Research in Causality-Bounded Finance
Examining how finite information propagation affects market structure, efficiency, and design — with applications from infrastructure finance to interplanetary commerce.
The Space Finance Institute is an independent research initiative examining how physical constraints on information transmission shape financial markets and economic systems.
Our work explores the implications of finite-speed communication for market microstructure, regulatory design, and institutional frameworks — addressing questions relevant to both existing infrastructure-dependent markets and future distributed economies.
We pursue rigorous theoretical and empirical research at the intersection of finance, physics, and institutional economics, developing frameworks that account for fundamental physical limitations in market design.
The Institute is the research initiative of Daniel Cheah, an Australian structured-finance practitioner. The working method is the structurer's: source proven components from any discipline, add only the missing part, and require the problem to close like a deal. Current work applies that method to financing structures for space assets.
Our research program addresses how communication constraints affect financial markets across multiple dimensions:
Mathematical frameworks for understanding market behavior when information propagation is finite and predictable.
How communication infrastructure affects market efficiency, with applications to network disruptions and infrastructure valuation.
Policy implications of latency-based market asymmetries and institutional design for physically-constrained markets.
Financial system design for extreme-latency environments, from satellite networks to future interplanetary commerce.
Our interdisciplinary approach combines methods from quantitative finance, econophysics, network theory, and institutional economics to address these questions rigorously.
A living map of the finance-under-physical-constraint literature: the works, the people who wrote them, and — the part citation databases cannot show — the connections that should exist but don't. Discovery is automated weekly; every entry and every edge is curated by hand, and missing-citation edges carry written justifications.
Map data is licensed CC BY and machine-readable. Suggestions of works that belong on the map are welcome.
Explore the Observatory →A framework for financial markets constrained by finite-speed information propagation. The paper restates no-arbitrage under causal filtrations, proves an obstruction result on which dynamics can carry martingale prices, and derives an operational bound on arbitrage reach together with the hedging cost of communication blackouts. The framework converges to classical finance as information speed grows without bound.
View on SSRN → Download PDF →This paper extends financial market theory into regimes where communication delays become economically significant. We demonstrate how relativistic causality constraints create distinct market regimes where traditional no-arbitrage conditions cannot hold, propose institutional mechanisms for distributed economies, and outline an empirical research agenda with applications from submarine cable finance to interplanetary commerce.
View on SSRN → Download PDF →Current work applies securitisation practice to space assets — financing structures that must function where collateral cannot be observed or repossessed during transit.
The Space Finance Institute welcomes collaboration and dialogue with researchers, practitioners, and institutions interested in the physical foundations of financial markets.
Partner on interdisciplinary research at the intersection of finance, physics, and institutional design.
Expert consultation on market infrastructure, latency-based market design, and regulatory frameworks.
Commentary on infrastructure finance, market structure, and regulatory implications of communication constraints.
For inquiries, please reach out via the contact information provided in our publications.