Design and analysis of approaches toward the regulation of DEXs

DegreeBachelor
StatusClosed
Supervisor(s)Dr. Svetlana Abramova

Description

Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have recently emerged as an alternative to centralized exchanges. Using automated price discovery mechanisms, DEXs facilitate the exchange of digital tokens without the need for centralized intermediaries. However, DEXs are still largely unregulated. They often lack measures to prevent money laundering, such as know-your-customer (KYC), which are commonly adopted by centralized exchanges.

The goal of this thesis is to study technical options for the regulation of DEXs. As a starting point, the student should evaluate the feasibility and performance of transaction blacklisting. The analysis requires in-depth understanding of the operation of typical DEXs. It should consider different blacklisting policies, as proposed in the literature for Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies. The work will be mainly conceptual, and could contain analytical elements supported by simulation. Using real data from empirical measurements of a DEX is optional.

Prerequisites

Basic understanding of cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi), preferably experience with Solidity

References

  • Heimbach, L., Wang, Y., and Wattenhofer, R. Behavior of Liquidity Providers in Decentralized Exchanges. arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.13822, (2021).
  • Möser, M. and Narayanan, A. Effective Cryptocurrency Regulation Through Blacklisting. (2019).