10 WealthTech Trends

1. Copy Trading Grows Major

The iconic global market leader in copy trading is eToro, a wonderful company from Israel. Copy Trading disrupts asset trading and asset management at the same time providing a global dedicated, superrich social media platform. 20 million young users have joined eToro and the number is growing. Growing fast. But what will regulators say about all this?

2. 0 Cost Brokerages Need Profit

Warren Buffet has a slogan: I can make any company grow very large; selling USD 2 for USD 1. As market sentiment shifts and global investors are turning towards short term profit preferences (from a predominant growth-mindset) the pressure on no-cost brokerages such as Robinhood and Trade Republic will mount to produce significant and systematic profit. Will they be able to do so?

3. Mobile Wallets and Roboadvisors Shake Hands

Mobile Wallets and Roboadvisors have something important in common: they are both inclusively disruptive. Mobile Wallets are primarily spreading in countries with low banking and plastic card penetrations and they have brought literally billions to quality finance globally. Roboadvisors are offering simple, automated, yet individualized investment management to a primary target audience of young people with limited assets. When these two disruptively inclusive trends shake hands, intertwine, interact, multiply and co-resonate something totally new will be born. Something totally new? Wait a minute, maybe we have already seen the rise and (relative) fall of Alipay and Yu'e Bao in China.

4. From Crypto Craze to CBDCs (1/2)

Decentralized cryptocurrencies have to fall for multiple reasons, yet the combination of 'lack of intrinsic value' and 'lack of interest rate content' will be especially lethal in times of significant nominal inflation. Deeper monetary analysis requires more details, but let's just move on the surface: Gold, for example lacks interest rate content, but at least has intrinsic value. Modern 'Fiat' currencies lack intrinsic value, but at least have interest rate content. So are crypto currencies inferior to some other assets under persistent inflationary pressure?

5. From Crypto Craze to CBDCs (2/2)

As Central Banks around the world are more and more concerned with getting CDBCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) right, the total global exposure of decentralized cryptos keeps growing. USD 2.5 trillion is a lot of money. Will it all go down in flames? Central Banks will be increasingly active to communicate their research results on CBDC and to design the new monetary paradigm of the 21st Century.

6. Asset Tokenization Disrupts Stocks

Asset tokenization will disrupt stock markets. ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), STOs (Security Toke Offerings), etc. are currently 99 percent fraudulent. NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are also often problematic and questionable from a traditional wealth management point of view. Yet, once the market clears up and becomes regulated, transparent, safe, dominated by professional liquidity and strong hands it has the power to disrupt and augment stock markets as we know them. When will regulators touch asset tokenization in a wise and constructive way?

7. 'Data' Defines Digital Disruption

Data is the core input of Digital Economy. Just like Oil and Gas were the core inputs of Industrial Economy. We are in the Century of Data and the core input has to evolve into a standalone asset class. Brace yourselves for 'Data Exchanges', 'Data Trenches', 'Data Traders', 'Data Futures', 'Data Options', Data... Data... Data.. and Data... Big Data will become Very Big Data; Very Big Data will grow exponentially into Extremely Big Data and Data Security will evolve into a core element of National Security and Defense; Data Privacy into Personal Security. Will this brave new world of data be utopia or dystopia?

8. Marketplace Lending Reveals Risks

Peer to Peer Lending and Crowdfunding are innovative, creative but na?ve. Credit Cycles are eternal and lending is always in all segments in all forms and all markets highly risky. The point of differentiation between sustainable lending and charlatanism is how clearly, professionally and proactively we can measure, mitigate and reduce these (direct and indirect) credit risks. Can Marketplace Lending survive and aggressive Credit Cycle? How?

9. AI Reaches Singularity in Professional Wealth Management

Narrow Artificial Intelligence is on a very steep learning curve. Much steeper than human decision makers. AI has key structural advantages over 90 percent of professional human wealth and asset managers. My prediction is that AI will reach some level of singularity in this narrow area before 2030. Asset management is a little bit like playing chess... and we know what happened to AlphaZero by DeepMind... Will algorithms teaching themselves (Deep Learning) beat human traders? What is the next step after that?

10. Cybersecurity Defines Next World-Currency

Cash is on the path of disappearance globally. Step by step, little by little digital-only solutions are taking over the center-stage. Capabilities of cybersecurity will define the power of last resource in digital-only monetary systems. The next superpower(s) will be defined by cysec. Global reserve currencies historically were driven to their rise by military dominance in the background. Why? Because the ultimate power of trust in an asset lies in the capabilities to defend it and also to safeguard the underlying real economy behind it. When 'Fiat' currencies morph into digital-only assets in predominantly digital economies, the level of cyber powers to defend them will select who the new (strong) kids on the block are. Will the United States wake up from cyber hibernation and win the next global economic paradigm? How long will the US Dollar remain in the de facto position of sole world-currency? (Spoiler: longer than most analysts and strategists currently think.)

We will discuss these and much much much much much much much more in my ADVANCED DIGITAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT Training Program on 07 - 09 of September. Please contact Quin Erasmus quin@masterclassevents.com to sign up!