Analyzing Swiss Asset Tokenization and Regulatory Trends: NCCU IMES Invites Blockstream Product Lead for Keynote Speech
Date :
2026-10-06
Department :
IMES
【IMES News】
The International Master’s Program of Applied Economics and Social Development (IMES) at National Chengchi University (NCCU) hosted Gianmarco Guazzo, Enterprise Product Lead at Blockstream, for an in-depth guest lecture titled "Stablecoin Regulation & Cash on Chain" on September 29, 2026. Guazzo delivered firsthand insights into Swiss asset tokenization practices, on-chain financial infrastructure, and global regulatory developments. The event was moderated by IMES Adjunct Assistant Professor Colin Cheng and drew enthusiastic participation from faculty and students across the university.
Guazzo holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Padua, Italy, and previously worked at PwC focusing on blockchain solutions. In 2022, he co-founded Elysium Lab, a Swiss digital asset infrastructure firm, serving as Chief Technology Officer. Following the company’s acquisition by Blockstream in 2025, Guazzo shifted his focus to institutional-grade financial infrastructure products and was recognized on the Forbes Austria 2025 "30 Under 30" list for Switzerland, reflecting his substantial experience in international tech entrepreneurship and practice.
Guazzo opened his presentation by highlighting "Cash on Chain" as the cornerstone for realizing real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. He explained that if securities are tokenized on-chain while settlement and payment rails remain stuck in legacy banking systems, transactions cannot achieve instantaneous Delivery versus Payment (DvP). By leveraging digital monetary instruments—such as stablecoins, tokenized deposits, tokenized money market funds, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)—market participants can mitigate settlement and counterparty risks, dramatically improve capital efficiency, and support 24/7 continuous market operations.
Drawing on the Swiss market as a leading jurisdiction in financial regulation, Guazzo outlined the end-to-end structure of the asset tokenization ecosystem. His overview covered issuers, investors, custodians, trading venues, regulatory authorities, and supporting legal and technical frameworks. He detailed Switzerland’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) statutory framework and recent digital bond issuances, while demonstrating how the Liquid Network—a Bitcoin sidechain—leverages faster block settlement, Confidential Transactions, and controlled-asset capabilities to satisfy institutional requirements for stablecoins and tokenized securities.
Addressing broader technological shifts, Guazzo turned to the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. While generative AI significantly accelerates software development and on-chain threat monitoring, he warned that malicious actors can also leverage it to identify and exploit smart contract vulnerabilities more rapidly. Consequently, institutional competitiveness will increasingly depend on robust custody architectures, rigorous open-source stress-testing, and the adoption of post-quantum cryptography to guard against emerging computational threats.
During the interactive Q&A session, faculty and students engaged in in-depth discussions with the speaker. Topics included regulatory divergence across key global stablecoin markets, trade-offs between public and permissioned blockchains, cross-chain interoperability security, and institutional adoption timelines for on-chain market infrastructure.
The IMES program has long been committed to bridging data analytics, social innovation, and emerging technology governance. IMES Program Director Wen-Chieh Wu remarked that in an era of rapid transformation in fintech and digital assets, the next generation of professionals requires more than foundational technical literacy; they must synthesize economic analysis, data acumen, regulatory perspectives, and a global outlook. Inviting world-class industry practitioners into the classroom bridges academic inquiry with frontline industry practice. The Director emphasized that IMES will continue to bring distinguished international scholars and industry executives to campus, fostering bilingual, cross-border dialogue to strengthen academic-industry links and cultivate forward-looking global talent.
The International Master’s Program of Applied Economics and Social Development (IMES) at National Chengchi University (NCCU) hosted Gianmarco Guazzo, Enterprise Product Lead at Blockstream, for an in-depth guest lecture titled "Stablecoin Regulation & Cash on Chain" on September 29, 2026. Guazzo delivered firsthand insights into Swiss asset tokenization practices, on-chain financial infrastructure, and global regulatory developments. The event was moderated by IMES Adjunct Assistant Professor Colin Cheng and drew enthusiastic participation from faculty and students across the university.
Guazzo holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Padua, Italy, and previously worked at PwC focusing on blockchain solutions. In 2022, he co-founded Elysium Lab, a Swiss digital asset infrastructure firm, serving as Chief Technology Officer. Following the company’s acquisition by Blockstream in 2025, Guazzo shifted his focus to institutional-grade financial infrastructure products and was recognized on the Forbes Austria 2025 "30 Under 30" list for Switzerland, reflecting his substantial experience in international tech entrepreneurship and practice.
Guazzo opened his presentation by highlighting "Cash on Chain" as the cornerstone for realizing real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. He explained that if securities are tokenized on-chain while settlement and payment rails remain stuck in legacy banking systems, transactions cannot achieve instantaneous Delivery versus Payment (DvP). By leveraging digital monetary instruments—such as stablecoins, tokenized deposits, tokenized money market funds, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)—market participants can mitigate settlement and counterparty risks, dramatically improve capital efficiency, and support 24/7 continuous market operations.
Drawing on the Swiss market as a leading jurisdiction in financial regulation, Guazzo outlined the end-to-end structure of the asset tokenization ecosystem. His overview covered issuers, investors, custodians, trading venues, regulatory authorities, and supporting legal and technical frameworks. He detailed Switzerland’s Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) statutory framework and recent digital bond issuances, while demonstrating how the Liquid Network—a Bitcoin sidechain—leverages faster block settlement, Confidential Transactions, and controlled-asset capabilities to satisfy institutional requirements for stablecoins and tokenized securities.
Addressing broader technological shifts, Guazzo turned to the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. While generative AI significantly accelerates software development and on-chain threat monitoring, he warned that malicious actors can also leverage it to identify and exploit smart contract vulnerabilities more rapidly. Consequently, institutional competitiveness will increasingly depend on robust custody architectures, rigorous open-source stress-testing, and the adoption of post-quantum cryptography to guard against emerging computational threats.
During the interactive Q&A session, faculty and students engaged in in-depth discussions with the speaker. Topics included regulatory divergence across key global stablecoin markets, trade-offs between public and permissioned blockchains, cross-chain interoperability security, and institutional adoption timelines for on-chain market infrastructure.
The IMES program has long been committed to bridging data analytics, social innovation, and emerging technology governance. IMES Program Director Wen-Chieh Wu remarked that in an era of rapid transformation in fintech and digital assets, the next generation of professionals requires more than foundational technical literacy; they must synthesize economic analysis, data acumen, regulatory perspectives, and a global outlook. Inviting world-class industry practitioners into the classroom bridges academic inquiry with frontline industry practice. The Director emphasized that IMES will continue to bring distinguished international scholars and industry executives to campus, fostering bilingual, cross-border dialogue to strengthen academic-industry links and cultivate forward-looking global talent.