Dirk Baur

Dirk Baur holds the position of Professor in Finance at The University of Western Australia, within the Business School. He obtained a Master’s degree in Economics and his Ph.D. in Financial Econometrics from the University of Tübingen in 2003. Before joining UWA, his career trajectory encompassed roles such as Research Officer at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission from 2003 to 2005, focusing on financial impact assessment; Post-doctoral Fellow at Trinity College Dublin from 2005 to 2007; Lecturer at Dublin City University from 2007 to 2009; Senior Lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney from 2009 to 2012; Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Technology Sydney from 2009 to 2014; and Associate Professor of Finance at Kuehne Logistics University in Hamburg from 2012 to 2015.

Dirk Baur specializes in financial economics and financial econometrics, with expertise in the economics of gold and cryptocurrencies, volatility and correlation modeling, safe haven assets, diversification and risk mitigation, and the tokenization of commodities emphasizing environmental impact and climate change. He serves as Director of the UWA Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Research Centre. His prolific output includes over 70 articles, 3 book chapters, and 2 working papers. Key publications are "Is Gold a Hedge or a Safe Haven? An Analysis of Stocks, Bonds and Gold" (2010, cited more than 3,450 times), "Bitcoin: Medium of Exchange or Speculative Assets?" (2018), "The volatility of Bitcoin and its role as a medium of exchange and a store of value" (2021, over 400 citations), "Are stablecoins the money market mutual funds of the future?" (2024), and "Alternative investment behavior of households during crises: The effects of the COVID-19 shock on gold purchases in India" (2025). Baur was awarded the Swift Institute grant of $15,000 for Bitcoin research in 2015 and named one of Australia's top 10 researchers in Business and Economics by the Australian Research Council in 2021, reflecting his substantial impact on the field.

Professional Email: dirk.baur@uwa.edu.au