Work
An overview of my current projects and roles, as well as selected output from previous work.
Current
Paradigma – Founder & Director
Paradigma is an independent consulting firm based in Luxembourg that provides research, advisory, and educational services on alternative monetary and financial systems. This work includes research papers, feasibility studies, strategic advisory, and workshops for organisations navigating complementary currencies, mutual credit, liquidity-saving mechanisms, and commons-based economic models.
Originally established in 2019 as a digital assets advisory firm, Paradigma is evolving alongside my broader research interests.
Commons Lab – Co-founder & Director
Commons Lab is a non-profit enabling organisation that helps communities build and sustain viable commons projects. We design robust commons models for key provisioning sectors – such as housing, food, energy, and care – that integrate economic, legal, and social dimensions; we partner with local communities to test these models in the real world; and we translate the lessons into public playbooks that others can use and adapt.
Commons Lab was formally incorporated as a non-profit UK company limited by guarantee (CLG) in early 2026 to develop the open design and learning infrastructure that has been missing.
Growing the Commons – Editorial team
Growing the Commons is a collaboration of individuals from organisations that are developing tools, ideas and practices to promote and advance the commons. Launched in the second half of 2025, the project now encompasses a Substack blog with weekly articles, a growing knowledge base featuring over 250 topics, and a – arguably still early-stage – forum enabling more focused discussion.
I am a founding member of the project and part of the editorial team that is tasked with day-to-day operations and managing the Substack. I also occasionally write articles for the Substack (e.g. see the five-part introductory series on the Commons).
Previously
Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (2016–2022)
I joined the CCAF at the University of Cambridge shortly after submitting my Master’s thesis to help build its newly-formed crypto and blockchain research programme. Starting as a research assistant to Dr Garrick Hileman, our two-person team delivered the first comprehensive empirical studies for both the cryptocurrency and enterprise blockchain industries. In 2017, I took over as programme lead and began building out the team and the programme’s scope.
Over the following years, we built one of the most comprehensive bodies of conceptual and empirical research on the emerging digital assets ecosystem, developed open-source interactive tools, designed and delivered executive education at Cambridge Judge Business School, and contributed to policy discussions through regulatory roundtables and advisory work. The programme grew into a globally-recognised authority on digital assets, with our research and commentary regularly featured in the Financial Times, BBC, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and CNN.
After launching Paradigma in 2019 (see below), I re-joined CCAF under contract in 2021 for eighteen months to design and launch the Cambridge Digital Assets Programme (CDAP).
I remain associated with the centre as a research affiliate. A more complete list of media appearances and speaking engagements from this period and the early Paradigma years is available for the curious.
Research reports and studies
Global Cryptocurrency Benchmarking Study (2017)
With Garrick Hileman.
The first systematic empirical study of key cryptocurrency industry sectors, gathering survey data from nearly 150 companies and individuals across 38 countries. Included a first rudimentary map of Bitcoin mining with estimated hashrate and electricity capacity.
Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study (2017)
With Garrick Hileman.
The first empirical study of the enterprise blockchain industry, cutting through the hype to examine what corporates and public sector institutions were actually doing with the technology, and clearly highlighting common blockchain myths and fallacies.
Distributed Ledger Technology Systems: A Conceptual Framework (2018)
With Glidden, Gordon, Pieters, Recanatini, Rostand, Vagneur, Zhang.
Attempted to address the terminology chaos plaguing the space by properly defining what makes DLT genuinely different from other distributed systems, and providing a comparative analytical framework for studying different systems.
2nd Global Cryptoasset Benchmarking Study (2018)
With Blandin, Klein, Pieters, Recanatini, Zhang.
Significantly expanded the scope and rigour of the first study, covering 180+ companies and institutions across 47 countries. Included a first robust estimate of Bitcoin’s environmental impact – the groundwork that led directly to the development of CBECI (see below).
Global Cryptoasset Regulatory Landscape Study (2019)
With Blandin, Cloots, Hussain, Saleuddin, Allen, Zhang, Cloud.
One of the most comprehensive comparative analyses of cryptoasset regulation at the time, combining desktop research with in-person interviews with regulators to offer an in-depth assessment of 23 jurisdictions.
2nd Global Enterprise Blockchain Benchmarking Study (2019)
With Blandin, Bear, McKeon.
Focused analysis of actual production networks and advanced pilots (drawing on 67 live networks and survey data from 160 companies and institutions from 49 countries). Also offered a critical assessment of what really constitutes a proper DLT, coining the term “blockchain meme” for projects riding the wave in name only.
Legal and Regulatory Considerations for Digital Assets (2020)
With Allen, Blandin, Bear.
Showed how digital assets for the most part pertain to existing and well-known legal concepts, proposed a narrow definition of cryptoassets that truly sets them apart, and introduced a framework for assessing assets across four dimensions: rights, representation, issuance, and transferability.
Guide to Promoting Financial & Regulatory Innovation (2020)
With Garvey, Li, Shenglin, Zhang, Rowan, Rau, Ziegler, Rui.
Funding the Sun: New Paradigms for Financing Off-Grid Solar Companies (2021)
With the World Bank and CCAF.
Considering Digital Assets for Humanitarian Cash-Based Transfers (2023)
With Shemin, Njoki, Umer, Callaghan, Anania, Zhang.
My main contribution was writing the Primer on Digital Assets, which I think has matured relatively well.
Online tools
Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI)
What started as a small side project born out of frustration with the state of reporting and misinformation at the time turned out to become the programme’s flagship project. A small team of us built it largely in our free time, and it cemented the centre’s status as a leading authority on Bitcoin’s environmental impact – driving the majority of our media enquiries and setting a broader precedent for the CCAF’s shift toward interactive digital tools over static periodic reports. The tool gradually evolved from a live electricity consumption estimate to include a detailed interactive mining map with longitudinal data, and eventually a fully-fledged live greenhouse gas emissions estimate. It later became part of the broader Cambridge Blockchain Network Sustainability Index (CBNSI).
Cambridge Digital Money Dashboard
I helped develop the core concept, metric selection, methodology, and initial design.
Cambridge Fintech Ecosystem Atlas
Inspired by the network graphs of my Master’s thesis. I contributed to early ideation and provided data for 500+ Bitcoin companies and projects.
Programme
Cambridge Digital Assets Programme (CDAP)
A multi-year research initiative launched in 2022 involving sixteen public and private institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Visa, Mastercard, the Bank for International Settlements, and the IMF. I played a leading role in the design, launch, and early management of the programme, including fundraising and onboarding of founding members, development of strategy and research agenda, and facilitation of regular workshops and member sessions.
Education & advisory
I designed and led executive education sessions at Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS), delivered private workshops for financial institutions and regulators, and gave guest lectures at several universities. As part of CJBS’s consulting arm, I was also occasionally involved in advisory projects with international financial institutions and policymakers.
Paradigma – digital assets advisory (2019–2023)
Following Cambridge, I continued to work on digital assets research and advisory through Paradigma, serving clients across the public and private sectors. I founded the firm in 2019 to deliver rigorous, hype-free advisory on digital assets and the sensible application of blockchain technology. This included feasibility studies, strategic advisory, educational programmes, and bespoke research for government agencies, start-ups, and financial institutions.
Published: 2026-03-25
Last updated: 2026-04-09