On March 7, 2022, the Union hosted Dr. David Andolfatto of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to lead a virtual session on cryptocurrency as part of its Breaking Bread discussion series. Breaking Bread is a project from the TRU Students’ Union that connects students with community leaders through small group discussions around shared topics of interest. 

Dr. David Andolfatto serves as a Senior Vice President in the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis, and was previously an Economics Professor at Simon Fraser University. After completing his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Dr. Andolfatto went on to complete his MA in Economics from SFU and then his Ph.D. in Economics at Western University. In addition to having been an Economics professor, Dr. Andolfatto has also published several articles in economic journals and has been invited as a visiting scholar to central banks around the world. Additionally, in 2009 he was awarded the Bank of Canada Fellowship Award for his contributions in the area of money, banking, and monetary policy. 

Questions considered by the group included: 

  • What is cryptocurrency?
  • What might the role of Cryptocurrency be in the current Russia/Ukraine conflict?
  • How can digital currency be used as a policy instrument?
  • As well as other topics

Keep an eye on our upcoming posts to join our next Breaking Bread discussion.