Software is disrupting financial services – a renaissance is emerging as the closed proprietary systems of Traditional Finance (TradFi) converge with permissionless, open-source Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols on public blockchains. The wider impact on society is presently unnoticeable to the general public. However, as EVERY asset continues to be tokenized, from commodities to intellectual property, massive amounts of users will move onchain. Is the “TradFi in the front, DeFi in the b...

From the streets of El Salvador to the boardrooms of Wall Street, shifting market dynamics have propelled Bitcoin from the fringes of the internet to the center of global financial discourse. The return of Tether (USDt) on Bitcoin signals its evolution from the “digital gold” and “store-of-value” narrative to a payment network powering the tokenization of financial assets. Bitcoin holds a dominant position in the digital asset sector, reflected by a 60% dominance, and market capitalization of...

Digital assets experienced a remarkable surge in 2024. The prospect of regulatory clarity and a “crypto-friendly” U.S. Administration propelled the total market capitalization of the sector to an all-time high of +$3.79 trillion with the price of bitcoin reaching +$108,000 in December 2024. Lawmakers calling for a national Bitcoin Strategic Reserve have gained traction in several countries including the United States, Japan, Poland, and Brazil where a bill was proposed to hold up to 5% of the...

Social media is experiencing a renaissance. The Big Tech walled garden strategy from social media companies is being challenged by open social networks providing users with the ability to own their content and connections. From Myspace to Tik Tok, the social media landscape is centralized and dependent on companies storing your personal data in servers owned by the company. For example, when you use Facebook, you are asking the company’s servers permission to access your data. If Facebook or ...

A seismic shift reshaping the global financial landscape and nature of money is underway. The BRICS nations represent an emerging Global South who seek to reform the international economic system while reducing dependence on the U.S. Dollar and Western dominated financial institutions. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) a bloc of developing economies, formally expanded membership to Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January 2024. Combined, BRICS n...

In September, the Federal Reserve initiated a fresh liquidity cycle, reducing the federal funds rate half a percentage point from a 23-year high. This unwinding of the economic tightening cycle follows 11 rate hikes dating back to March 2022 and similar measures from several Central Banks including the Bank of England, European Central Bank, and People’s Bank of China. Following the Federal Reserve’s statement, China announced fiscal and monetary stimulus measures “bold by historical standard...

Software is disrupting banking and financial services. For a fraction of a cent, stablecoins facilitate transactions at the speed of the internet...

The future of collective decision-making, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are a paradigm shift from centralized hierarchical structures to decentralized governing bodies. The total value of digital assets in the treasuries of over 50,898 DAOs is $17.8 billion with 3.2 million active voters and proposal-makers out of 10.9 million governance token holders. DAOs have been limited so far, mainly governing technology, such as blockchains and the applications deployed on them, but wha...

The future is tokenized. Boston Consulting Group forecasts the tokenization of assets could reach $16.1 trillion or a “best-case scenario...

The global financial system stands at the forefront of a new era, a seismic shift reshaping the foundation of our economic transactions a...