Fintech and DeFi Research Archive — The Fintech Blueprint

OnlyFans bank-forced adult content ban, its failure, and the Metaphysics of Finance

We talk about OnlyFans, and how its bank vendors pressured it to try to ban adult content, and how and why that failed. We also discuss the crypto tax provisions in the Senate version of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, and their impracticality. These themes are tied together with a metaphysical hypothesis about the role of financial services, anchored in a discussion of the Platonic model of the mind. How are rationality, emotion, and social context involved to define the shape of our industry?

mega banks, decentralized finance, civilization and politics, philosophy, paytech, regulation & complianceLex SokolinAugust 30, 2021OnlyFans, Patreon, JP Morgan, BNY Mellon, Elizabeth Warren, Senate, Plato, Freud

Is Fintech or DeFi Bigger? And Who eats Whom? Hosted by The Defiant

In this video conversation we feature a roundtable by The Defiant exploring how and if the gap between Fintech and DeFi will be bridged.

DeFi Panelists
Lex Sokolin, head economist at ConsenSys
Santiago Roel Santos, angel investor
Spencer Noon, Investor at Variant
Vance Spencer, co founder at Framework Ventures

Fintech Panelists
Keith Grose, head of Plaid international
Nik Milanović, founder of This Week in Fintech
Simon Taylor, co-founder of 11:FS
Bruno Werneck, Business & Corporate Development at Plaid

Moderator
Camila Russo, Founder of The Defiant

decentralized finance, crypto, identity and privacy, digital investing, digital transformation, embedded financeLex SokolinAugust 27, 2021Aave, Ethereum, FDIC, Robinhood, Axie Infinity, Plaid, Amazon, USDT

Creating, Transacting, and Storing Value in the Financial Metaverse of NFTs, DAOs, and DeFi

The evolution towards a financial metaverse is rapidly accelerating, with the growth in generative assets, profile picture avatars, the emerging derivative structures that build on their foundation, and DAOs that govern them. This article highlights the most novel developments, and builds the case for what a digital wallet / bank will need to be able to do in order to succeed on the way to this alien destination.

Altruist CEO Jason Wenk on WealthTech, financial planning, advice, and generally improving financial health

In this conversation, we chat with Jason Wenk, who is the Founder & CEO at Altruist. Apart from this Jason is a writer, self-proclaimed math geek, and investment systems developer. He began his career at Morgan Stanley in NYC at age 20, working on investment research and asset management systems development. After this Jason founded FormulaFolios: quantitative, computer-driven investment models based on academic research to help remove emotion from investing. FormulaFolios would later develop into a standalone asset manager and go on to rank as a fastest-growing private company by Inc. magazine 4 years in a row, reaching as high as #10 in 2017.

More specifically, we discuss all things wealth tech, as well as, serving people with financial planning, financial advice, and generally improving their financial health.

roboadvisor, digital investing, exchanges / cap mkts, marketing, entrepreneurshipLex SokolinAugust 20, 2021Altruist, FormulaFolios, Morgan Stanley, Betterment, Wealthfront, Fidelity, AdvisorEngine, Apex Clearing, TD Ameritrade, Schwab

Global and Crypto Macroeconomics in August 2021, from GDP to BTC to Web3

The macro and crypto economic thesis for 2021, building out the linkages between “Risk-On” assets, flows into and valuation of Bitcoin and Ethereum, and the interplay between value locked, the growth of decentralized application revenue, and the volumes around digital objects. We bring it all together.

crypto, macroeconomicsLex SokolinAugust 16, 2021Ethereum, Bitcoin, Federal Reserve, USDC, Web3

Treasury Prime CEO Chris Dean on Banking-as-a-service, embedded finance, and the evolution of FinTech API infrastructure

In this conversation, we chat with Chris Dean, who is the Founder & CEO at Treasury Prime. Previously, Chris was the CTO & VP of Engineering at Standard Treasury, which was acquired by Silicon Valley Bank for an undisclosed amount.

More specifically, we discuss all things banking-as-a-service, FinTech APIs, embedded finance, and the general evolution of the FinTech banking industry over the last decade.

open banking / PSD2, embedded finance, paytech, mega banks, digital transformationLex SokolinAugust 13, 2021Treasury Prime, Standard Treasury, Silicon Valley Bank, BBVA, Simple Bank, ACH, Zibo, Mudflap

Acquisition arbitrage between public and private fintech revenues, highlighted by Figure and Starling

In this analysis, we explore an overarching framework for the M&A activity in the fintech, big tech, and crypto ecosystems. We discuss acquihiring, horizontal and vertical consolidation, as well as the differences between growth and value oriented acquisition rationales. The core insight, however, is about the arbitrage between the fintech and financial services capital markets, as evidenced by the recent transactions for Starling and Figure.

acquisition, IPO / SPAC, venture capital, digital lending, fixed income, big tech, cryptoLex SokolinAugust 9, 2021Starling, Fleet, Figure, Homebridge, Citizens, HSBC, Amazon, Square, Afterpay, Coinbase, Binance, FTX

Sheila Warren of the World Economic Forum on the 4th Industrial Revolution, the role of Law, Government, and DAOs, and the Creator Economy

In this conversation, we are so lucky to tap into the brilliant mind of none other than Sheila Warren who sits on the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum and is a key member in the executive leadership of the Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR), in which she oversees strategy across the entire C4IR Network, consisting of centers in 13 countries. Sheila also holds board member and advisory positions at multiple institutions and organizations including The MIT Press (Cryptoeconomic Systems), The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), NGO network TechSoup and she is a Member of The Bretton Woods Committee.

More specifically, we discuss her professional journey from small claims court to NGO Aid to refugees to corporate law to The WEF, touching on rational choice theory, corporate personhood and its correlation to the growth around ESG, new substrates, DAOs and protocols, artificial intelligence, the purpose of The World Economic Forum and its impact on governments and society alike, and just so much more!

crypto, decentralized finance, DAOs, governance, macroeconomics, metaverse, central bank / CBDC, China, India, civilization and politics, regulation & complianceLex SokolinAugust 5, 2021World Economic Forum, NGO Aid, ESG

What do SPACs and IPOs say about Coinbase, Robinhood, Lemonade, SoFi, and other fintech darlings?

We look in detail at the state of marking recently-private-fintechs to the public market in mid-2021. Multiple industry segments have seen IPOs, direct listings, and SPACs transition fintech darlings into traditional stocks. How is performance doing? Is everything as magnificent and rich as we expected? Have multiples and valuations fallen or held steady? The analysis explores the answers and provides an explanatory framework.

venture capital, digital lending, digital investing, neobank, insurtech, IPO / SPACLex SokolinAugust 2, 2021LendingClub, GreenSky, Funding Circle, OnDeck, Affirm, Lemonade, Root, Metromile, Clover, Oscar, SoFi, Dave, Pioneer, Wise, MoneyLion, Robinhood, eToro, Acorns, Bullish, Bakkt, Circle, Coinbase, Voyager, Monzo, Revolut

Fintech & DeFi Research Archive🔄

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