European regulation of virtual currencies, its shortcomings and future development Abstract This thesis is focused on the European regulation of virtual currencies, meaning the current Union legal regulation of this phenomenon including further European Union institutions' activities in the area. The aim of the thesis is to introduce the existing approach towards virtual currencies as well as to find some of the shortcomings and to outline the future development of European regulation of virtual currencies. As a part of this thesis, relevant activities associated with distributed ledger technology as a technology related to virtual currencies will be introduced. To achieve the mentioned, the thesis analyzes mainly legislative and non-legislative sources issued by competent institutions of the European Union, equally important are the jurisprudential texts from the area of virtual currencies and related fields. The thesis is divided into five chapters which are further divided into topical subchapters. Each of the chapters includes partial identification of shortcomings and presents the future development in the area. The introductory chapter addresses the introduction of virtual currencies as such and in the context of financial law. Further, technological bases of virtual currencies are described, namely...

This study is concerned with the behaviour of exchange rate movements focusing specifically on purchasing power parity (PPP) and the non-stationarity of real exchange rates, for a number of East Asian currencies during their recent floating periods. As one of the most important building blocks in international economies, PPP forms a core component of several models of exchange rate determination, and it is the most intensively tested hypothesis in open-economy macroeconomics. Nevertheless, in contrast to the relative abundance of research on the currencies of industrialised countries, very few studies on East Asian currencies have been carried out, leaving an important gap in the literature. Using recent advances in time series analysis, the results reveal for the East Asian countries that there existed long-run comovement between the nominal exchange rate and domestic and foreign price levels, but that the strict PPP condition claimed by the theory did not hold. This implied that any deviation from the PPP equilibrium was permanent and that there was little tendency for the real exchange rate to be mean reverting. Further investigation suggested that the real exchange rate was cointegrated with fundamentals, with most of the variables entering the cointegration vector significantly, suggesting that the movements of real exchange rate were driven by these factors. Investigating the dynamic paths of the real exchange rate and the long-run relationship (cointegrating relationship) in response to exogenous shocks also revealed that the real exchange rates did not revert to their pre-shock equilibrium, but that the long-run relationship did. It took, normally three to five years, for the real exchange rate to reach and settle down to a new equilibrium and even if the effect of shocks on the long-run relationship was transitory, the speed of convergence to the equilibrium was slow. The results also showed that the effects of shocks vary from one country to another. This meant that there was no universal panacea to deal with fluctuations in real exchange rates, as they were influenced by a country's natural endowment, stage in industrialisation, as well as monetary and exchange policies.

The rapid advancement in encryption and network computing gave birth to new tools and products that have influenced the local and global economy alike. One recent and notable example is the emergence of virtual currencies, also known as cryptocurrencies or digital currencies. Virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin, introduced a fundamental transformation that affected the way goods, services, and assets are exchanged. As a result of its distributed ledgers based on blockchain, cryptocurrencies not only offer some unique advantages to the economy, investors, and consumers, but also pose considerable risks to users and challenges for regulators when fitting the new technology into the old legal framework. This paper attempts to model the volatility of bitcoin using 5 variants of the GARCH model namely: GARCH(1,1), EGARCH(1,1) IGARCH(1,1) TGARCH(1,1) and GJR-GARCH(1,1). Once the best model is selected, an OLS regression was ran on the volatility series to measure the day of the week the effect. The results indicate that the TGARCH (1,1) model best fits the volatility price for the data. Moreover, Sunday appears as the most significant day in the week. A nontechnical discussion of several aspects and features of virtual currencies and a glimpse at what the future may hold for these decentralized currencies is also presented.

in english The purpose of this theses is to analyse the Bitcoin electronic peer-to-peer payment system, from the view of the legal, regulatory and also purely practical issues surrounding its use as a modern means of payment processing. The reason for choosing this topic is that I find the subject to be very interesting and possibly promising for the future of payments. Also, as the use of Bitcoin payment system spreads across the global population, we can see many of legal questions arising: Is the use of Bitcoin network legal? How is it regulated under existing legal system? Can it be subsumed under any existing legal categories? What are the risks of its misuse for criminal activities? Should new legal rules be enacted to regulate its use, and if so, what should these rules be like? My goal in this paper is to find these relevant questions, elaborate on them and provide as many answers as will be possible. We have to bear in mind the fact, that the technology, underlying the Bitcoin payment systém is very new and many ways path-breaking. As usual, the legal theory lags behing technology here, so many questions still have to be settled before we can give any straight answers. The work is divided into seven chapters, each dealing with different legal or practical aspects connected to the Bitcoin...

In this article, we explore the determinants of foreign exchange market intervention by the People's Bank of China as well as RMB real exchange rate. Mmonthly data from July 2005 to October 2010 are used. In the foreign exchange market intervention, operating variables and economic variables are studied separately. For the economic variables, we find that economic leading index of China is an important factor to determine whether to intervene or not. In addition, we find that producer price index is better than consumer price index to explain intervention in foreign exchange market. Economic leading index of U.S. is also important to determine the intervention. For the operating variables, we find that intervention by the People's Bank of China has the characteristics of leaning against the wind and deferred intervention. Foreign capital inflows are also the important determinant of the intervention. As for the determinants of RMB real exchange rate, we find that the China-U.S. interest rate differentials and China's business cycles relative to the U.S. are the main factors to determine the RMB real exchange rate. Also, the RMB tends to move with the Euro's in the same direction.

Submitted by Daniele Santos (danielesantos.htl@gmail.com) on 2017-01-18T19:26:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Martin Cottard, v28 (1).docx: 628181 bytes, checksum: 5982513672c7342dff2d897820eb08f0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2017-02-23T17:42:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Martin Cottard, v28 (1).docx: 628181 bytes, checksum: 5982513672c7342dff2d897820eb08f0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-24T18:41:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Martin Cottard, v28 (1).docx: 628181 bytes, checksum: 5982513672c7342dff2d897820eb08f0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-11 / The currency markets are dominated by the few greatest currencies (as $, €, ¥, £ …). Their strong influence is gathering many currencies around them. From the outside, it looks like a large group of correlated currencies. - How many large groups of correlated currencies exists? What currencies are included? When considering all the currencies of the world, there are thousands of possible influences. This means a huge number of correlations to study. This is not convenient. - Is there a visual tool that can helps us to find our way, among all the numerous correlations? We propose here a simple tool to answer to those questions: the currency map. This map is a plot of more than 100 currencies. It’s easy to locate a specific currency and to find its close neighbors. And close neighbors often have similar fluctuations. We provide several examples of using this map: - An example explains how to share equally the currency risks between parties, in an import/export business. - An example explains how to create an optimum currency basket, which perfectly minimized the fluctuations over the last 10 Years. - An example to inform about the risks of contagion, in case of a local currency crisis.

The aim of this thesis is to describe the basic functional principles of digital cryptocurrencies and its economical and legal aspects. Digital cryptocurrencies are young and dynamic phenomenon in financial transactions, which represents an alternative to the traditional national currencies. This thesis is divided into three main parts. In the first part the digital currencies and its function is discussed, the economical aspects of digital currencies and its impact on the theory of money are the main theme of the second part. The final, third part is discussing the legal aspects of digital currencies within the Czech legal system. The first part of this thesis introduces digital currencies, the operation of the whole system and also the basic terminology related to the digital currencies, which is necessary for understanding the subject. These essential aspects and features are being mostly illustrated on the case of the oldest and most famous digital currency - bitcoin - in favour of clarity. The second part of this thesis is discussing the economical aspects of digital currencies. The opening of this part is dedicated to the terminology, particularly terms "money" and "currency". Clear definition of these terms and setting out the differences between them in the sense of economic theory is...

This master’s thesis predicts the development and assesses the potential of cryptocurrencies in the areas of investment, trade and technology based on their technical, economic and legal analysis. Although the thesis deals with cryptocurrencies in general, the key focus is placed on their most prominent representative (Bitcoin) in trying to predict the effects on the future of financial markets from a wide, multidisciplinary perspective.

Historien om betalningsmedel vänder under 2010-talet blad och börjar på ett nyttkapitel. Nästa steg i den monetära utvecklingen sker när de virtuella valutorna ökar ianvändning. Den virtuella valutan Bitcoin introducerades av Satoshi Nakamato år2009 och är en digital valuta, vilket innebär att den inte är kopplad till någon fysisktillgång med rättslig innebörd. När ett nytt betalningsmedel introduceras ärfundamentala faktorer gällande samhällets acceptans och nyttjande ett ekonomisktpussel. Hur kommer det sig att individer byter verkliga varor mot en papperssedel, ettmynt eller en elektronisk signal? Att inneha och aktivt använda nya betalningsmedelsom virtuella valutor medför risker som många inte är bekanta vid. Organisationeroch konsumenter som öppnar upp portarna för nya betalningsmedel måste ha kunskapom dess konsekvenser, både positiva och negativa. Studien syftar till att belysa derisker som uppstår när nya betalningsmedel som Bitcoin gör entré. Forskningsfrågankring vilka risker innehav och nyttjande av virtuella valutor medför besvaras genomen kvalitativ analys av främst forskningsartiklar. Vår studie tyder på att riskerna kringvirtuella valutor som Bitcoin relaterar till förtroende för betalningsmedlet. De flestariskerna uppstår vid innehav av Bitcoin och relaterar inte till tekniska faktorer. / The history of means of payment is taking new shape during the 2010:th decade andstarts on a new chapter. The next step in the monetary evolution will take place oncevirtual currencies become more frequently used. The virtual currency called Bitcoinwas introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in the year of 2009 and is a digital currency,which means that it is not connected to a physical good with a forensic purpose.When a new mean of payment is introduced fundamental factors regarding theacceptance of society and utilization becomes a financial puzzle. How can it be thatindividuals exchange physical goods for a paper bill, a coin or just somethingelectronic? To possess Bitcoin and to use new means of payment on a frequent basisbring risks many users are not familiar with. Organizations and consumers whomopen up their gates to new means of payment need to gain knowledge ofconsequences both positive and negative. The purpose of this study is to highlight theaforementioned risks, which arise from the fact that new means of payment likeBitcoin is introduced. The research issue regarding which risks may arise frompossession and usage of virtual currencies are concluded by a qualitative analysisresearch containing mostly scientific articles. Our study depicts that the risksassociated with virtual currencies like Bitcoin, are all somehow related to the trust forthe specific mean of payment. Most risks arise from actually possessing a Bitcoin andhence not as much related to the technological element.

What would happen if, the systems we deal with everyday, and the situations we find ourselves in, could trigger us to give something to someone else? This work started by exploring the theme of  money systems and social structures and the ambition to find alternatives for our current economic system, which has failed in several ways. People all over the world are already coming up with alternatives that can supplement and stabilize our money-monoculture and that give new meaning to currency.This research investigates a particular alternative economic system called the gift economy, which has great potential to build meaningful relations and re-establish a sense of  community. Since the gift economy has been mainly researched by anthropologists and ethnographers in the last century, my focus is on implementing its principles in society today. Through literature review, case studies and a series of  design projects, this thesis articulates possible ways of  triggering a gift economy. With a special coin, a concept for a bar and by linking the local bakery to Konstfack, we may start to understand what giving really means, how it can benefit us, in what way it can build more meaningful relationships and how it can offer an alternative way of  thinking than what currently drives our economic system