie, Ruslan Sverchkov, Ganesh Viswanath Natraj, Bazil Sansom, and Ka Kei Chan.
Conference Managers: Vicki Belt, Katherine Higton, Jiao Liu.
Further Information:gillmorecentre@wbs.ac.ukLink opens in a new window