Shaping the future of finance
This week’s main blog discussions include … Crypto wanted to get rid of banks. Now they are banks. When Bitcoin launched in 2008, the whole idea was to get rid of banks and intermediaries. In 2026, they’ve learned the lesson I learnt years ago. That’s how the world works. You need intermediaries. The whole idea... The post The Finanser’s Week: August 10th – 16th August 2026 appeared first on Chris…
When Bitcoin launched in 2008, the whole idea was to get rid of banks and intermediaries. In 2026, they’ve learned the lesson I learnt years ago. That’s how the world works. You need intermediaries. The whole idea of bitcoin is that money can move from person to person, ownership could be established cryptographically and the... The post Crypto wanted to get rid of banks. Now they are banks.…
Things we re reading today include From MiCA to GENIUS: Why Crypto s Next Regulatory Test Is Cross-Border Coordination Thousands of crypto firms miss EU license deadline Bitcoin and Ethereum Nosedive as Market Panic Spreads: Have Bear Sentiments Finally Prevailed? AI-Stablecoin Convergence Set to Transform Payments and Banking Fintech Chime Explores Stablecoins as New Feature on... The post Things…
Something interesting is happening in fintech, and I think we may need to stop talking about fintech as though it is an industry sitting somewhere alongside banking. For most of the past twenty years, that distinction made sense because there were banks and there were fintech companies trying to disrupt particular parts of what banks... The post Fintech isn t disrupting banking it s eating it…
Things we re reading today include Regulation Proposals Fail To Calm Swiss Banks Worries Sentiment turns hawkish at 12 of 14 major central banks EU banking systems must be integrated Bank of England tests whether CBDCs and stablecoins can work together in a single payment, targeting the SME liquidity gap The 15 fintech startups that... The post Things worth reading: 13th August 2026 appeared first…
For years, banks have worried about technology companies eating their lunch. Fintech would destroy banking. BigTech would become banking. Digital wallets would disintermediate banks. Cryptocurrencies would replace banks. Stablecoins would replace deposits. Decentralised finance would replace everything. None of that quite happened. Now we have artificial intelligence and, this time, there may be a…
Things we re reading today include The European fintech American dream is being called into question CFIT s Anna Wallace on Fintech, SMEs and Digital IDs What Bunq’s OCC Rejection Teaches Foreign Fintechs Robinhood UK Users Can Now Trade More Than 50 Cryptos UK parliamentarians question banks over refusal to provide services to crypto firms The... The post Things worth reading: 12th August 2026…
I love this chart. Source: Avinash Kumar on LinkedIn Not because it is perfect. It isn t. No ecosystem chart ever is, and this one shows the companies as examples rather than an exhaustive list. I love it because it takes something I have been writing about for years and makes it visible. We keep talking... The post Today s banking system is radically different to yesterday s appeared first on…
Things we re reading today include European Fintechs Enter US Banking Market Revolut secures French bank licence in Europe expansion OCC rejects Bunq s bank charter application Robinhood brings zero-fee digital asset trading to UK FCA Scale-up Unit Welcomes ClearScore, Modulr, and Zilch to Boost UK Fintech Growth Banks’ refusal to take on crypto firms risks... The post Things worth reading: 11th…
For decades, the architecture of money was reasonably easy to understand. Banks held the money, central banks sat at the heart of national monetary systems, card networks connected merchants and consumers, and SWIFT connected banks across borders. It was complicated behind the scenes, but the basic structure had been remarkably stable for years. Then the... The post The new global money stack…
Things we re reading today include The Deutsche Bank MD who became a Reiki Master after a breakdown SpaceX shows the benefits of cross-selling if big banks can handle the conflicts What Should a 21st-Century Central Bank Look Like? Moody’s warns bank AI race risks “systemic dependency” on Silicon Valley AI push is putting banks... The post Things worth reading: 10th August 2026 appeared first on…
This week’s main blog discussions include … Innovators, Imitators and Idiots Warren Buffett observed years ago that every market eventually sorts itself into three groups: innovators, imitators and idiots. It is deliberately unfair but, like most good aphorisms, it contains more than a grain of truth. The innovators invent something genuinely new. The imitators wait until... The post The…
Corporate treasuries face a silent crisis that is changing how they hold cash. Holding massive reserves in local fiat bank accounts was once safe. But high inflation and currency fluctuations make idle cash a financial liability. This creates several challenges for mid-tier corporate treasuries, requiring modern solutions. The Modern Corporate Treasury Crisis Historically, only massive... The post…
I just came across a useful paper on the SUERF website: Tokenised deposits: old wine in new bottles? by Alistair Milne of Loughborough University The paper focuses upon whether tokenised bank deposits are actually doing anything new? His answer is sometimes, but nowhere near as much as the hype suggests. The starting point is the... The post Tokenized deposits: Old wine in new bottles? appeared…
Things we re reading today include New digital money may not be the banking revolution many expect, says expert How De Novo Branch Expansion Is Reshaping Retail Banking Monzo Business Hits 1m Customers as One in Six UK Firms Bank With it Who stands behind tokenised money? Pleo in crisis: Exec exodus, unhappy staff and... The post Things worth reading: 7th August 2026 appeared first on Chris…