This Week in Fintech ending 2nd April 2021
Spring has sprung, exciting our experts to bring you the following insights based on their experience as investors, entrepreneurs & executives.
Monday Ilias Hatzis our Greece-based crypto entrepreneur (Founder & CEO at Mercato Blockchain Corporation AG and Weekly Columnist at Daily Fintech) @iliashatzis wrote NFTs can eliminate the original sin
It first started with CryptoKitties in 2017. Then we had CryptoPunks and NBA Top Shot. Most recently, this March, Beeple’s digital art piece “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” sold at Christie’s auction for US$69 million. All of these are NFTs. Essentially, NFTs are a way to transform a digital good, that can be endlessly copied, into something one of a kind. NFTs are digital collectible items (GIFs, images, memes, games, code, videos, artwork, music, games, even text) that people can buy, sell and trade. Almost any piece of digital content can be turned into an NFT, with the records of ownership and authenticity, maintained on a blockchain. Once its uploaded on a blockchain in the form of NFT, it will become a unique piece of digital content, as it will always be possible to determine the original file even if its copies are shared indefinitely on the web. Just like other cryptocurrencies, NFTs exist on a blockchain. But they are also different. Bitcoin and other crypto’s are fungible, meaning that one bitcoin is always worth the same as any other bitcoin. On the other hand, NFTs have unique valuations set by the highest bidder, just like a Rembrandt or a Picasso and cannot be directly exchanged with one another. Non-fungible tokens have been the talk of the town this year, especially since the sale of Beeple’s artwork at Christie’s. Are NFTs going to be an agent of change that disrupts the collectible world, with ramifications in other industries, or is it just a fad?
Editor note: Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) like most early stage innovations can seem silly at first, but Ilias explains why this is real innovation.
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Bernard Lunn, CEO of Daily Fintech and author of The Blockchain Economy wrote: Connecting the dots between Archegos and Wall Street Bets
The Wall Street Bets story was all about outsiders taking on Wall Street (Click here for our take on Wall Street Bets The Archegos story is all about professionals inside Wall Street. The Archegos story has a Hedge Fund manager nailed by SEC for insider trading becoming a Family Office fooling the Prime Brokers aka the big banks – which is as inside Wall Street as you can get. That is the obvious difference.. Today’s post looks at two similarities between these stories.
Editor note: How many more traders like Bill Hwang (Archegos) are out there, trading with lots of money borrowed from big banks? We will know in a few days – be careful out there, wear your mask!
Wednesday Alan Scott Managing Director EMEA at 24 Exchange @Alan_SmartMoney wrote Stablecoin News for the week ending Wednesday 31 March 2021
This weekly snapshot is the news that matters in the Stablecoin market.
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Thursday
Rintu Patnaik, an Insurtech expert based in India, wrote: Customer Mindshare Will Be Won By Embedded, Frictionless CX
In most sectors, companies will concur that there aren’t many options of differentiation that are as sustainable as customer experience is. Customer experience (CX) is the indelible impression any brand creates with customers across touchpoints along the customer journey. Prioritizing for the customer can be good for business. Insurers that prioritized CX generated 2-4 times more new business growth and 30% more profits than firms with inconsistent customer focus over a five-year period, per a McKinsey study. In a Global Financial Services Consumer Study by Accenture, they uncovered that consumers in today’s digital environment still value efficient service, prompt problem resolution, access to polite and knowledgeable staff and value for money. These core tenets of customer engagement trumped add-ons such as loyalty schemes, personalized recommendations or well-marketed brands.
Editor note: Lots of details have to be done right to win at CX, which is all about quality of execution.
Christian Dreyer @x3er, our Swiss based CFA who focusses on how XBRL changes our world wrote XBRL News about vaccination tokens, ESAP and fintech in China
Editor note: This weekly snapshot is the news that matters in the XBRL market.
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Friday Howard Tolman, a well-known banker, technologist and entrepreneur in London. wrote: Alt Lending week ending 2nd April 2021
Editor note: This weekly snapshot is the news that matters in the Alt Lending market.
Bernard Lunn, CEO of Daily Fintech and author of The Blockchain Economy wrote: History will rhyme by creating two CBDC reserve currencies during the New Cold War.
The history of reserve currencies has been told many times. The leading economic power hands the reserve currency baton to the emerging economic power. The last baton pass was from UK to USA. So will the next baton pass be from USA to China?
That would be history repeating. My thesis is that it will rhyme not repeat.
Editor note: Which sphere will your country join and on what terms or will it be neutral/non-aligned?
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Your Editor is Bernard Lunn. He is also the CEO of Daily Fintech and author of The Blockchain Economy and occasional opinion columnist.
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