Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and Trust - Master topic

Type

Master-Thesis

Title

Supervisor

Abstract

Motivation:

Due to the decrease in cash use, the emergence of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and finally the introduction of private stablecoins like Libra, build by large organizations such as Facebook, central banks have started to conduct research on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
This digital, central bank issued currency can be account-based, like a traditional bank account, or token-based, build on a blockchain or a distributed ledger (DLT). The European Central Bank (ECB) is already conducting pilot projects with a digital E-Euro.
While central banks see many advantages in introducing a CBDC, this new payment method and system could have large implications for privacy and anonymity in payments of individuals or end-users of such a CBDC.

Goal:

With this open thesis, you, the student, should research how this topic is viewed by individuals. The goal is to conduct a survey on concerns, including privacy concerns, that individuals exhibit with respect to a CBDC such as a digital Euro. This work should assess how individuals form attitutes towards currencies.

What can be found in existing research on privacy in payment? Both in "traditional" payment systems as well as in "newer" forms of payment such as cryptocurrencies?
How do individuals value privacy in currencies?
How could a privacy-sensitive CBDC look like?

Helpful but not required Knowledge

Knowledge on systematic literature reviews
Fundamentals in privacy and trust
Fundamentals in cryptocurrency and payment systems
How to design and evaluate a survey using statistical programms such as R, SPSS or Stata

What I can offer to you:

This topic is of personal interest to my and my PhD topic. You can expect to get a motivated thesis supervisor that is interested in the results of this thesis. Students can expect regular (online)-meetings, feedback and personal interest in their work. The concrete design and topic of the thesis may change, based on the students preferences, interests and strengths.

References as an introduction to the topic:

ECB, 2019. "Exploring anonymity in payment". Available under: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym/intro/publications/pdf/ecb.mipinfocus191217.en.pdf
Tronnier, Recker and Hamm, 2020. "Towards Central Bank Digital Currency". Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems. Available under: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2020/131/

Next steps:

This topic is open to students doing their masters in FB2 (business/finance/management) or FB12 (business informatics).
Please contact me: Frederic Tronnier frederic.tronnier@m-chair.de with the specific topic and attach your current grades and research interests, as well as on your possible starting date.