On 17 May 2022, this year´s ifk semester lectures with the highly topical “Will Cryptocurrencies
Become the New Money?” took place in the auditorium of the castle of the Westfälische Wilhelms
University. After the ifk semester lectures could last be held only virtually in 2020 due to the Corona
pandemic, the most lectures could now hold in presence. The event was an overall success which
showcased four top-class speakers from the business community: Mr. Sören Hettler (Senior Foreign
Exchange Analyst at DZ Bank AG), Jan Beckers (Founder and Chief Investment Officer of BIT Capital
GmbH), Marcus Brinker (Member of the Board of S Broker AG & Co. KG) and Jochen Metzger
(President of the Head Office in NRW, Deutsche Bundesbank).

The first presentation was given by Mr. Hettler, who looked at crypto assets from a macroeconomic
perspective. In doing so, he highlighted the cryptocurrency “Bitcoin” and its deepened general
function as a payment instrument. He noted that trust is especially important to establish a currency
as a payment instrument.

In the second presentation Mr. Becker, who delivered virtually via Zoom, addressed the possible
opportunities and risks of crypto assets from an investor´s perspective. According to his assessment,
companies will increasingly demand expertise in the field of cryptocurrencies and blockchain
technology in the future, which is why it could be incredibly attractive for young people to deal
intensively with these topics.

After a short break, Mr. Marcus Brinker spoke about the opportunities and risks of digital assets from
the perspective of a retail broker. While on the one hand digital assets and cryptocurrencies offer
high revenue potential due to a lack of standardization and new target groups, on the other hand the
competitive pressure from new market participants such as FinTechs is increasing.

In the fourth and final presentation, Mr. Metzger concluded by discussing the opportunities and
benefits of the digital euro. He emphasized that the digital euro is more than just a means of
payment. The digital euro should enable new business models and promote innovation.

As part of the ifk semester lectures, the Ludwig Mülhaupt-Preis, worth a total of EUR 1,000, was also
awarded for outstanding achievements at the Finance Center Münster. This year, our congratulations
go to Jonas Kammann, who impressed with his seminar paper on "The Importance of Maturity
Transformation for the Interest Income of Credit Institutions" and outstanding exam performance in
the modules Financial Intermediation I and II.

The Institute of Banking looks back on the successful event and is already looking forward to next
year's semester lectures.