Welcome to The Finanser by Chris Skinner. The Finanser discusses all things fintech, finance, banking, technology and, most importantly, the future. Chris Skinner has been voted the most influential technologist in Britain and received a lifetime achievement award for his visionary approach to the future of money from the Payments Association. He has advised the…
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The last global banking crisis was driven by mortgages, leverage and institutions that all believed the same thing at the same time. The next one will be driven by machines doing exactly the same thing, except they will do it in milliseconds. For the last few years, everyone has talked about artificial intelligence (AI) as…
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I’ve written a lot about the Crypto President and the friction between the Trump administration’s legislation ranging from the GENIUS Act to GRANITE to CLARITY and you really could not make this stuff up. Will Donald Trump be the Crypto President? America is creating a war with Europe over digital money Donald Trump, the President…
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We spent the years after the financial crisis worrying about banks that were too big to fail. We forced them to hold more capital, more liquidity, write living wills, run stress tests and prove that governments would never again have to rescue the financial system because one enormous institution collapsed. Meanwhile, almost unnoticed outside technology…
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This week’s main blog discussions include … 25 years after 9/11: An attack on America, capitalism or the world? On Tuesday, 11th September 2001, I was flying back from Nice, France, after a conference. We arrived home and switched on the television. What we saw was horrific. At 8:46 that morning in New York, 13:46…
Read More
We spent the years after the financial crisis worrying about banks that were too big to fail. We forced them to hold more capital, more liquidity, write living wills, run stress tests and prove that governments would never again have to rescue the financial system because one enormous institution collapsed. Meanwhile, almost unnoticed outside technology…
Read MoreThere is a problem with the way we talk about cryptocurrency. Every time there is a major fraud, hack, Ponzi scheme or spectacular collapse involving crypto, the headlines quickly become another indictment of cryptocurrency itself: crypto is a scam; bitcoin is for criminals; digital currencies are dangerous … the whole thing should be shut down….
Read MoreThree months ago, I wrote a short piece about Revolut but, since then, there has been an extraordinary amount of Revolut news: a banking licence in France; full banking status in Britain; conditional approval for a US national bank; a banking licence in Australia; banking operations in Mexico; expansion into Finland; licences in the UAE;…
Read MoreThere is something wonderfully contradictory about the British payments system. Almost nobody outside banking knows who Pay.UK is, and yet almost everybody in Britain depends upon it. Salaries arrive, mortgages disappear from accounts, businesses pay suppliers, consumers transfer money and billions of Direct Debits quietly do their thing every year because an enormous piece of…
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There was a headline the other day that really annoyed me: Major Banks Are Racing to Appoint Chief AI Officers It annoyed me because it reveals something much deeper about how banks think. Whenever something becomes strategically important, banks respond by appointing a new executive to own it. AI is simply the latest example. For…
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Yes. The mistake is believing that the business case for AI is simply replacing people. If a bank employs 100 people costing £10 million and replaces them with AI costing £12 million, then viewed through the traditional cost-reduction spreadsheet AI has failed. Yet that calculation ignores what happens if those AI systems perform ten times…
Read MoreThere is a rather awkward conversation beginning in boardrooms about artificial intelligence. For the last few years, the question has been what AI can do, how quickly companies can deploy it and how many people it might replace, but the question now landing on the CFO’s desk is much simpler: how much is this stuff…
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Over the past year, I’ve been doing something slightly different. I’ve been writing fiction. Not just fiction, but Pulp Finction. The idea behind Pulp Finction is simple: Fun. Fact. Finance. Fiction. Keep track of the full series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HG6DP7C4 and here: https://pulpfinction.com/ I’ve spent most of my life writing and talking about banking, money, technology…
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For years, I have argued with executives at banks about digital transformation and technical debt, so I finally decided to write down why and the whole issue really boils down to leadership and laggardship. Here are my thoughts: Technical Debt: The Hidden Balance Sheet of Banking Banks understand debt. They understand principal, interest, refinancing, maturity…
Read MoreWe spent the years after the financial crisis worrying about banks that were too big to fail. We forced them to hold more capital, more liquidity, write living wills, run stress tests and prove that governments would never again have to rescue the financial system because one enormous institution collapsed. Meanwhile, almost unnoticed outside technology…
Read MoreThere is a problem with the way we talk about cryptocurrency. Every time there is a major fraud, hack, Ponzi scheme or spectacular collapse involving crypto, the headlines quickly become another indictment of cryptocurrency itself: crypto is a scam; bitcoin is for criminals; digital currencies are dangerous … the whole thing should be shut down….
Read MoreThree months ago, I wrote a short piece about Revolut but, since then, there has been an extraordinary amount of Revolut news: a banking licence in France; full banking status in Britain; conditional approval for a US national bank; a banking licence in Australia; banking operations in Mexico; expansion into Finland; licences in the UAE;…
Read MoreThere was a headline the other day that really annoyed me: Major Banks Are Racing to Appoint Chief AI Officers It annoyed me because it reveals something much deeper about how banks think. Whenever something becomes strategically important, banks respond by appointing a new executive to own it. AI is simply the latest example. For…
Read MoreYes. The mistake is believing that the business case for AI is simply replacing people. If a bank employs 100 people costing £10 million and replaces them with AI costing £12 million, then viewed through the traditional cost-reduction spreadsheet AI has failed. Yet that calculation ignores what happens if those AI systems perform ten times…
Read MoreThere is a rather awkward conversation beginning in boardrooms about artificial intelligence. For the last few years, the question has been what AI can do, how quickly companies can deploy it and how many people it might replace, but the question now landing on the CFO’s desk is much simpler: how much is this stuff…
Read MoreOver the past year, I’ve been doing something slightly different. I’ve been writing fiction. Not just fiction, but Pulp Finction. The idea behind Pulp Finction is simple: Fun. Fact. Finance. Fiction. Keep track of the full series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HG6DP7C4 and here: https://pulpfinction.com/ I’ve spent most of my life writing and talking about banking, money, technology…
Read MoreFor years, I have argued with executives at banks about digital transformation and technical debt, so I finally decided to write down why and the whole issue really boils down to leadership and laggardship. Here are my thoughts: Technical Debt: The Hidden Balance Sheet of Banking Banks understand debt. They understand principal, interest, refinancing, maturity…
Read More
The European Central Bank is moving the digital euro from policy discussion towards implementation. Its latest Digital Euro Scheme Rulebook goes deep into how the system would work, covering everything from customer journeys and APIs to merchant acceptance, fraud, disputes, settlement, security and certification. What is emerging looks less like another CBDC experiment and more…
Read MoreI’ve written a lot about the Crypto President and the friction between the Trump administration’s legislation ranging from the GENIUS Act to GRANITE to CLARITY and you really could not make this stuff up. Will Donald Trump be the Crypto President? America is creating a war with Europe over digital money Donald Trump, the President…
Read MoreThere is a problem with the way we talk about cryptocurrency. Every time there is a major fraud, hack, Ponzi scheme or spectacular collapse involving crypto, the headlines quickly become another indictment of cryptocurrency itself: crypto is a scam; bitcoin is for criminals; digital currencies are dangerous … the whole thing should be shut down….
Read MoreThree months ago, I wrote a short piece about Revolut but, since then, there has been an extraordinary amount of Revolut news: a banking licence in France; full banking status in Britain; conditional approval for a US national bank; a banking licence in Australia; banking operations in Mexico; expansion into Finland; licences in the UAE;…
Read MoreOver the past year, I’ve been doing something slightly different. I’ve been writing fiction. Not just fiction, but Pulp Finction. The idea behind Pulp Finction is simple: Fun. Fact. Finance. Fiction. Keep track of the full series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HG6DP7C4 and here: https://pulpfinction.com/ I’ve spent most of my life writing and talking about banking, money, technology…
Read MoreThe European Central Bank is moving the digital euro from policy discussion towards implementation. Its latest Digital Euro Scheme Rulebook goes deep into how the system would work, covering everything from customer journeys and APIs to merchant acceptance, fraud, disputes, settlement, security and certification. What is emerging looks less like another CBDC experiment and more…
Read MoreThere was a time when Donald Trump was not particularly keen on cryptocurrencies. In 2019, he declared that he was “not a fan” of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, arguing that they were highly volatile, based on thin air and potentially useful for unlawful activity. How things change. Today, President Trump is arguably the most important…
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Ten years ago on twitter, I kept getting messages from a guy called Preston Byrne about marmots. Marmots are basically the biggest squirrel in the world. Americans also call them woodchucks, although a woodchuck is a specific type of marmot, meaning all woodchucks are marmots, but not all marmots are woodchucks. They are most populous…
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Crypto has turbo-charged the Ponzi scheme There is something wonderfully predictable about a Ponzi scheme. It invariably begins with an extraordinary opportunity, usually involving a market, technology or investment strategy that is sufficiently complicated to discourage too many questions. It offers returns that make conventional investing look painfully dull, attracts a charismatic promoter who explains…
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Something quite important is happening in cryptocurrency, and it is easy to miss if you spend too much time watching the price of bitcoin. For most of crypto’s relatively short history, the discussion has been dominated by price. Bitcoin goes up. Bitcoin crashes. Ethereum rallies. Ethereum collapses. Somebody launches another token. Somebody loses a fortune….
Read MoreThe last global banking crisis was driven by mortgages, leverage and institutions that all believed the same thing at the same time. The next one will be driven by machines doing exactly the same thing, except they will do it in milliseconds. For the last few years, everyone has talked about artificial intelligence (AI) as…
Read MoreWe spent the years after the financial crisis worrying about banks that were too big to fail. We forced them to hold more capital, more liquidity, write living wills, run stress tests and prove that governments would never again have to rescue the financial system because one enormous institution collapsed. Meanwhile, almost unnoticed outside technology…
Read MoreThere is a problem with the way we talk about cryptocurrency. Every time there is a major fraud, hack, Ponzi scheme or spectacular collapse involving crypto, the headlines quickly become another indictment of cryptocurrency itself: crypto is a scam; bitcoin is for criminals; digital currencies are dangerous … the whole thing should be shut down….
Read MoreThree months ago, I wrote a short piece about Revolut but, since then, there has been an extraordinary amount of Revolut news: a banking licence in France; full banking status in Britain; conditional approval for a US national bank; a banking licence in Australia; banking operations in Mexico; expansion into Finland; licences in the UAE;…
Read MoreYes. The mistake is believing that the business case for AI is simply replacing people. If a bank employs 100 people costing £10 million and replaces them with AI costing £12 million, then viewed through the traditional cost-reduction spreadsheet AI has failed. Yet that calculation ignores what happens if those AI systems perform ten times…
Read MoreOver the past year, I’ve been doing something slightly different. I’ve been writing fiction. Not just fiction, but Pulp Finction. The idea behind Pulp Finction is simple: Fun. Fact. Finance. Fiction. Keep track of the full series here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HG6DP7C4 and here: https://pulpfinction.com/ I’ve spent most of my life writing and talking about banking, money, technology…
Read More
UBS versus Switzerland: when a bank becomes too big for its country There is a delicious irony developing in Switzerland. The country that spent generations building its reputation around the strength, discretion and stability of its banks now finds itself arguing with its largest bank over whether making that bank safer will make it weaker….
Read MoreThere was a time when Donald Trump was not particularly keen on cryptocurrencies. In 2019, he declared that he was “not a fan” of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, arguing that they were highly volatile, based on thin air and potentially useful for unlawful activity. How things change. Today, President Trump is arguably the most important…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … Crypto wanted to get rid of banks. Now they are banks. When Bitcoin launched in 2008, the whole idea was to get rid of banks and intermediaries. In 2026, they’ve learned the lesson I learnt years ago. That’s how the world works. You need intermediaries. The whole idea…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Trump caves to tougher ethics crackdown as his crypto fortune faces scrutiny What Will XRP Be Worth by 2028? Treasury hits Russia’s VTB Bank with new sanctions over Iran ties UK banks kick off fundraising in bid to create new payments giant Deutsche Bank survey finds confidence returning to…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Nigel Farage lands record £36m donation for Reform Reform receives second £36m donation in two days as crypto investor matches record Who are Reform UK’s two mega-donors? (they are both crypto billionaires) Visa, MasterCard and Anthropic are now working together Revolut confirms customer data breach through fake government requests…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … 25 years after 9/11: An attack on America, capitalism or the world? On Tuesday, 11th September 2001, I was flying back from Nice, France, after a conference. We arrived home and switched on the television. What we saw was horrific. At 8:46 that morning in New York, 13:46…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Crypto platforms lost billions to cyberattacks, many even after audits Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, made more than $250 million through crypto investments while in government Innovate Finance report calls for government action to unlock UK fintech growth Growing pains: 3 regulatory themes FCA-authorised fintech leaders need on their…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Tokenised asset use could cut UK bank collateral needs by 30% Chime to buy nationally chartered Stride Bank for $590 million, shares jump Block Pursues National Trust Bank Charter to Custody Crypto How Central Banks Can Win the Digital Currency Race China’s $54bn capital boost for banks falls far…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … Conflicts Accelerate Cryptocurrency Adoption in the Middle East Hunter Biden Launching $LAPTOP Memecoin Bitcoin hack drains $320 mn from crypto network in latest security breach HSBC and BNP Paribas Trial FX Tokenised Deposit With Swift Inside Italy’s banking M&A boom — and why Wall Street is watching China’s central…
Read MoreThings we’re reading today include … China to pump $54bn into state banks and insurers to boost economy FATF exposes hawala networks fuelling money laundering Nigel Farage’s family members ‘have bank accounts frozen because of their association to him’ Moody’s warns banks over AI tech dependency Deutsche Bank led $1bn of troubled lending to Hollywood…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … The true cost of AI (Part One) There is a rather awkward conversation beginning in boardrooms about artificial intelligence. For the last few years, the question has been what AI can do, how quickly companies can deploy it and how many people it might replace, but the question…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … 25 years after 9/11: An attack on America, capitalism or the world? On Tuesday, 11th September 2001, I was flying back from Nice, France, after a conference. We arrived home and switched on the television. What we saw was horrific. At 8:46 that morning in New York, 13:46…
Read More
This week’s main blog discussions include … The true cost of AI (Part One) There is a rather awkward conversation beginning in boardrooms about artificial intelligence. For the last few years, the question has been what AI can do, how quickly companies can deploy it and how many people it might replace, but the question…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … The SWOT of AI in banking I was sitting this morning and thinking about how fantastic Agentic AI, autonomous commerce and programmable money is. It is the focus of my next Pulp Finction book Birth of a Unicorn being released in December. The thing is that there is…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … The TrustWeb: Revisiting the Origins of Moneykind Ten years ago, I wrote a series of blogs called The Origins of Moneykind. They accompanied the launch of Digital Human and explored a simple question: where does money come from? Looking back a decade later, I’m surprised how little I…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … Crypto wanted to get rid of banks. Now they are banks. When Bitcoin launched in 2008, the whole idea was to get rid of banks and intermediaries. In 2026, they’ve learned the lesson I learnt years ago. That’s how the world works. You need intermediaries. The whole idea…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … Innovators, Imitators and Idiots Warren Buffett observed years ago that every market eventually sorts itself into three groups: innovators, imitators and idiots. It is deliberately unfair but, like most good aphorisms, it contains more than a grain of truth. The innovators invent something genuinely new. The imitators wait until…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … PayPal, Stripe and Adyen: three companies, three futures Back in 2021, PayPal was worth around $360 billion. Today it is worth closer to $50 billion. That’s one of the biggest destructions of market value we’ve seen in fintech, and yet it isn’t because the company stopped growing. Quite…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … Banks exist because trust doesn’t scale Some days, the financial news seems to have nothing whatsoever in common but yesterday there were four stories where I saw a link. The first is a US senator demanding answers from Barclays over Jes Staley’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Then there…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … Pulp Finction arrives … and the reviews are in One of the things I have always struggled with is that most books about finance are either informative or entertaining. Very few manage to be both. That was the motivation behind writing Diary of a Ponzi Scheme. Rather than…
Read MoreThis week’s main blog discussions include … Crypto and Politico: One Step Beyond For years I thought cryptocurrency was a fascinating financial experiment. It challenged banks, questioned governments and forced regulators to think differently about money. What I hadn’t fully appreciated was that it wasn’t just disrupting finance. It was quietly becoming a force in…
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