ABSTRACT This paper explores the evolving landscape of digital currencies, focusing on the contrasting characteristics and implications of Bitcoin, stablecoins, and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). While Bitcoin emerged as a decentralized, privacy-focused alternative to traditional financial systems, CBDCs represent a centralized approach to digital money, potentially enabling unprecedented levels of government surveillance and control. Through an analysis of the fundamental differences between these forms of currency, the paper highlights the risks associated with CBDCs, including threats to individual privacy, financial autonomy, and the potential for regulatory overreach. The study also examines the potential consequences of CBDC adoption, such as programmable money and its implications for economic freedom, while considering the broader impact on the global financial system. Ultimately, this paper argues that while CBDCs are often promoted as a more efficient and secure means of digital transactions, they pose significant dangers that could undermine the principles of decentralization and privacy championed by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

ABSTRACT This study critically examines Vietnam's anti-money laundering (AML) framework in the context of rapid fintech advancements. Using a doctrinal approach, the research identifies key gaps in the current legal regime, particularly in regulating fintech activities that enable money laundering. The findings reveal that, although Vietnam’s AML framework has strengths in addressing traditional financial crimes, it falls short in adequately preventing and monitoring illicit activities in the evolving fintech landscape. Moreover, the current regulatory approach risks stifling fintech innovation, creating a tension between promoting technological growth and ensuring financial security. Drawing on Malta's successful legal reforms, this study proposes targeted legal changes to enhance Vietnam's AML capabilities, ensuring the legal framework is both robust and adaptable to new high-tech financial crimes. These recommendations aim to strengthen Vietnam’s ability to combat emerging threats while fostering the responsible development of the fintech sector.

ABSTRACT Based on a separate and joint overview of recently issued financial regulations and AI administrative measures in China, this first English-language analysis on AI-driven bank loans finds that a co-regulatory approach is taking shape. However, the current rules issued by the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA) are relatively abstract, while the AI Interim Measure remains largely normative. This dual drawback leads, respectively, to cognitive uncertainty and algorithmic delays in effective risk control. Furthermore, the trilateral relationships among banks, customers and AI service providers further complicate the regulatory compliance in the context of AI-driven lending.

ABSTRACT Enhancing the financial advisory framework is crucial for strengthening investor confidence, transparency, and financial stability. This theoretical paper compares Qatar’s financial advisory regulations with Canada’s, aiming to identify gaps and propose improvements for Qatar. Using a comparative analysis, the study examines regulatory practices under the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) and the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA), focusing on standards of conduct, conflict of interest, and suitability requirements. Findings reveal notable regulatory gaps in Qatar’s framework, suggesting that adopting stricter standards could improve investor protection and advisory professionalism. Canada’s enforcement of over CAD $4 million in advisor sanctions demonstrates the potential effectiveness of such standards. The study concludes that Qatar would benefit from introducing a structured advisory licensing and education system. These recommendations offer valuable insights for policymakers and financial sector stakeholders pursuing regulatory reforms to promote sustainable economic development.

This paper examines the Supreme Court of India’s controversial reinterpretation of Section 30(2)(b)(ii) of India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in DBS Bank v Ruchi Soya. The question of law, referred to a larger bench, entitles dissenting financial creditors to ‘a minimum value equivalent to the value of the security interest’, as opposed to the statutory stipulation of amount obtainable in liquidation. This introduces a valuation metric that is not only absent from the statutory scheme but also compromises the flexibility needed to maximize corporate debtor value. The paper further argues that such minimum payment provisions are only justified in multi-class voting systems to prevent wealth transfer between creditors with differing entitlements. In India’s single-class framework, this provision is not only unnecessary but potentially counterproductive, facilitating wealth transfers from junior to senior creditors while creating additional holdouts that undermine the IBC’s core objective of value maximization.

ABSTRACT The bankruptcy of Sichuan Trust Co., Ltd. (Sichuan Trust) highlights critical vulnerabilities faced by retail investors within China’s shadow banking sector, arising primarily from limited transparency and inadequate regulatory protections. This paper examines the Sichuan Trust case to explore retail investor vulnerability and to identify regulatory gaps. The paper contends that, while ex post regulatory interventions have facilitated partial restitution for retail investors through structured repayment schemes, the existing ex ante safeguards remain insufficient to prevent such harm in the first place. Drawing from this analysis, the paper advocates for a more proactive regulatory approach emphasising preventive measures, strengthened disclosures, enhanced financial literacy education, and targeted paternalistic protections to ensure retail investor welfare at the pre-investment stage.

ABSTRACT We examine the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on information processing and usage to make investment decisions considering how information flows in financial markets and how the information intermediation market will change. We discuss the possible implications for market efficiency, market liquidity, and the potential need for regulatory guidance. We review how AI will reduce decision-making transparency, rendering it virtually impossible to understand why a specific financial decision was made. We then consider the impact of AI integration on retail investors and the significant technological disadvantage these investors will face. We discuss the risks from integrating AI into the financial system including increased trade synchronization, a possible decline in market liquidity, and the potential for market instability. We conclude with a discussion of the current regulatory state and propose several important considerations for current regulators.

China's private equity (PE) sector has undergone notable regulatory change. Recent legislative reforms have established trust law as the foundation for PE regulation and introduced fiduciary duties as a core obligation of fund managers. This shift responds to longstanding criticisms of insufficient managerial oversight and is evident in new statutory provisions and courts' growing references to fiduciary principles. The paper argues that China is developing “instrumental fiduciary duties” by borrowing fiduciary rules from established systems without building equivalent theoretical foundations. Challenges remain regarding the authenticity of China's trust legal framework and the tension between fiduciary and contractual duties. These concerns show how Chinese regulators prioritise practical utility over theoretical consistency. To improve this developing system, China must both strengthen the theoretical underpinnings of its fiduciary framework and refine its practical implementation throughout the PE fund lifecycle.

ABSTRACT Money laundering through crypto-asset trading has been a growing concern, due to the anonymous and borderless nature of the crypto-market. Attempting to connect Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws with crypto-assets and related services in the European market, in May 2023, the EU Regulation on Markets in Crypto-assets (the MiCA Regulation) was enacted. It aims to regulate crypto-asset trading, support innovation and investor protection in the crypto-industry, while firmly establishing European AML/CFT laws in the crypto-market and its main stakeholders, the Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs). Meanwhile, the 2024 reformed EU AML/CFT legislative package explicitly refers to the crypto-market. However, various fundamental issues may potentially limit its effectiveness, playing an adverse role in the AML/CFT landscape. The exclusion of specific services and crypto-asset elements from the MiCA Regulation scope, combined with the absence of adequate global AML/CFT collaboration mechanisms open the path for money laundering activities.