Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are increasingly positioned as digital equivalents to physical cash, yet their ability to replicate the full functionality of cash remains contested. This study investigates whether the proposed Digital Euro can credibly serve as a substitute for physical Euro cash. Using a qualitative comparative framework, the analysis evaluates both currencies using 36 pairwise comparisons. The findings reveal that while the Digital Euro offers advantages in portability, divisibility, and digital integration, it falls short in key areas such as anonymity, fungibility, recognizability, and universal acceptability. These limitations are primarily due to technological dependencies, regulatory constraints, and the absence of physical tangibility. The study concludes that the Digital Euro cannot fully mimic the role of physical cash, particularly in offline and privacy-sensitive contexts. As a result, the hypothesis that the Digital Euro is an electronic equivalent of physical Euro cash is rejected. These findings underscore the continued relevance of physical currency and highlight the need for cautious, evidence-based CBDC design and implementation.

This chapter reviews developments concerning central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). It introduces, analyzes, and discusses the potential implications of CBDCs on the existing cryptoassets landscape. The chapter also provides an overview of the different approaches to adopting and implementing this new form of money. Additionally, it compares traditional cryptocurrencies, privately issued stablecoins, fiat currencies, and CBDCs. Although vastly divergent opinions exist on digital money’s purpose, benefits, and use cases, CBDCs can provide opportunities for innovation and experimentation at a central bank and systemic level. CBDCs may pave the way for democratizing access to unbundled financial services while rethinking the overall purpose of money, monetary systems, and global business.

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Today, newly founded businesses are inevitably driven to start in a digital form from day 1. Moreover, most existing businesses conceive digitalization as an important part of their strategic orientation by developing and improving their digital assets and digitalizing their processes. By taking account of this development, this chapter investigates how entrepreneurial orientation (EO) affects a small firm's proclivity to both digitization and internationalization and their performance that comes from it. Internationalization has been a key topic for many small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) over the past decades. As digitization is currently taking over the helm from internationalization as the most pressing topic affecting business, we carried out research among SMEs to understand the interplay of these factors influencing business performance. The focus of the research was on the precursory factors inducing firm performance as well as on their interrelationships. Using a sample of 357 SMEs, EO is found to be significantly closely associated with an SME's degree of digitization as well as with its overall performance. In contrast, EO does not affect the SME's level of internationalization. This result is surprising considering that proactive and risk-taking firms tend to be more inclined to enter foreign and distant markets.

DeFi, short for decentralized finance, is a new paradigm that enjoys increasing popularity in the financial world. DeFi posits that financial services should not rely on centralized intermediaries but should be provided by users for users. This is done by deploying software components to a decentralized peer-to-peer system which is grounded on blockchain technology. This introductory text discusses the origins of DeFi and delineates DeFi characteristics from those of traditional finance. Several examples of DeFi applications are given, the disadvantages resulting from this paradigm are discussed, and an outlook is provided.

This study investigates whether cryptocurrencies can be considered a viable addition to pension funds. Using the regulatory setting of Switzerland, it is assessed whether adding crypto-components to a standard pension fund portfolio has positive effects on the fund’s risk and return figures. The empirical data supports the notion that cryptocurrency components may well increase the yield of a pension fund portfolio, yet this enhancement of yield comes at slightly higher risk levels. This increase in risk can be mitigated by adding an actively managed crypto-component to the portfolio rather than a passive investment product. The paper contributes to the ongoing debate in the area of financial innovations on the purpose and solidity of cryptocurrencies as an asset class.

Since the introduction of Bitcoin in 2008, trading venues for cryptocurrencies, so called cryptocurrency exchanges, have undergone a fast development. Today cryptocurrencies totaling to more than USD 16bn are traded on more than 200 of such platforms, thereby surpassing the volume traded of numerous national stock exchanges. At the same time cryptocurrency exchanges are oftentimes not subject to a specific regulatory framework. Consumers who want to use these novel services are virtually left blindfolded when it comes to pivotal selection criteria. Yet, not even attempting to differentiate the quality levels provided by the various cryptocurrency exchanges would be tantamount to throwing out the baby with the bath water. In this work-in-progress paper, we develop an innovative scoring system to discriminate among cryptocurrency exchange offerings. In the absence of regulatory frameworks we identify 34 factors that may be considered by consumers when choosing the right cryptocurrency exchange offering. The advantages and disadvantages of such a scoring system are discussed and we provide suggestions for further development.

The volume of Initial Coin Offerings has risen steeply with an all-time high market capitalisation of close to USD 1 trillion in December 2017. Since then the digital asset market has slumped, retreating to merely approximately USD 200 billion in mid-2018. Stakeholders of the crypto industry have pondered the reasons for this retrenchment and are increasingly focusing on the notion that many ICOs could be scams. A recent industry study even went as far to claim that 80% of all ICOs are indeed scams. In this paper, we investigate the question whether scams are as common in the crypto field. We do so by, first, defining what a scam is and, secondly, by drawing on empirical data to assess the number of cases fitting such a definition. Building on Principal Agent Theory and based on the statistical analysis of our empirical data set we attempt to establish the current state of affairs with regards to scams in the crypto-currency world. The results of our study divert from salient beliefs.

Patrick Schueffel, HES-SO // University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, School of Management Fribourg Rico Baldegger, HES-SO // University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, School of Management Fribourg David Buenzli, HES-SO // University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, School of Management Fribourg Maurizio Caon, HES-SO // University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, School of Management Fribourg

The Blockchain technology will soon be ten years of age. What does not sound a lot in absolute terms is a substantial age in a fast-paced and ever changing technological environment. Large unnoticed by the majority of authors on distributed ledger technologies two alternative technologies have recently emerged: Tangle, and Hashgraph. This article provides an introduction to the three main alternative distributed ledger technologies, Blockchain, Tangle and Hashgraph and yields a high-level comparison.

There is currently no consensus about what the term Fintech means. This paper explores the complexity of Fintech, and attempts a definition, drawn from a process of reviewing more than 200 scholarly articles referencing the term Fintech and covering a period of more than 40 years. The objective of this study is to offer a definition which is distinct as well as succinct in its communication, yet sufficiently broad in its range of application. As the origins of the term can neither be unequivocally placed in academia nor in practice, the definition concentrates on extracting out the quintessence of Fintech using both spheres. Applying semantic analysis and building on the commonalities of 13 peer-reviewed definitions of the term, it is concluded that Fintech is a new financial industry that applies technology to improve financial activities. The implications as well as the shortcomings of this definition are discussed.

Offered here is a conceptual model that systematically describes the microfoundations of openness and innovation performance and thus the precursory requirements for any open innovation activity. The more refined perspective developed in this papers leads to a set of propositions regarding how individual characteristics influence openness and innovation performance and thus the open innovation activities of individuals. By deriving a model of search that considers how personal characteristics influence openness and innovation performance, this article offers three contributions as it strives to answer the following questions.(1) What are the microfoundations on which the phenomenon of open innovation rests? (2) What are the personal characteristics that determine heightened levels of openness and innovation performance in individuals? and (3) What are the normative consequences for managers who intend to engage in open innovation activities? Finally, the paper sets an agenda for future research in this area.

While internationalisation has long been considered an important aspect of entrepreneurship research, only few studies exist on the potential linkages between internationalisation and performance among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Applying a case study approach we assess the performance measures applied by young internationalising ventures as well as by rapidly internationalising mature firms. This exploratory study presents only a glance at a situation that is both highly complex and continuously evolving for SMEs.

Despite the fact that it could help to overcome the current global financial crisis, the concept of open innovation is only very scarcely applied in the financial services sector. This international literature review covering the past decade provides an overview of the relevant body of literature on this topic. Two questions represent the starting point of this work: (1) Why is open innovation so scarcely applied in the banking, wealth management and insurance industries? and (2) Should the financial services sector use open innovation more widely? Our findings show that various organizational factors as well as monetary reasons prevent financial services companies from applying open innovation processes. Yet, by taking into account the potential benefits that the concept of open innovation may yield, this approach should indeed be applied more widely in the financial services industry.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that influence so-called born-again global firms' internationalization behavior. Specifically, this article explores the following questions: why do mature, domestically focused firms suddenly turn into born-again global firms, how do they do so and what elements are needed for born-again global firms to be sustainable.Design/methodology/approach - Using an established international entrepreneurship model as a starting point, we extract relevant factors for a conceptual framework on born-again global firms' internationalization activities. Case study research among a cross-sectional sample of born-again global firms is being applied for that purpose.Findings - Driven by the insufficient size of their domestic market, born-again global firms typically embark on internationalization after a generational change at the chief executive officer level. Throughout their internationalization journey, they flexibly adapt toward new needs of their foreign environments. Due to their idiosyncratic characteristics, born-again global firms deserve consideration as a separate group of research objects in the field of international entrepreneurship.Research limitations/implications - The investigated sample of case study firms was drawn across a variety of industries. As such, industry-specific conditions could not be observed and the findings from case study research run the risks of being generalized too broadly. In addition, the accuracy of the case study results may suffer from a certain degree of hindsight bias as the internationalization event took place in the past.Practical implications - Openness to learning from other markets and the flexibility to modify products according to client needs strengthen born-again global firms' competitiveness. To endure, born-again global firms have to be innovative in adapting to changes, which makes it easier for them to launch their products in new markets.Originality/value - To date, international entrepreneurship has focused on the activities of small and newly established firms, largely neglecting the behavior of somewhat larger and established firms in traditional sectors. This study shows that established companies can exhibit the same innovative, proactive and risk-seeking behavior across borders as new ventures do. Despite their strongly rooted structures, strategies and cultures, born-again globals can flexibly adapt to new environments.