Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

What is Regenerative Finance (ReFi) (Part One)

I’ve been talking a lot about DeFi, CeFi and HyFi, and someone said: what about ReFi? ReFi? What’s that? Well, ReFi is all about Regenerative Finance, a system to rebuild Earth. Therefore, having shined a light on Gail Bradbrook’s thinking (she’s co-founder of Extinction Rebellion) for the last months, I’m pleased to introduce you to…

The Finanser’s Week: 26th September – 2nd October 2022

The main blog discussions this week include … CeFi, DeFi? No, it’s HyFi with WiFi! Growing up hi-fi was High Fidelity, the best way to hear music. In 2022, HyFi is hybrid finance, the best way to use money. HyFi combines CeFi with DeFi. I don’t believe you can just have one. DeFi works for…

Are you DeFi-ned?

I’m talking so much about decentralised finance (DeFi) these days. I guess because I’m grappling with whether DeFi can replace CeFi (centralised finance). This tension is real. Can a world without borders on a global network replace the world with borders in a centralised network? It’s hard to say, but it’s fascinating to watch. A…

Another day in Cryptoland: the failure of Celsius

I don’t write often about the Wild West cases of  Cryptoland – well, I do actually – but this latest one is a pearler so, here we go! I’m adding this to the ten (no, twenty, thirty, forty, hundred or more) cases of bad actors in the Cryptoland. In this case Alex and Krissy Mashinsky, a…

CeFi, DeFi? No, it’s HyFi with WiFi!

Growing up hi-fi was High Fidelity, the best way to hear music. In 2022, HyFi is hybrid finance, the best way to use money. HyFi combines CeFi with DeFi. I don’t believe you can just have one. DeFi works for small things; CeFi is required for big things; HyFi allows both to work seamlessly. What…

Money over Internet Protocol (MoIP): who issues and regulates it?

I found a very interesting column on Forbes by Caitlin Long. She compares banking to the telco industry twenty-five years ago, and that the big telecoms firms all went bankrupt because they didn’t predict or see the impact of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). I really enjoyed the article but, at the same time, found it…

The Finanser’s Week: 19th September – 25th September 2022

This week’s main blog discussions include … If finance was a football team I had this strange dream the other night where I wondered what a financial institution would look like as a football team. Sure, it’s a weird thing to dream about, but it made sense, so I woke up and wrote down the…

If finance was a football team

I had this strange dream the other night where I wondered what a financial institution would look like as a football team. Sure, it’s a weird thing to dream about, but it made sense, so I woke up and wrote down the dream before going back to sleep again. Here is that dream: Welcome to…

Why do we always end up with another standard?

Do we just end up with another standard? This cartoon strip amused me … … shared by my friend Theo. In fact, I blogged a while ago [2016] about “Standards – which one do you want?” The thing is that standards strike at the heart as to why blockchain has not really worked yet [I also…