Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

Future

What is the future?

I was chatting with a friend the other day, who pointed out my predictions. I don’t like to talk about them, as I’ve made so many, but he focused upon how accurate most of them have been. I was one of the first to talk about the impact of China and India on the future…

Regulation is meant to strangle innovation

I guess I’ll build on yesterday’s blog, about the python of regulation, by harking back to a comment I heard many years ago in Brussels. Talking with one of the key regulators, I asked why they had the regulation in place with so much interpretation. My point was that Italy was implementing the regulation in…

Can we change The System? Yes, we can … ish

I woke up yesterday to find this story on Sifted, the Financial Times newish platform dedicated to innovation and FinTech: Fintechs to cosy up with politicians to counter ‘big bank lobby’ It’s interesting, especially for a guy like me who has hovered around all of the lobbies mentioned. The gist of the article is that…

The People’s Republic of the Network

I’ve talked a lot about GloLo – the integration of local with global. This is where physical and digital come together, and has clearly been demonstrated during the pandemic. I’m local – locked in and not going anywhere – but I’m global – I’m video-calling every day to everywhere in the world. In the context…

Stripe: the Amazon of finance?

I hadn’t realised the significance of Stripe’s recent press release until I stumbled over the Stratechery write-up over the weekend. Stratechery points out that Stripe has gone from a simple merchant checkout API to a platform of platforms. The significance of that? Well, think of the Amazon of finance: that’s Stripe’s ambition. So, what was…

Should we … push the button?

I wrote the other day about machines becoming human, and said they would not be … but what if they were or, more importantly, what if machines stopped needing humans? This is the dystopian future of Terminator and more, where humans become redundant and we create our own destruction and replacement. I’ve always said that…

It’s beginning to look a lot like banking …

I wrote this the other day for Channel News Asia: FinTech firms may look like banks soon The gist of my thread is that, due to Ant Group offloading all of their risk to banks, the authorities are now stepping in to say that any innovator, even one as big as Ant, needs to be…

Is bitcoin becoming respectable?

As bitcoin’s pricing goes up and down as usual – almost $18,000 today (who bought a few for a $1?) – it seems like the world is moving towards cryptocurrencies, as they are now respectable. They’re not respectable in the eyes of governments and banks … Bitcoin has no role in institutional or retail investors…

Is Google going head-to-head with banks?

We talk a lot about Big Tech moving into big banking … but then we have talked about that for years. Now, with the revamped strategy for Google towards payments and finance, is Big Tech finally making its move into big banking? If you didn’t catch the announcements, here’s the gist of it. Google will…

The ABC of CBDCs

I’ve been talking quite a bit about CBDCs lately. CBDCs? Central Bank Digital Currencies. Central banks worldwide are looking at digital currencies as a great new future. Instead of letting citizens move to bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, have ours. Well, that’s the idea anyway. China was leading the way here, and has trialled a digital…

Chris Skinner Keynote, April 2025, Europe

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

What is the future?

Learn more

Learn more about Chris

About Chris Skinner

The Past, Present And Future Of Banking, Finance And Technology

Fintech expert Chris Skinner: countries need digital transformation to remain competitive

Join me on Linkedin

Follow Me on X!

Hire Chris Skinner for dinners, workshops and more

Learn directly from from one of the most influential people in technology, gain insights from the world's most innovative companies, and build a global network.

Chris’s latest book

Order now

Chris Skinner’s ‘Intelligent Money’ Book Launch Event

Top 30 Regtech Blogs

Top 40 UK Fintech Blogs

Lifetime Achievement Award

Kids creating the future bank | TEDxAthens

Alex at the Financial Services

Gaping Void's Hugh MacLeod worked with the Finanser