Stellar welcomes first visiting scholar Bhagat Chaudhry

Stellar is always looking for new ways to collaborate with people who share our vision of an open financial network for everyone. We are excited to announce our first visiting scholar, Bhagwan Chowdhry, Professor of Finance at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Professor Chowdhry is currently on vacation promoting Stellar in India.

On the academic side, Chaudhry has a professional interest in so-called microfinance: he manages graduate programs, develops models, and publishes papers on the topic. At the same time, he also keeps his feet on the ground, conducting microfinance experiments with an eye on broader financial inclusion. In 2009, he co-founded Financial Access at Birth, an organization that aims to provide newborns with a $100 savings account. The account is associated with a unique ID. Other organizations can also use this ID to transfer cash or distribute social services.

Chaudhry said:

“For many years I have been committed to financial inclusion – especially for those who do not have access to formal financial services. Stellar’s ​​mission and philosophy are very much in line with my own.”

Stellar has already started collaborative projects in Nigeria and South Africa, but Chaudhry’s work is our first presence in India. Chaudhry said:

“The fact that Stellar is currency agnostic — whether it’s dollars, euros, Indian rupees, bitcoins — will allow us to tailor the program to suit local needs and conditions.”

In a recent article, Chaudhry argued that if cryptocurrencies were made more accessible, compliant with regulations, and protected from fraud, they would be the best way to provide financial services to the nearly 3 billion poor. The work of Newborn Finance points to this fact: "The most important part of financial inclusion is the ability to move money quickly and at low (or no) cost. Stellar can do that. If the Stellar network can effectively save money for the poor, it will have a huge impact."

Like the Stellar team, Chowdhury has given a lot of thought to the pain that poor people experience from high fees and remittance costs. Such high fees are the result of a fragmented and outdated financial system that has little incentive to build products for low-income customers. “Stellar levels the playing field for transactions big and small, and everyone benefits, especially the poor, who often cannot afford the high costs of small savings,” Chowdhury said.

With Choudhury’s help, we hope to, as he writes, help “remove most of the transaction costs” so that everyone can participate in the global economy.