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Shaping the future of finance

Future

A circular economy or degrowth?

I launched the new book Digital for Good in London the other day, and was joined by many friends in my network. The main highlight of the event was a panel discussion on where we are going with four panellists: Gail Bradbrook, Co-founder, Extinction Rebellion Gihan A.M. Hyde, Founder & CEO, CommUnique Tram Anh Nguyen,…

So, how do we define money?

Benju Shah, Head of the Nordic BIS Innovation Hub for the Bank of International Settlements, followed up Sveinn’s session with a discussion defining money. When defining money, Benju started by saying it is for the public good. Hmmm … not so sure about this although Digital for Good is all about making that a reality. Money…

Money is just a belief

We had a great session in Oslo last week focused upon: what is money? The question comes up more and more in my thinking, especially when you look at cryptocurrencies, CBDCs, stablecoins and such like. We had many good presentations from MasterCard, the Norwegian Central Bank, Handelsbanken and even cameo Zoom appearances from Dave Birch…

Forget rock and roll, it’s now space and soul

I am regularly asked: what’s the next big thing? Answer: there isn’t one. There are just all the things we can see today that are building to the next big thing. What’s out there today? Web3; the metaverse; cryptocurrencies, digital currencies and CBDCs; artificial intelligence plus; blockchain, smart contracts and distributed ledger technologies in reality;…

I sold my soul for a token

Some years ago, as an April Fool, a firm offered a free download of a game as long as, in the terms and conditions, you agreed that they could now own your soul. It was silly, but most people agreed to the download with that condition, because they don’t read the terms and conditions. Luckily…

Is Apple finance going to change the world?

There’s a regular debate about whether BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) is a good or bad thing. There’s a big call for it to be regulated and comparisons with payday loans are made often. Nevertheless, it makes sense as many companies are now grabbing a slice of this space. The latest one is Apple. It amused…

SWIFT may not exist in five years, according to MasterCard

The CEO of MasterCard, Michael Miebach, stated at a conference the other day that SWIFT might no longer exist in next five years. Miebach was part of a panel on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) at the World Economic Forum (WEF) but, as Shashank Bhardwaj writes on Forbes, once the panel was over a Mastercard…

Life, materialism and privacy in 2030

The year is 2030. I own something, have privacy on demand, and life has been better and worse. Back in 2016, Ida Auken (Member of Parliament, Parliament of Denmark) had an article published on Forbes: “Welcome To 2030: I Own Nothing, Have No Privacy And Life Has Never Been Better”. It gained traction, as it…

Why crypto does and doesn’t make sense

I’ve been looking at buying a small property using my crypto savings. Practically, this creates an interesting dilemma as the seller wants the money in his bank account, whereas I’m trying to persuade him to sell with a payment to a crypto wallet. He doesn’t trust crypto wallets, and has never used them. So, what’s…

The rocky road of cryptocurrencies

During May, the floor fell out of the cryptocurrency markets with many losing their life savings. You can question why they had their life savings invested in cryptocurrencies in the first place, but what made the price fall so far, so fast? The answer is a combination of things, the core of which is a…

Intelligent Money: Our Future Is Where We Do Not Think About Money, As Our Money Thinks For Us

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