Digital Asset Programme Intern
CCAF Research experienceResearch internship experience at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, within the Digital Asset Programme, focused on digital assets, decentralised finance, DeFi taxonomy, protocol classification, and the relationship between DeFi and traditional financial infrastructures.
CCAF
research centre context
DAP
Digital Asset Programme
DeFi
taxonomy and ecosystem analysis
TradFi
financial-infrastructure bridge
Experience context
This experience sits at the intersection of digital-asset research, decentralised finance, financial-market infrastructure, and regulatory understanding. The work is connected to the need for clearer tools and frameworks to describe DeFi protocols in a way that is understandable both to blockchain-native stakeholders and to traditional-finance audiences.
The main research line connected to this experience is the development of a dynamic DeFi taxonomy and its relationship with the Cambridge DeFi Navigator, a digital tool designed to make the DeFi ecosystem more accessible through interactive exploration.
Areas of work
Digital assets research
Research activity within the Digital Asset Programme, focused on decentralised finance, digital-asset infrastructures, taxonomy design, and ecosystem analysis.
DeFi taxonomy work
Contribution to taxonomy-oriented research connecting DeFi protocol functions, actors, assets, infrastructure, and traditional-finance classification perspectives.
Protocol classification
Work connected to the structured analysis of DeFi protocols, their categories, governance properties, documentation, and protocol-level characteristics.
Research communication
Support for translating a complex DeFi taxonomy into research outputs and digital-tool context, including the Cambridge DeFi Navigator.
Research focus: DeFi taxonomy
A central output connected to the experience is the taxonomy work around DeFi and TradFi. The taxonomy organises decentralised finance through high-level categories and protocol-level attributes, making it easier to describe DeFi systems in a way that supports research, ecosystem mapping, and regulatory-facing interpretation.
Related outputs
Dynamic Taxonomy: A Bridge from DeFi to TradFi
Working paper on a dynamic taxonomy for connecting DeFi and TradFi through activities, actors, assets, architecture, and protocol-level attributes.
Cambridge DeFi Navigator
Interactive CCAF digital tool for exploring the DeFi ecosystem through protocol categories and ecosystem visualisations.