Alternative assets such as fine art, wine, or diamonds have become popular investment vehicles in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Correlation with classical financial markets is typically low, such that diversification benefits arise for portfolio allocation and risk management. Cryptocurrencies share many alternative asset features, but are hampered by high volatility, sluggish commercial acceptance, and regulatory uncertainties. This collection of papers addresses alternative assets and cryptocurrencies from economic, financial, statistical, and technical points of view. It gives an overview of their current state and explores their properties and prospects using innovative approaches and methodologies.

This handbook focuses on the key issues that continue to hinder the formal development of cryptocurrencies as a mainstream financial asset. It primarily examines reputationally damaging events, particularly those related to illicit behavior. The goal of the handbook is to determine whether some of these events could be mitigated by improved or at least coordinated international regulation. The handbook will be useful for specialist technical audiences such as legal, accounting and financial practices. It will also be beneficial for upper level masters and research students in economics, law, accounting, taxation, investment and portfolio management.

Cryptocurrencies and digital assets are increasingly garnering interest from institutional investors. This is on top of the already strong support in place for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin from the retail investor. With this rapid growth has come a series of complex operational and regulatory compliance challenges. These challenges have become further exacerbated by the increasing pace of technological advances in areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi) tokenization, blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) essential to the crypto and digital asset markets. This book will be the first book to provide current and practical guidance on the operational and compliance foundations of crypto investing and asset management. The book will include: · Step-by-step analysis of the modern operational mechanics behind cryptocurrency investment operations · Detailed guidance and example documentation on the procedures launching a crypto fund · Explanation of the operational procedures and compliance requirements for crytpo asset managers · Detailed analysis of crypto anti-money laundering compliance, regulations and laws for cryptocurrencies · Up-to-date analysis of recent crypto case studies, frauds and regulatory enforcement actions · Review of the digital asset landscape including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and asset tokenization · Current examples of real-world crypto operations policies and compliance manuals · Analysis of the emerging trends in crypto operations and compliance in areas including blockchain, DeFi, crypto lending, yield farming, crypto mining and dApps Cryptocurrency Compliance and Operations will be an invaluable up-to-date resource for investors, fund managers, and their operations and compliance personnel as well as service providers on the implementation and management of best practice operations.​

This handbook will provide a comprehensive treatment of the gamut of issues and challenges that exist through the development of both cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. This will not be confined to simply the investment potential within these new technological areas. We will examine the challenges in the regulatory, legal, taxation, accounting, modelling, ethical, macroeconomic impact and internationalization issues. Research on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has identified issues such as pricing abnormalities and bubble-like behavior, indicating that these new assets are highly speculative in nature, contain a growing number of legal abnormalities (such as the hacking of exchanges and broad theft of investor assets) and a growing number of significant regulatory issues. It is paramount that we investigate each of these issues in great detail to help to determine whether cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology merits consideration as a sustainable alternative investment asset. The handbook will be useful for specialist technical audiences such as legal, accounting and financial practices. It will also be beneficial for upper level masters and research students in economics, law, accounting, taxation, investment and portfolio management.

This text is a comprehensive treatment of the Asset Pricing Theory, based on the assumption that returns are distributed non-normally. More general models are also considered and the corresponding formulae are derived, and it describes estimation techniques and presents empirical applications.

Handbook of Blockchain, Digital Finance, and Inclusion, Volume 1: Cryptocurrency, FinTech, InsurTech, and Regulation explores recent advances in digital banking and cryptocurrency, emphasizing mobile technology and evolving uses of cryptocurrencies as financial assets. Contributors go beyond summaries of standard models to describe new banking business models that will be sustainable and will likely dictate the future of finance. The volume not only emphasizes the financial opportunities made possible by digital banking, such as financial inclusion and impact investing, but it also looks at engineering theories and developments that encourage innovation. Its ability to illuminate present potential and future possibilities make it a unique contribution to the literature. - Explores recent advances in digital banking and cryptocurrency, emphasizing mobile technology and evolving uses of cryptocurrencies as financial assets - Explains the practical consequences of both technologies and economics to readers who want to learn about subjects related to their specialties - Encompasses alternative finance, financial inclusion, impact investing, decentralized consensus ledger and applied cryptography - Provides the only advanced methodical summary of these subjects available today

This book evaluates investment opportunities such as life settlements, litigation funding, farmlands, royalties, weather derivatives, collectables and other unique asset classes. It provides an in-depth analysis of the returns, risks, opportunities and portfolio effects for anyone who wants to expand their investment horizons. This book is for individual investors, financial advisors, and academics who desire knowledge about investment products beyond just stocks and bonds or vanilla hedge funds, private equity and real estate investments. It provides a critical link to industry data and original research to support the case for adding exotic alternative investments to traditional portfolios.