At 80 years old, the CFA Institute – the professional body for chartered financial analysts – may be thought of as conservative in its approach to new technology, says Olivier Fines, head of advocacy and policy research for Emea at the organisation.
However, it embraces decentralised finance and the promise of fully digital, tokenised funds.
This enthusiasm extends to stablecoins, which are a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to a reference asset, which could be a fiat currency, a commodity, another cryptocurrency, or an algorithm.
For well-informed fund managers, the benefits of stablecoins are clear, says Fines. “Stablecoins should enable the frictionless movement of cash rather than the five or six transactions that are typically involved with cross-border trades, all of which carry cost and risk.
“In this way, stablecoins could serve as a digital version of a money market fund (MMF).
“If I’m a fund manager, I would find that very appealing.”
*The interview appears in a Funds Europe special report, Tokenised Money Market Funds. The full interview and report, produced in association with Calastone, are available here.
