Dominik Jordi Ornig awarded the Pierre Werner Scholarship
On the 13th of July 2022, the Foundation Pierre Werner management committee awarded Dominik Jordi Ornig, Research Fellow in the Department of International Law and Dispute Resolution, one of its four scholarships* for his doctoral research entitled ‘Financial Digitalisation and International Investment Disputes’.
Dominik Jordi Ornig’s research shows how financial digitisation will fundamentally alter the dynamics of many international dispute resolution mechanisms and their enforcement. Continued efforts to create central bank issued digital currencies (CBDC) will provide a universally accepted means of payment, which may serve as a basis for further integration of other digital financial products. This PhD aims to evaluate the impact of programmable financial products on international investment disputes. This extends to sovereign smart contracts, tokenised assets and to automation in decision making or enforcement. Digitalisation raises fundamental questions in this context starting with whether digital assets are covered by the very notion of investment at all. Numerous intermediaries or market practices add further layers of complexity, such as when digital financial instruments are cascading, compounded or interconnected within the wider (crypto-) economy.
*The Pierre Werner scholarship is intended to support research projects relating to European unification, monetary matters, democracy or human rights in all countries of the European continent.
