Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Crypto

The US Treasury’s bid for smart regulation

Innovation vs Illicit Finance: Why the Future of Crypto Compliance is Intelligent The US Treasury just produced an interesting document about digital assets, innovation and criminal activity. It’s well worht a read, so download the report here … but, if you can’t be bothered, here is my view. There is a familiar pattern whenever a new…

How Crypto Is Quietly Solving Problems That Go Way Beyond Money

Most people think of crypto as solely part of the  finance world. Buy a Bitcoin, see the price either rise or fall, and sell when it is high. Beneath it all, though, the crypto world has been compelled to solve some truly difficult technical challenges – and solutions are beginning to emerge in areas that…

What does programmable money mean for treasury operations?

I had a lovely deep-dive conversation with Martin Hargreaves, Chief Product Officer at Quant, during our webinar about how programmable money and liquidity are transforming corporate treasury and financial infrastructure. Martin gave me a great definition: “Programmable money is money that responds to external events and conditions while preserving its fundamental nature. The money itself…

Is Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, “full of sh*t”?

When the Genius Act was signed off last year by President Trump, I said that it was positioned to keep the dollar as the reserve currency of the world. Now, a new debate arises after Jamie Dimon (Chair of JPMorgan) and Brian Armstrong (CEO, Coinbase) had a spat at Davos. Did you hear about it? Probably…

Cryptocurrencies are rife with scams and money laundering

This is not a headline I am happy to share but, after being scammed, it is time to share it. After all, you would think that, working in finance, I would be savvy to all criminal scams. I’m not. Sure, the SMS that says a parcel couldn’t be delivered or the email saying that I’m…

Things worth reading: 26th January 2026

Things we’re reading today include … Bank of England admits inflation bungle European life insurers’ systemic risk ‘non-trivial’ European banks take a fresh crack at Wall Street Fintech Adviser Titan Hit With Second SEC Penalty Over “Misleading” 2,700% Crypto Return Claims Lloyds to train all 67,000 staff in AI as banks go digital Fintechs should…

Quantum-proofing money, a report by BIS

My friend Lory Kehoe spotted a white paper by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) that was released in December discussing Project Leap, a deep technical experiment showing that core payment systems can migrate to post-quantum cryptography without breaking how money moves today. It’s a fascinating paper and an important one for us fintech nerds,…

My next new book: “Intelligent Bank”

I just got a summary of my new book from the publishers. It comes out in the summer but, for those interested, here are the key messages: Core Thesis The book argues that banking is entering its third great technological revolution: Mainframe era → automation and scale Digital era → connectivity, mobile, fintech, experience Intelligence…

What will happen to fintech and crypto in 2026?

How could I write a series of 2026 predictions without a specific focus on fintech and cryptocurrencies? The headlines are that: Systems Become Proactive: Technology shifts from reacting to events to anticipating needs AI Becomes Invisible Infrastructure: Intelligence moves from tools to embedded decision-making Digital Layers Disappear into Daily Life: Identity, security, payments, and compliance…

What is your crypto personality?

Everyone and their weird cousin is invested today. In crypto, of course. Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, even Dogecoin, or its low-rank pup Floki. Cryptocurrencies are constantly on the news, social media is buzzing, and one in about a gazillion investors wins big. We’re not even debating here if the notion of digital assets has merit as…