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Do you need to be a bank in real life to be a bank in virtual life?

Vitalik Buterin, the guy who created Ethereum cryptocurrency and smart contracts, blogged the other day about what happens when AI and blockchain collide. Funnily enough, that’s the theme of my new book Intelligent Money. Vitalik cites four major areas where blockchain and AI will make a difference, and each has different ramifications. The focal point…

How can AI minimise fraud?

Someone came up with the idea of running a series of events called Dinner with Skinner … no idea who would have thought that up … and so I run and moderate many discussions with fintech firms and bankers around the topics chosen by sponsors. The latest one was looking at a key question: how…

Could Apple solve the digital identity issue?

Every day I am finding security on my banking transactions more and more annoying. The reason? I have to confirm via a secondary approval the transaction; I then have to confirm the secondary approval with the vendor with a further secondary approval with the financial provider; I then have to process a further approval through…

Mobile money includes everyone … or does it?

I’ve said for years that the mobile network revolution includes everyone. Anyone who can find a friend with a mobile telephone can talk, trade and transact. Many have mocked my message, but the message is consistent: technology has transformed our planet. This is evidenced by that there are almost four billion more mobile connections than people…

AI is not big … it’s HUGE!

A few years ago, a bank CIO said to me that he was not that bothered about blockchain technologies, as these involved many externalities; he was far more interested in AI, as this could make breakthroughs with internalities. In case his words are lost in translation, what he meant is that blockchain would not deliver return…

Everybody wants to rule the world … well no, Apple does

Apple rules the world. Assailed by Google/Alphabet, Facebook/Meta, Samsung and more, Apple has sustained an incredible trajectory to become a three-trillion-dollar company. Apple is now worth more than the entire FTSE100 list of companies … In terms of competitors, only Microsoft comes close which, some say, is mainly due to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, but Apple’s dominance is…

Reality is just the fiction in our own minds

When I wrote Digital Human, the book was partly inspired by Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Hariri. Yuval’s moved on since then, written several more great books, and is now focused upon artificial intelligence (AI). So, I just watched a fascinating presentation from Yuval at the Frontiers conference. Most of the…

8 steps to innovation, as recommended by Robin Sharma

Just saw Robin Sharma speaking at an event on innovation, who spoke before me. If you don’t know him, he’s been writing about leadership and innovation for years and, by background, was trained as a lawyer. He’s also a self-help inspirational speaker which the cynic sceptic grumpy old man optimist in me is always useful. He…

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…

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