The world of finance must adapt to the digitalization of its decision-making processes and operations. This development is intimately linked to financial technology. CFA Institute believes that technology should enhance or augment human intelligence; the combination of “AI + HI” leverages the collective intelligence of machines and humans. Digital finance professes to change the technical nature of transactions between individuals and businesses by way of a decentralized form of cryptographic computerized techniques to secure these exchanges.

Can digital finance reduce costs and frictions in this system? Can it improve the inclusion of under-serviced sectors? Can it propel and facilitate the wider development of digital business models based on a platform economy? Are cryptoassets akin to financial assets? Our research in this field endeavors to provide a dispassionate analysis of the possibilities offered by digital finance, as well as the risks, from the point of view of investors and investment practitioners.