I talk a lot about libertarian versus statist views in the context of cryptocurrencies. We talk a lot about decentralised finance versus central bank finance in the context of CBDCs and such like. In general, many are discussing democratisation through decentralisation versus centralisation through control. Who wins and who loses? When the network does not…
The Financial Brand published an interesting piece challenging the use of the word bank in a brand. It got me thinking, and agreeing with their summation, which is yes. Sure, you can have Chime, Chase, Citizens and Truist, but is that the right thing. In fact, on the last point, the use of the word…
I’ve recently engaged with Dr Gail Bradbrook, Co-Founder of Extinction Rebellion and asked if she would write a monthly column for The Finanser. Thankfully she agreed and so at the start of each month I will offer Gail a voice on The Finanser. Here is the first one: Are we paid to be stupid and dishonest,…
South Park recently did a great skit on NFTs, and one line really resonated with me: The reason the line works so well is that money and finance, markets and companies, countries and laws, are all about beliefs. That’s the basic underlying fundamental. If you believe this contract with this currency authorised by this government…
Crypto is in its usual rollercoaster mode with bitcoin prices halving in January, but then it did the same in January 2021. Regardless of this and, building on yesterday’s blog, there’s an interesting trend I’ve spotted, and it is the reason why bitcoin is not going away. The trend is that if you live in…
Lots of folks are talking Web3, but what is Web3 and why isn’t it Web 3.0? I guess, like with all things, we abbreviate and so Web3 is the next wave network that will revolutionize everything. So what is it? Web3, as envisioned by the Web3 Foundation, will be a public internet where data and content…
The worlds’ rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Does it always have to be that way? In 2020, the world's super-rich enjoyed a record rise in their wealth. Here's how the world's wealthiest can put their money to use: https://t.co/3sVoeYqqDF pic.twitter.com/JYvppQCsUI — World Economic Forum (@wef) January 13, 2022 Not necessarily. It was…
I took a contrarian view and said that FinTech investments worldwide would plateau in 2022. Interestingly, 2021 was a record year. Just looking at the figures from Innovate Finance, you can see things were still on fire: Sector bounces back from pandemic – 217% overall YoY investment increase in the UK Total capital invested in…
