Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

The Finanser’s Week: 16th September – 22nd September 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include … Schrödinger’s Cat, qubits and the future of everything I’ve spent a long time trying to get under the hood of Quantum Computing and always come back to Schrödinger’s Cat. Schrödinger’s Cat is a famous thought experiment that demonstrates the idea in quantum physics that tiny particles can be in…

Schrödinger’s Cat, qubits and the future of everything

I’ve spent a long time trying to get under the hood of Quantum Computing and always come back to Schrödinger’s Cat. Schrödinger’s Cat is a famous thought experiment that demonstrates the idea in quantum physics that tiny particles can be in two states at once until they’re observed. It asks you to imagine a cat in…

The Future of Money: Unconscious Banking?

You may have seen my shameless plug of the new book Intelligent Money: When Money Thinks For You … well, here’s another one. After a podcast with my friends in Finland, who quite like my thinking, Pål Krogdahl wrote up his thoughts on our chat on LinkedIn. I really enjoyed his summary, so here it is. Meanwhile, you can…

Will Big Tech destroy Big Banks?

For years, I’ve said that Big Tech will crunch the periphery of finance – payments, cards, credit and such like – but will not try and dig into the core of deposit-taking banking because it’s too regulated and difficult. Instead, they are far more likely to partner with banks than do banking. That view still…

In a world of change, where is the answer?

For over a decade technology has been transforming the financial world with the rise of the newly integrated markets of fintech. What is interesting is the nuance of this revolution is not playing out in Europe or America, but in Asia, Africa and South Americas. We have seen this since the late 2000s when everyone…

Wake up regulators, the BaaS revolution threatens all

In a letter last week, democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen expressed concerns about bank and fintech partnerships last week, sparked by what looks like the collapse of Synapse. The letter is addressed to the heads of the FDIC, Federal Reserve and Office of the Comproller of the Currency. We write with concern…

The Finanser’s Week: 9th September – 15th September 2024

This week’s main blog discussions include …          What does Kamala Harris think of crypto? It seems weird to debate a US presidential election based on attitudes towards cryptocurrencies but, as previously blogged, Donald Trump is very pro-crypto. His attitude turned with NFTs of his image. Nothing like narcissism. Back then, I was blogging about Donald…

Licensed to trust

I’ve been talking about trust a lot lately, as that’s the basis of why you put money in a bank. You trust them. Why do you trust them? Well, it’s not because of their brand or their branch. It’s because they are licensed and promise to guarantee that they will not lose your money or,…

What does Kamala Harris think of crypto?

It seems weird to debate a US presidential election based on attitudes towards cryptocurrencies but, as previously blogged, Donald Trump is very pro-crypto. His attitude turned with NFTs of his image. Nothing like narcissism. Back then, I was blogging about Donald Trump vs Joe Biden, and Biden looking like a loser. Now, we have Donald…

Do we need CBDCs?

Everyone seems to be talking about CBDCs: Central Bank Digital Currencies. They are being launched to stem the tide of cryptocurrencies, but it makes you ask: what’s the difference. A CBDC is backed by a government; a cryptocurrency is backed by decentralised democracy. Not much difference there then. The Bank of England defines CBDC as…