2026-09-23T18:44:10Z https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/127208 2025-03-29 col_2142_5131 col_2142_16320 com_2142_5130 com_2142_8915

application/pdf en text Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2025-03-28 without embargo terms The student, Vanessa Villanueva Collao, accepted the attached license on 2024-11-21 at 09:59. The student, Vanessa Villanueva Collao, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-11-21 at 10:16. This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-11-25 at 11:47. DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #21360 on 2025-03-28 at 14:26:00 Cryptogatekeepers in decentralized finance: Conflicts of interest and prospective solutions Villanueva Collao, Vanessa A. 2024-11-25 Winship, Verity Winship, Verity Aviram, Amitai McClane, Jeremy Ulen, Thomas S. Defi Blockchain Corporate Law Cryptomarkets Conflicts Of Interest Interviews Law And Technology Webcontent Analysis eng Blockchain is commonly understood as a trustless system for electronic transactions characterized by decentralization and disintermediation. This innovation has enabled the technological distribution of financial services known as Decentralized Finance or DeFi. DeFi allegedly eliminates financial intermediaries, considered complicit in financial crises, and seen with distrust. As a result, intermediaries are substituted with platforms, thus allegedly eliminating conflicts of interest between promoters and investors in DeFi. Nevertheless, intermediaries in DeFi exist but under a different guise. The demand for intermediaries has increased to facilitate transactions as they become more complex. With their appearance, they perform some of the functions of traditional intermediaries. This dissertation’s goal is to contribute to the foundational understanding and systematization of DeFi. The purpose of this understanding is to debunk the myth of disintermediation, demonstrating that some intermediaries remain. Moreover, this interpretative step helps identify remaining intermediaries, examine the conflicts of interest among actors in cryptomarkets, and suggest how intermediaries may mitigate these conflicts. 2024-12 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/2142/127208 Copyright 2024 Vanessa Villanueva Collao Law Law University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign J.S.D. Dissertation