You do know that money isn’t real, don’t you?

I was struck by a post on LinkedIn by Eleanor Hill, who focuses on treasury systems, reflecting on what has changed in the past decade. She mentions five things, as that was what was asked, namely:

• AI for everyone
• APIs and real-time treasury
• The return of active risk management
• The ESG rollercoaster
• DEI for better decision-making

I was thinking: what about cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and CBDCs. Eleanor replied that these are next decade. But then I was thinking: what about agentic AI, quantum computing, robotics, life sciences, the metaverse, multiplanetary living and other things.

It made me realise the pace of change, and how the pace of change is on steroids.

Things used to change gradually. We developed, evolved and learned. These days, it seems that we just innovate and disrupt. Is that a good or a bad thing? Who knows – go and watch Black Mirror. Is it going to stop? No. What do you do about it? Well, as Charles Darwin said, those who are the most adaptive to change survive, so we just have to keep up, adapt and change.

That sounds great, but what if you cannot keep up, adapt or change?

Most of the traditional financial institutions I deal with are in that uncomfortable position. They are trying to keep up, but their organisation cannot. Note that I am not saying their systems. It is the organisation.

My favourite example that I refer to often is McKinsey who, when YouTube was acquired by Google back in 2006, had an urgent meeting to find out: what is YouTube? No one knew and, when the CEO entered youtube.com on his corporate computer, the computer said NO, you are firewalled out.

Twenty years ago, things were changing fast we thought. There was Facebook and social media emerging, and people were creating and posting, rather than receiving and digesting. Twenty years later, everything is out of control. Everything is decentralised, connected, networked, empowered and enabled. Today with NFTs, memes, GenZ and GenA (Generation Alpha) and more are changing our world daily. How do you keep up?

By way of example, my children play Roblux non-stop. They get a good chunk of pocket money every month and immediately sink it into Roblux Robux. 2,000 Robux are worth just over £1 or, in today’s currency conversions, around $1.35 … or is it?

It makes me realise that we talk about crypto, stablecoins, CBDCs and then we move to the metaverse and World of Warcraft Gold, robux, minecoins, memecoins, dogecoins and more, and I have no idea what is real money, fake money or what. Do you?

It reminds me of that front page of Business Week way back in 2006 when Anshe Chung became a real life millionaire selling properties as virtual realtor in Second Life …

There are now more currencies than countries in the world. You can buy and sell whichever you choose but, just a word of advice … if they don’t translate into reality then they are worthless. I would stick with Gold if I were you.

 

Disclaimer

This blog is intended solely for general guidance and information purposes. It is not to be used or considered as financial or investment advice, a recommendation, an offer to sell, or a solicitation to buy any currencies, securities, cryptomemes, virtual coins or any other financial assets.