231
Decentralizing Finance
consequently impacting the overall portfolio. The main issue was that although secu
ritization of MBS brought liquidity, its underlying exposure in the repackaged prod
ucts could not be traced. Traceability of tokens fixes this problem, as the connection
to all the underlying assets with a repackaged product is clear and tamper-proof.
Thus, the exposure of all assets can be determined even if the product is erroneously
or fraudulently rated as a AAA investment-grade product. If rating agencies fail
to carry out their duties, the innovative repackaging of financial products to create
more liquidity remains possible via tokens, as the underlying exposure is transparent
and can be diversified accordingly without being misdirected by asymmetric or false
rating information.
Tokenization will also unleash new business opportunities in the area of custody,
the safekeeping of real assets, wealth and investment advisory. In particular, the
impact on the asset management industry is projected to be quite significant, espe
cially in terms of portfolio construction. Assets under the investible universe would
traverse beyond traditional equities or bonds. Asset managers of this new asset class
will not only have a new opportunity set for portfolio construction but will need to
hone their skills in fundamental research, price discovery and investment-related
views to determine what price to pay versus the value the investor gets in return.
Ultimately, the core task of active management and its importance will be in demand
in this new space. Part of the new capabilities that asset managers need to recruit or
acquire are direct real estate expertise, valuation of works of art expertise, and patent
and technology expertise, among others, in order to accurately determine the value
of the underlying asset, assess its market price and eventually inform an investment
decision.
13.9 SELF-GOVERNANCE, SELF-REGULATION
AND CYBERSECURITY
Blockchain-based frameworks can be addressed as the management of identity, pri
vacy and security across regions and platforms by decentralizing and distributing
organization. Such dispersed platforms provide integrated systems like an identity
and the ability to make and “receive payments, pass in composite agreements and
conduct without an intermediate” (Mohamed & Ali, 2019).
The only way to comfort acquiescence loads is to construct and organize finan
cial and investment management resolutions by means of blockchain. The ability of
blockchain to authenticate and verify information through a consensus mechanism
provides a trusted way to identify persons or parties, which makes the entire transac
tion reliable and trustworthy. Hence, a financial and investment management system
on the basis of cryptography can be developed via anti-money laundering (AML),
counter-terrorism financing (CTF) and know-your-client (KYC) requirements as per
the rules set in each region or country. The whole explanation is focused on the
distributed ledger, where an enterprise is a node in the blockchain network, and the
platforms developed by asset management companies are driven by an AI engine
that checks on AML, CTF and KYC compliance and builds a database of records.
Computerized audits, programmed reporting and process restructuring are other