Fintech and the Emerging Ecosystems: Exploring Centralised and Decentralised Financial Technologies

Financial technologies, commonly referred to as Fintech, are revolutionizing and reorganizing the financial sector. This digital transformation profoundly impacts society and influences our everyday lives in numerous ways, as financial services intersect with various other services we utilize.

This book offers contributions from leading researchers in the field, providing a comprehensive understanding of this multifaceted transformation. It encompasses emerging financial technologies such as cryptoassets, including Bitcoin and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), and the growing significance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI.

While the primary audience comprises researchers and academics, practitioners and students can also glean practical insights from its contents.

Chapters "A Model of Trust in Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in Brazil: How Trust in a Two-Tier CBDC with Both the Central and Retail Banks Involved Changes Consumer Trust" and "Building Trust in AI: Leadership Insights from Malaysian Fintech Boards" are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Dr. Alex Zarifis conducts research and teaches on the practical applications of technology in business. He has held positions at several prestigious universities, including the University of Cambridge (UK), the University of Manchester(UK), and the University of Mannheim (Germany). Currently, he serves as a Research Affiliate at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF). Alex has contributed to large-scale research projects funded by the EU and UK governments at institutions such as the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany and Loughborough University (UK). Notably, he played a key role in developing the world's first government-recognized university degree program on blockchain technologies.

Prof. Xusen Cheng is a Full Professor of Information Systems in the Department of Economic Information Management at the School of Information, Renmin University of China, Beijing. He earned his PhD in informatics from Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester in the UK. Previously, he served as the Assistant Dean of the School of Information Technology and Management at the University of International Business and Economics in China, as well as Chair of the E-business Department. His research focuses on trust development in virtual teams, collaboration process and system design, sharing economy and e-commerce, and the integration of behavioral and design issues in information systems. His work has been published in prestigious journals such as MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, and European Journal of Information Systems.