Institute for Digital Assets and Economic Innovation (IDAEI)
Established at City University of Hong Kong in 2026 for an initial five-year term, the Institute for Digital Assets and Economic Innovation is led by the College of Business.
The Institute for Digital Assets and Economic Innovation (IDAEI) functions as an interdisciplinary platform designed to address systemic challenges in the digital economy. Governed by shared leadership across Business, Computer Science, and Law, IDAEI operates on an economic-led framework. This framework prioritizes financial stability and market value while utilizing technological resilience and legal governance as foundational pillars.
IDAEI bridges the gap between technological code, macroeconomic policy, and regulatory compliance.
- Hong Kong FinTech & Virtual Asset Hub: The Institute advances Hong Kong’s policy objective of becoming a premier international virtual asset hub. Through real-world Regulatory & Economic Sandboxes, IDAEI tests how Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), and tokenized assets perform under live economic incentives and legal constraints.
- National 15th Five-Year Plan: Aligning with Hong Kong's economic directions and the nation’s focus on digital economy transformation, cross-border financial connectivity, and monetary technology innovation, IDAEI delivers strategic policy white papers, privacy-preserving transactional security, and compliance frameworks to safeguard financial stability and digital asset sovereignty.
Supported by a HKD 13 million donation from City Sino Group (China) Limited, IDAEI launches with six flagship interdisciplinary research projects:
- Automated Regulatory Compliance:Developing machine-checkable pipelines and real-time verifiers for stablecoin compliance.
- Macroeconomic Narrative Analytics: Utilizing Large Language Model (LLM) tools to analyze news narratives and yield dynamics.
- Traceable & Privacy-Preserving Infrastructure: Creating cryptographic protocols for AML/CFT auditing and asset provenance.
- Global Decoupling & Policy Strategy:Conducting comparative jurisdictional policy research examining Hong Kong’s role as an International Financial Center.
- DeFi Market Efficiency: Using dynamic Markov decision models to optimize liquidity and mitigate impermanent loss in Automated Market Makers.
- egal & Monetary Architecture: Establishing frameworks for digital property rights, tokenized bond valuation, and monetary sovereignty.
Institute
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Director
Prof. SHUM Stephen Wan Hang, Dean (CB)
- Associate Directors
Prof. Min Dai, Head (EF)
Prof. WANG Cong, Head (CS)
- Founding Members
Prof. ANIMASHAUN Sijuade (SLW)
Prof. FENG Gavin (EF)
Prof. HE Jingyu (EF)
Prof. HSIAO Mark (SLW)
Prof. HUNG Alvin (SLW)
Prof. LIU Guangwu (DAO)
Prof. LU Zhenliang (CS)
Prof. LOKE Alexander (SLW)
Strategic Development Board Members
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Mr. Thor Li, President, City-Sino Group (China)
- Dr. Jerry Yu, Founding Chairman, UCESR Foundation Limited
- Mr. Sagar Pinjani, Co-Founder and Head of Product, Anchorpoint
- Mr. Tony Ko, Barrister-at-Law, Plowman Chambers
By linking technology, economic stability, and legal frameworks, IDAEI serves as a knowledge hub and innovation engine. The Institute drives Hong Kong’s ambition as a world-leading virtual asset centre and empowers the sustainable growth of the digital economy.
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