c2c #46: Fintech VC, digital banking, suptech, SBF speaks!
I’m the author of Cowries to Crypto about the history of money, and the c2c newsletter is my personal take on innovation in finance and capital. In here you will find:
1.???Work from the Week: highlights from my day job covering fintech
2.???Talk of the Town: internet hot takes on tech and finance
3.???c2c: thoughts on innovation and related topics
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1. Work from the Week: Stories from DigFin: EM fintech VC, cloud and composable banking, suptech, Indonesia P2P
This is actually a double-header. Last weekend, life got in the way of Cowries2Crypto. So in case you missed anything:
EM fintech VC | Ganesh Rengaswamy, Quona Capital | DigFin VOX Ep. 47: Ganesh runs the Bangalore half of a VC firm dedicated to emerging markets. (His partners are in Washington, DC.) They just raised a big fund dedicated to fintech. Seems to me like a good time to find early-stage companies if you’ve got the LP money locked in, but what does fintech investing look like right now?
Speaking of double-headers: a pair of features from a recent client event organized by Temenos. Vendors bring a useful industry-wide view of what’s going on, and if they’re trying to sell a product, that’s not so different from interviewing people in the markets who are usually talking their book.
Anyway, I really enjoyed working on these stories. They helped me feel like I had a better grasp of where tech is right now.
They work very well in tandem so check them both out.
World Bank to regulators: Get Suptech! I mean, duh. But some interesting insights from a World Bank survey of global financial authorities on technological solutions to the growing risks of digital finance.
Micro in Indonesia | Andi Taufan, Amartha | DigFin VOX Ep. 46: When it comes to fintech for financial inclusion, I feel that Taufan’s the real deal. He has been quietly building a small company for over a decade that finally began to scale when he pivoted to digital. But how do you offer digital services to people who don’t even own a mobile? A fascinating look at a company in the trenches of Indonesia.
How ASX’s blockchain dream went up in smoke: I admit to a certain evil pleasure in this story. Honestly, I have no ax to grind with ASX – at one point I thought its blockchain-based replacement of its post-trading system was a very cool move. But my reporting turned skeptical at least two years ago. Parliament should haul the board of directors in for a grilling.
2. Talk of the Town
Here's how it's going on Twitter.
Here's how it's going in crypto.
Here's how it's going in the metaverse.
领英推荐
But here's how it's going in AI. Read the thread.
And some more good news from the region. Congratulations, Prime Minster Anwar Ibrahim!
3. c2c: SBF speaks! And speaks! And keeps on speaking!
Sam Bankman-Fried spent the past week bunkered in his Bahamian mansion (or somewhere) swamping our attention with interviews, notably a long conversation with the New York Times’s Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Sorkin did a good job. There was no fluff. He asked clear, direct and pointed questions. SBF probably provided the feds with incriminating statements that will be, one day, used against him in a court of law. Many people are wondering, of course, why he’s not already in handcuffs. I checked: the Bahamas does have an extradition treaty with the US. Maybe the FBI is just enjoying the show like the rest of us?
There is, however, only so much to expect from a journalist interview, even one conducted by an accomplished and knowledgeable professional like Sorkin. SBF wasn’t under oath. He was free to weasel out of everything, which he did.
I don’t get the alleged charisma. After five minutes of SBF’s whiny stammers and crocodile tears I shut it off. It was just too painful. I read the transcript instead, and there you don’t have to suffer through his false humility. It’s just words, which basically say that he didn’t have a single bloody clue what his businesses were doing. Maybe a defense? Probably not.
Sorkin didn’t ask about a few important things, though. Perhaps due to time. One is why Alameda bought a tiny bank in rural Washington state. Or why the same people running the bank are affiliated with Tether. Or why Alameda was, until now, the biggest buyer of Tether. And what other relationships SBF has with the fraudsters behind USDT.
Finally, there’s one more question Sorkin didn’t ask Sammy. Why, when you reached out to the ever-so-reliable CZ to shop your company, didn’t you ask Binance to first sign an NDA?
See you next week
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About Jame
Jame DiBiasio is a book author, financial journalist, media entrepreneur, and a speaker/moderator. In 2015 he launched DigFin, an online media covering digital finance that is part of the digital arm of Hong Kong-based financial group AMTD. Jame is also a member of the board of the Hong Kong Fintech Association.
He is author of “Block Kong” (co-authored with Charles D’Haussy) profiling 21 blockchain entrepreneurs in Hong Kong; and “Cowries to Crypto: The History of Money, Currency and Wealth”. He is currently working on a book about the venture capital industry.
Jame has also written books about Asian history, including “Who Killed the King of Bagan?” and “The Story of Angkor”. He writes thrillers too. You can find all of Jame’s published books on Amazon.