The past few weeks in crypto news recall that title of the second movie from the original Star Wars trilogy. U.S. regulators are eyeing crypto regulation for protection and territory. As Bloomberg reports this week, "Crypto faces a reckoning in Washington as U.S. regulators prepare to clamp down on the rapidly growing industry." I won't belabor the point, but will provide a … [Read more...] about Crypto Regulation: The Empire Strikes Back
ESG and the Investment Narrative
ESG continues to be an increasingly important to investors. What it emphasizes can mean a lot of different things to different people, but at its core it’s about investment that looks beyond the bottom line to put money to work on causes near and dear to an investor’s heart. But finding good ESG data to meet increasingly sophisticated client needs is difficult – reporting … [Read more...] about ESG and the Investment Narrative
Remembering 9/11
Today is the 20th anniversary of that tragic event. It resulted in more social, political, and economic change than anything in most of our lifetimes until the pandemic. Including payments, as I wrote about in Is Covid-19 Payments’ 9/11 Moment? The article links to one of the lesser-known changes wrought by the attack. It took the 9/11 crisis to get U.S. federal … [Read more...] about Remembering 9/11
Eyeing Crypto
U.S. regulators are playing catch-up with crypto. The phrase appeared a number of times in this week's media reporting sparked by concerns over the lending of digital assets by cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. The Sept. 11 Quartz newsletter, gives the most succinct overview and background of U.S. crypto regulation I found. Senior … [Read more...] about Eyeing Crypto
The Convergence of CeFi and DeFi: The Banks’ Big Opportunity
The following is a guest post from Richard Gendal Brown, Chief Technology Officer at R3, an enterprise blockchain firm. In keeping with our focus on the adoption of digital assets by mainstream regulated markets, Brown argues: "While the utopian ideal of full decentralisation is unrealistic for financial markets, integration with and adoption of the good parts can be utilised, … [Read more...] about The Convergence of CeFi and DeFi: The Banks’ Big Opportunity
Crypto Investments and Faster Payments Meet the Unbanked and Unequal
Who can easily take advantage of the benefits of digital financial services and who cannot? Taken together, this list of articles and research papers shows that cash is no longer king. They also suggest increasing income inequality. The ticket to the digital economy and its efficiencies and rewards is a bank account. Bridging the gap between cash and digital has policy … [Read more...] about Crypto Investments and Faster Payments Meet the Unbanked and Unequal