About us
The Digital Gold Institute was founded in 2018, bringing together academia and banking with the ambition to understand how Bitcoin and blockchain could reshape money and finance. The Institute connects research with the decisions of financial institutions, helping turn technological possibilities into projects that contribute to the economy and the services available to individuals and businesses.
DGI’s history
From a research office on Bitcoin and blockchain to a European hub for financial institutions on digital assets
- 2018
Founded in Milan, combining academic research and banking expertise to explore the possibilities of Bitcoin and blockchain.
- 2019
Establishes the Crypto Asset Lab with the University of Milano-Bicocca, opening a dialogue between research and industry.
- 2021
Joins the CheckSig group, combining rigorous research with operational experience in crypto asset services.
- Today
Helps financial institutions develop expertise, projects and services that draw on the potential of the blockchain ecosystem.
Vision and mission
New perspectives on finance
Bitcoin and blockchain can broaden access to investment and expand the possibilities for storing and transferring value across markets. Financial institutions have the opportunity to contribute to this evolution by building services and infrastructure that bring its benefits to individuals and businesses.
Understanding change and helping shape it
DGI works to equip financial institutions with the knowledge and expertise to play an active role in the evolution of finance. Through research, training, advisory and development, it helps turn ideas into projects and build services that meet emerging needs and create lasting value.
The origin of the name
The name Digital Gold Institute refers to Bitcoin and the idea that scarcity, historically associated with gold, can take a digital form. The protocol caps Bitcoin’s supply at 21 million units and governs its issuance through public, verifiable rules, without a central authority. This combination of monetary properties and technical architecture inspired the Institute’s founding and its interest in the relationship between money, trust and finance. From this starting point, DGI has gradually expanded its research to the blockchain ecosystem and its economic and financial applications.
Management
The people who lead the Digital Gold Institute.
Paolo Mazzocchi
Executive director
Ferdinando Ametrano
Scientific director
Michele Mandelli
Managing partner
The Crypto Asset Lab
The Crypto Asset Lab (CAL) was established in 2019 as a joint initiative of the Digital Gold Institute and the University of Milano-Bicocca, with the ambition of giving research an active role in shaping finance. The lab connects research on Bitcoin and the blockchain ecosystem with university teaching and the questions raised by industry and institutions. This dialogue continues at the Crypto Asset Lab Conference, organized each year in Milan with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, where researchers, financial professionals and supervisory authorities exchange knowledge and experience to understand change and help guide its development.
Alumni
Researchers who carried out theses and research with the Digital Gold Institute.
Matteo Avigni
- Master’s degree
- Mathematical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
- Thesis
- Cryptoassets in Asset Allocation: a new Asset Class
PDFGiona Soldati
- Master’s degree
- Mathematical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
- Thesis
- An Advanced Signature Scheme: Schnorr Algorithm and its Benefits to the Bitcoin Ecosystem
Alessandro Miola
- Master’s degree
- Mathematical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
- Thesis
- Addressing Privacy and Fungibility Issues in Bitcoin: Confidential Transactions
Chiara Lelli
- Bachelor degree
- Mathematical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano
- Thesis
- Schnorr signature: additivity and multisignature
- Winner of the 2017/2018 Blockchain Thesis Award of the Italian Blockchain Educational Network