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Crypto decentralized finance Investing roboadvisor

·May. 11, 2020

$700B Franklin Templeton buys wealth tech AdvisorEngine, while digital investing DeFi revolution only starting

This week, I pause to reflect on the sales of (1) AdvisorEngine to Franklin Templeton and (2) the technology of Motif Investing to Schwab. Is all enterprise wealth tech destined to be acquired by financial incumbents? Has the roboadvisor innovation vector run dry? Not at all, I think. If anything, we are just getting started. Decentralized finance innovators like Zapper, Balancer, TokenSets, and PieDAO are re-imagining what wealth management looks like on Ethereum infrastructure. Their speed of iteration and deployment is both faster and cheaper, and I am more excited for the future of digital investing than ever before.

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Crypto

·Nov. 17, 2022

Is a Proof-of-Reserves certificate enough?

Since the FTX meltdown, centralized exchanges in the DeFi space are rushing to publish PoRs, but without liability data, are they relevant?

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Crypto

·Oct. 23, 2022

Reactionary regulation makes it harder to navigate innovative space

Regulators have traditionally responded to bad actors in financial innovation by attacking the underlying technology versus those wielding it as a weapon.

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acquisition big tech Crypto digital lending fixed income IPO / SPAC venture capital

·Aug. 9, 2021

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.

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Fintech

·Jun. 23, 2022

Prime Trust raises $100 million series B

Prime Trust, a Las Vegas Based Crypto and fintech API company, announced a $100 million Series B to build crypto onramps and provide custody.

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Opinion

·Oct. 25, 2021

Climate tech meets DeFi with Klima

Buying carbon offsets has become a popular way for organizations and individuals to mitigate their carbon emissions, thereby reducing their overall carbon footprint.

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Crypto

·Feb. 1, 2022

FB Meta crypto project Diem officially sells out

Silvergate, a US-based crypto bank that first partnered with the Facebook venture to create a stable coin last May, said in a release they paid $182 million for the operations infrastructure.

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central bank / CBDC Crypto decentralized finance digital securities / STO ICO / IEO stablecoins

·Dec. 23, 2019

Top 5 Decentralized Finance predictions for 2020 and beyond

In the long take this week, I revisit decentralized finance, providing both an overview and 2019 update. The meat of the writing is the following long-range predictions for the space in the next decade -- (1) the role of Fintech champions like Revolut and Robinhood as it relates to DeFi, (2) increasing systemic correlation and self-reference in the space, which requires emerging metrics for risk and transparency, and (3) the potential for national services like Social Security and student lending to run on DeFi infrastucture, (4) the promise of pulling real assets into DeFi smart contracts and earning staking rewards, and (5) continued importance of trying to bridge into Bitcoin. Here's to an outlandish 2020!

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