Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

How America was built on fake money

For those who follow my blog regularly you will know that I am a notaphilist or, if you prefer, someone who collects old banknotes. I can’t help myself. As the Bank of England seeks to replace Winston Churchill with a fish … … and Alan Turing with a hedgehog … … I was fascinated to stumble across…

The Finanser’s Week: 8th June – 14th June 2026

This week’s main blog discussions include … Diary of a Ponzi Scheme and it’s all about tokenisation I’ve just launched another new book! After the successful launch of Intelligent Bank with Huawei a few weeks ago I had, in the meantime, developed another book: Diary of a Ponzi Scheme. The scheme is all about Clint who creates a “Token…

When crypto fails, hackers win

For years, Decentralised Finance (DeFi) has sold itself as the future of finance: transparent, decentralised, unstoppable. Now one of the most respected security figures in crypto is saying: get out whilst you still can. Manuel Aráoz, co-founder of OpenZeppelin, believes AI has fundamentally changed the security equation in decentralised finance but his latest warning is…

Scambook … how Meta has become the world’s biggest scambank

For years, banks have been criticised for fraud. Today, a growing number of bankers are asking a different question: why are banks paying for fraud that originates elsewhere? Across the world, consumer groups, regulators, banks and campaigners are increasingly pointing to the same source of online scams: Meta’s platforms, particularly Facebook and Instagram. This is…

Tokenisation is a massive transformation

Barclays Bank wrote an article with the core message that tokenisation is moving finance from a world of messaging and reconciliation to a world of programmable, instantly settled value, which will be the most significant change to money since the arrival of electronic banking. They argue that tokenisation is the next major stage in the…

Diary of a Ponzi Scheme and it’s all about tokenisation

I’ve just launched another new book! After the successful launch of Intelligent Bank with Huawei a few weeks ago I had, in the meantime, developed another book: Diary of a Ponzi Scheme. The scheme is all about Clint who creates a “Token Fund”. Investing in digital currencies and real world asset tokens, he suckers friends, contacts and his network…

Best Newsletter of the Year Award (please vote for me!)

I am excited to share that I have been named a finalist for the Newsletter of the Year award by Thinkers360, thanks to my content! I would greatly appreciate the support of my content fans by taking a moment to vote for me. You can cast your vote here: https://www.thinkers360.com/tl/profiles/view/15475 By clicking it = a…

The Finanser’s Week: 1st June – 7th June 2026

This week’s main blog discussions include … Monzo, Revolut and Starling: the quiet emergence of Britain’s Banking Champions For years, the conversation around digital banks focused on whether they could survive. Today, the question is very different: what are they becoming? The latest results from Monzo, Revolut and Starling reveal something remarkable. These institutions are…

McKinsey: banks are richer and more threatened than ever

The latest McKinsey Global Banking Annual Review paints a fascinating picture of modern banking and shows that the industry is both richer than ever and more threatened than ever. On the surface, everything looks fantastic. Global banking generated around $1.3 trillion in net income in 2025, making it one of the most profitable industries on…