The Future of Money: The 3 New Ideas You Need to Know this Week (Issue 15 - 10 October 2020)

Dear Friends,

Welcome back to my weekly newsletter where I share some of the major developments on the future of money that you need to know about!

Make sure to subscribe to receive your Future of Money newsletter in your inbox every weekend! 

If you enjoy this content, you will also love what I post on Twitter (@HenriArslanian) and the library of videos on my YouTube channel.

1. What Are the Most Common Figures and People on Banknotes Today?

A fun study analysed banknotes around the globe by color and type of featured historical figures, animals and physical structures.

The analysis of 1,838 different banknotes highlighted that politicians are by far the most common feature on banknotes around the world.

Source: money.co

If you want to know which specific person shows up on more banknotes than anybody else, that would be Queen Elizabeth II, who makes an appearance on 45 different banknotes all across the British Commonwealth. 

But whilst the queen reigns supreme on banknotes, the study showed a clear lack of gender representation, with only 7% of banknotes featuring women.

Finally, with both animals and buildings regularly appearing on banknotes around the world, the study sought to capture which type of animal stands out from the pack and which type of building shines the brightest.

When it comes to animals, birds (specifically eagles!) come out on top. 

Source: money.co

Meanwhile, castles beat out monuments and churches as the most widely displayed type of building on banknotes around the world.

Source: money.co

So what have we learned? Well, if we put all of this information together to try to design a new global banknote, it would look something like this: green with a soaring eagle and a sprawling castle providing the backdrop for a male politician. 

Tweet of the Week

2. Which Countries Provide the Most Crypto Tax Clarity?

We often talk about the need for regulatory clarity in the crypto industry.

But tax clarity is equally important.

With significant variations between jurisdictions on how digital assets are categorised for tax purposes, new types of digital assets or use cases consistently being introduced, providing crypto tax clarity is an essential component.

In its first annual Global Crypto Tax Report, PwC provides just the sort of clarity crypto investors need right now, grouping different types of digital tokens into categories and distinguishing what characteristics make each asset class unique from a taxation perspective.

For example, the data shows that whilst the majority of jurisdictions surveyed in the report have issued some guidance on the calculation of capital gains and losses for individuals and businesses, none have issued guidance on important topics like crypto borrowing and lending, decentralised finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and staking income.

Source: PwC

The survey shows that tax authorities need to quickly start paying serious attention to this space. 

But what will inevitably capture the focus and steer plenty of debate from policy makers is the annual crypo tax index that ranks jurisdictions based on how comprehensive their crypto tax guidance is. 

Liechtenstein tops this year’s rankings, followed closely by Malta, Australia, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Source: PwC

To come up with the ranking, PwC identified 20 different components that make up the breadth of comprehensive crypto tax guidance.

While no surveyed country has accomplished this feat, the higher the score, the more guidance has been issued on the taxation of crypto-assets. 

Ultimately, PwC’s report shows that tax authorities have significant work ahead of them when it comes to catching up with a rapidly evolving new asset class. 

Money Quote of the Week

“Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy you the kind of misery you prefer.” 

Author Unknown

3. Do the Financially Literate or Illiterate Own More Bitcoin?

An interesting report published by the Bank of Canada mentions that 47% of Canadians have a high level of financial literacy, 35% sit at a medium level, and 18% of Canadians show low signs of financial literacy.

The report shows that the more financially literate of Canadians were more likely to have heard of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, with 93% of the most financially literate expressing familiarity with digital assets as opposed to only 72% of the low financially literate group. 

But in a somewhat interesting twist, as financial literacy increased, likelihood of crypto ownership decreased, with 8% of Canadians in the low level holding crypto compared with only 4% from the high level. 

Time will tell which camp is right I guess!

?My Crypto Capsule This Week

With a special thank you message this week for the dozens of messages that I got from many of you around the world regarding the situation in Armenia. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

My FinTech Capsule This Week

I regularly disagree with Prof Roubini when it comes to our views on the crypto industry but believe it's important to show both sides of the debate especially when it comes to a topic as important as the future of money.

My Upcoming (Virtual!) Speaking Engagements

14 October - Bermuda Tech Summit

22 October - Asobolsa bvc (Columbia)

22 October - Blockdown

30 October - Global Leader Series (Luxembourg)

Enjoyed this content? Make sure to subscribe or share it with a friend! A new Future of Money newsletter will be in your inbox each weekend!

See you all next week!! 

Henri Arslanian

*Please note that this newsletter reflects Henri’s personal views and not those of any organisation he is involved with.

Who is Henri?

Passionate and focused on the future of finance and money, Henri Arslanian is the PwC Global Crypto Leader, the former Chairman of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hong Kong, where he teaches the first FinTech university course in Asia.

Henri advises many of the world’s leading crypto exchanges, investors, financial institutions and tech firms on their FinTech and crypto initiatives as well numerous governments, regulators and central banks on Fintech and crypto regulatory and policy matters.

With over 500,000 LinkedIn followers, Henri is a TEDx and global keynote speaker, a best-selling published author and is regularly featured in global media, including Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

Henri was named by LinkedIn as one of the global Top Voices in Economy & Finance and is the host of the FinTechCapsules? and CryptoCapsules? social media series.

Henri was recently named by Onalytica as the #1 most influential individual on Finance globally on LinkedIn out of 50k+ individuals working at the top professional services and management consulting firms in the world. 

Chambers Global also named Henri the “highest profile FinTech consultant in Hong Kong” and Asian Private Banker awarded him the “FinTech Changemaker of the Year” award.

Henri’s latest book, The Future of Finance: The Impact of FinTech, AI and Crypto on Financial Services, published by Palgrave Macmillan, was ranked as one of Amazon’s global top 10 best-sellers in financial services and was recognized as one of the “Best FinTech Books of All Time” by Bookauthority.

Before joining PwC, Henri was with a FinTech start-up and previously spent many years with UBS Investment Bank in Hong Kong. Henri started his career as a financial markets and funds lawyer in Canada and Hong Kong.

You can learn more about Henri on his website (www.henriarslanian.com) and you can reach him at [email protected]