About Me
Hi there, I’m Michel.
I’m a researcher and consultant exploring how key tools from Banking and Finance can be repurposed for the benefit of actual communities—in the real economy and beyond.
My current focus lies in developing replicable models and frameworks that enable communities to design, set up, and operate sustainable Commons-based systems of provisioning— grounded in principles of community ownership, shared resource management, and local governance; and across domains as diverse as trade, land, food, energy, housing, and care.
Why I do this
Explain what drives me and what my motivations and goals are.
My operating principles
Mix between my approach (continuous learning, being humble and honest about limitations, realistic/grounded, pluralistic and interdisciplinary…) and what tools/concepts I’m using?
Past work
I previously worked for several years as a researcher and teacher at Cambridge University, and have been a consultant and advisor for over six years at Paradigma. I was formally trained as an economist and have a Master’s degree in International Business.
I have developed and taught courses, workshops, and […]. I have directed half a dozen studies, co-developed a range of digital tools, and advised companies and institutions. My work has been featured in top media globally, and I have been invited as a speaker to numerous conferences and events across the world.
“The trouble with experts is that they often are experts on a previous version of reality.”
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Extended biography
My interest in economics began in high school around the time of the 2007-08 financial crisis. I couldn’t really wrap my head around the contradictory explanations given by pundits about why x or z happened (later, a formal degree in economics would lead to more questions than answers). That curiosity led me to explore the inner mechanics of monetary and financial arrangements, and the role of banking and credit in shaping outcomes in the real economy.
I discovered Bitcoin in early 2014 (after initially dismissing it, of course), and was quickly absorbed by its multidisciplinary foundations. The combination of cryptography, distributed systems, game theory, and sociology proved a fantastic intellectual challenge that, after a year of focused study, resulted in a Master’s thesis about the Bitcoin business ecosystem.
Equipped with a strong grasp of this emerging industry’s actors, structure, and dynamics, I went on to join the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, where I helped establish and lead its crypto and blockchain research programme. Over several years, we produced foundational empirical and conceptual research, developed open-source tools like the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), and advised public and private institutions worldwide. I also played a key role in designing and managing the Cambridge Digital Assets Programme (CDAP), which continues to be a hub for evidence-based digital asset research.
In 2019, I returned to Luxembourg to launch Paradigma, an independent advisory firm focused on distributed ledger technologies and digital assets. My goal was to help clients cut through the hype and identify long-term opportunities grounded in economic substance.
Now, after more than a decade exploring the frontier of money and finance, I’ve come full circle. My current focus is on rethinking currency and credit arrangements to better serve communities and the real economy. I’m especially interested in liquidity-saving mechanisms (such as multilateral set-off, clearing, and mutual credit), alternative savings instruments (such as use-credit obligations), and their effective application in different sectors and contexts.
My research and commentary have been featured in outlets like the FT, BBC, NYT, WSJ, and CNN, and I regularly speak at conferences, regulatory roundtables, and academic events around the world.