Education is essential. Education is invaluable. Education is…FUN!
Every year, Tokenovate engages in academia in a few different ways: we host students in their dissertation work (eg. here and here), we participate at academic events, and we hold lectures on blockchain technology and related matters.
Last week, we once again had the pleasure of delivering a guest lecture at the University of Exeter. Kindly invited by Professor Jack Rogers, our CEO and Founder Richard Baker gave a talk to undergraduate and graduate students on the topic of “Tokenisation of Real-World Assets, and why law matters”.
Richard began the lecture by providing context on the current market and legal landscape surrounding real-world assets (RWAs). Emerging from 16 years of rules, standards, legacy systems, and siloes, Richard shared this thoughts on how the 2008 financial crisis, and its “too big to fail” moment, has led to an influx of regulatory, legal, technology, and commercial standards that have caused the development of existing financial infrastructure to grind to a halt. He emphasised that without modernisation, innovation will remain stagnant, and costs will stay high.
Next, Richard explored the defining characteristics of different distributed ledger technologies (DLT), and argued that private ledgers on public permissionless blockchains are the solution*. He compared UTXO-based systems (like Bitcoin), which track discrete units of value, with account-based systems (like Ethereum), which aggregate balances. He demonstrated why UTXO-based blockchains, in our view, are better suited to modernising financial market infrastructure.
Following this, Richard explained what real-world assets are and how they can be tokenised. Using the example of carbon assets, he showcased how Tokenovate builds privacy, trust, and traceability into its trade lifecycle management platform. Drawing a creative analogy with LEGO, he demonstrated how Tokenovate has “built a thing.”
The session concluded with a lively Q&A that extended into adjacent corridors, and eventually the pub! This engaging dialogue highlighted the value of interacting with students and academia. Through communication and shared understanding, we pave the way for progress – one lecture at a time.
* This is also what The EU’s DG FISMA suggests in this powerful publication, published in November 2024.
