The UK Centre for Blockchain Technologies sponsored the 9th Cryptocurrency Research Conference, held on 14 and 15 September 2026 at ESE Business School, Universidad de los Andes, in Santiago.

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Walter Hernandez represented UK CBT on the keynote panel “Stablecoins: The Future of Money and Regulation” alongside Alberto Naudon, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Chile, and Francisco Cabezón Ferraté, General Director of Regulation at Chile’s Financial Market Commission. The discussion compared approaches to stablecoin reserves and examined how local financial conditions shape adoption.

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Aayush Ladda presented “Mining the Future: Bitcoin’s Carbon Footprint and the Path to 2030”, a study by MiCA Crypto Alliance and Nodiens. The research separates Bitcoin mining’s energy use from the carbon intensity of that energy and projects the network’s footprint under different location, price and energy-transition scenarios.

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The conference brought academics, regulators and industry leaders together around current questions in digital finance. UK CBT thanks Professor Larisa Yarovaya, Hugo Benedetti and the conference team for organising the event, and fellow sponsor Research in International Business and Finance.

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UK CBT is proudly supported by Ripple through its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI).

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