About Dr. Paolo Tasca

Dr. Tasca is among the world’s foremost economists in web3 and cryptoassets. He delivers groundbreaking research and insightful guidance on how the responsible adoption of emerging technologies can create more equitable societies.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

About Dr. Paolo Tasca

Dr Paolo Tasca is a digital economist, entrepreneur, and global thought leader in Web3, blockchain, and digital finance. He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Exponential Science, a global deep-tech foundation advancing research, education, and innovation in blockchain, artificial intelligence, and emerging digital technologies.

For more than a decade, Dr Tasca was at University College London (UCL), where he founded and directed the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT), leading it as one of the world’s largest academic research hubs in blockchain and digital assets. He now serves as Executive Director of the UK Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UK CBT), a joint initiative of University College London, Oxford University, and the University of Birmingham that acts as a global reference hub for blockchain research, policy, and innovation.
In addition, he is part-time Professor of Fintech Research at Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS-UK).

Dr Tasca is the Founder and Chairman of the P2P Financial Systems International Workshop, an academic and policy platform established in 2015 to explore digital, decentralised, and Web3 financial systems. He also serves as a Committee Member of ISO TC307 on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies and has held advisory and executive roles in major global Web3 and digital policy initiatives, including INATBA, CompTIA, the Accord Project, and the Algorand Foundation.
Earlier in his career, Dr Tasca served as Lead Economist for digital currencies and peer-to-peer financial systems at the Deutsche Bundesbank (German Central Bank) in Frankfurt, and as a Postdoctoral Researcher and Visiting Scholar at ETH Zurich (Chair of Systems Design).
A recognised authority in digital and decentralised finance, Dr Tasca has advised the United Nations, the European Parliament, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada, the Banca d’Italia, and numerous other central banks and international organisations on fintech, blockchain regulation, and systemic risk.

Dr Tasca holds a PhD in Business jointly from ETH Zurich and Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, an MSc in Economics and Finance from Ca’ Foscari Venezia, and an MA in Politics and Economics from the University of Padua. He has held academic positions at UCL, Peking University (PHBS-UK), and the London School of Economics, as well as visiting fellowships at ETH Zurich, Goethe University Frankfurt, the University of Zurich Blockchain Centre, the LSE Systemic Risk Centre, the University of Cape Town Financial Innovation Lab, and the Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire Internet et Société (France).

A prolific author and editor, Dr. Tasca has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers in top international journals and co-edited four field-defining books: Banking Beyond Banks and Money (Springer, 2016), Blockchain Economics (World Scientific, 2019), Enabling the Internet of Value (Springer, 2022), and Digital Assets: Pricing, Allocation and Regulation(Cambridge University Press, 2025).
He currently serves as Specialty Chief Editor for Blockchain Economics at Frontiers in Blockchain and on the editorial board of the Journal of Digital Banking. His insights have been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, and New Scientist.
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