Blockchain, Crypto Assets, and Financial Innovation

This open access book provides a decade-spanning, meticulously curated collection of research that showcases groundbreaking advances in blockchain, cryptocurrency, digital finance, and market volatility. Through empirical studies, predictive models, and comprehensive reviews, this book reveals the evolution of financial innovation over the past decade, highlighting blockchain as a transformative direction alongside other pivotal advancements, with both theoretical insights and actionable applications. It's a paper selection from Financial Innovation journal, with the necessary revision for inclusion, and aims to trace and refine the research on financial technology during the past 10 years.

With its pioneering focus on emerging topics―such as innovative blockchain applications in finance, the rise of tokens and NFTs as digital assets, and cryptocurrency market dynamics―this book delves into cutting-edge financial phenomena rarely covered in traditional finance literature. Spanning complexities from market dynamics, volatility, and spillover effects to the evolving regulatory landscape for crypto adoption, it provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of blockchain's role in modern finance.

Intended for researchers, academics, policy makers, and finance professionals, this book balances rigorous academic research with real-world applicability, providing insights that appeal to both scholarly and practical perspectives. Key benefits include a unique mix of strategic advances in financial innovation and actionable research insights for navigating its evolving landscape.

Dr. Gang Kou is Distinguished Professor of Chang Jiang Scholars Program in Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and vice director of Xiangjiang Laboratory. Previously, he was a professor of School of Management and Economics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and a research scientist in Thomson Co., R&D. He received his Ph.D. in Information Technology from the College of Information Science & Technology, Univ. of Nebraska at Omaha; Master degree in Dept of Computer Science, Univ. of Nebraska at Omaha; and B.S. degree in Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, China. He has published more than 200 papers in various peer-reviewed journals, such as Science, Nature communications. Gang Kou’s h-index is 74 and his papers have been cited by others for more than 20000 times. He is listed as the Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science).

Professor Yongqiang Li is currently the President of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. He is a recipient of the State Council’s Special Allowance and has been selected for the Ministry of Education’s “New Century Excellent Talents Support Program.” Professor Li's research primarily focuses on social networks, marketing organizational behavior, and higher education teaching. He has published over 60 academic papers.

Professor Zongyi Zhang is currently the President of Xiamen University and has previously served as the President of Chongqing University and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. He is a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and has been selected as a leading talent in the 'Ten Thousand Talents Plan' for philosophy and social sciences. Professor Zhang's research interests mainly focus on transitional economics and growth, technology innovation and management, financial risk management, and energy economics and management. He has published over 250 papers in academic journals and conferences, and authored 12 academic books and textbooks.

Professor J. Leon Zhao was formerly Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Information Systems at the City University of Hong Kong, and the Eller Professor and Interim Head of the Department of Management Information Systems at the University of Arizona. He is the co-editor of Springer's Financial Innovation and the associate editor of several academic journals. He has hosted many international conferences in the field of information technology and edited special issues for more than 20 academic journals. He won the IBM Academic Award in 2005, Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor of Tsinghua University in 2009, and Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor of the Chinese University Hong Kong (Shenzhen) in 2022. His research interests include Generative AI applications, Agentic workflow, human AI collaboration, blockchain technology and applications, and big data finance and healthcare.

Professor Zhi Zhuo has previously served as the President of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and Shandong University of Finance and Economics. He is a recipient of the State Council's Government Special Allowance and the Humboldt Research Fellowship. His research primarily focuses on commercial insurance, risk management, and actuarial science. Professor Zhuo has published over 100 academic papers and authored nine individual books and textbooks.