Dear Faculty and Fellow Ph.D. Students,

I cordially invite you to attend my dissertation defense presentation scheduled for Monday, August 18th, from 2:00 to 3:30 PM EST. The presentation will be held in Scheller College of Business, Room 312.

You are also welcome to join remotely via the provided Zoom link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/8196185181

An overview is included below, and copies of the dissertation will be made available upon request.

Best regards,

Fred Hu

Ph.D. Candidate in Finance

Area: Finance

Committee Members: Dr. Sudheer Chava (Chair), Dr. Alex Hsu, Dr. Manasa Gopal, Dr. Rohan Ganduri, Dr. Nikhil Paradkar (University of Georgia)

Title: Digital Wagers, Physical Pillars: Essays on FinTech, Banking and Small Businesses

Dissertation Overview:

Essay 1: Gambling on Crypto Tokens?

We proxy retail investor attention through Google Trends and find that fungible and non-fungible crypto tokens generate greater attention from high–gambling propensity regions. Crypto attention is higher during bubble-like episodes in the crypto market and for more lottery-like tokens. Moreover, retail crypto attention decreases after sports gambling is legalized. Higher token attention is associated with more contributors and higher fundraising. However, consumer credit default rates spike after periods of high crypto attention, but solely in the subprime segment. Overall, our findings suggest that gambling preferences strongly predict retail investor interest in the crypto market.

Essay 2: Do Bank Branches Matter for Small Businesses? Evidence from Bank Branch Closures

Using unique small business transaction data, we study how banks’ physical branch presence impacts local small business performance. We instrument exogenous bank branch closures using merchant-level and census tract-level exposure to merger-induced branch consolidation. We find that branch closures lead to a decline in local small business sales, fewer entries, and more exits. These effects are associated with a decrease in local small business lending. The impact is more pronounced for smaller and more remote merchants, particularly in the retail and dining sectors. We also find that the negative effects are mitigated in areas with better internet access, suggesting a partial substitutability of digital banking and fintech services. More importantly, the effect on small business entry diminishes as the number of branches recovers to the pre-shock level, while the effects on sales and exits last much longer. Our findings shed light on the importance of banks’ physical presence in acquiring soft information and potentially reducing local small business lending friction.