this article is about music but it applies to all walks of life. to fintech, defi, crypto... to all things finserv. I relever studying “Le Fond et la Forme” by Jean Dutourd. form and function, form and essence. an eternal tension.

one can reasonably assume outcomes from this new fund will be quite different from Softbank’s Vision fund.

financial services activities are simple: one buys, sells or leverages risk. given that tomorrow’s post covid-19 risk will take on a drastically different shape, altering economic activity, it goes without saying that all finserv & fintech activities will be impacted - from lending, to paying, to insuring, to issuing, to structuring

integrity of supply chains means integrity of data collaboration and coordination AND integrity of business model governance. this is the next biz innovation wave.

how does the CCP attain sole global leadership with the $ remaining the global reserve currency? (hint: it cannot)

‪can individual rights survive a pandemic?‬ ‪can a pandemic survive individual rights?‬ ‪can duties to a group survive a pandemic?‬ ‪can a pandemic survive duties to a group?‬

the slow (or swift) erosion of bank models - the coronavirus threat being the latest bludgeoning vector - brings to light the very strategic moves payment network or tech brands have or are making to capture banking services. they will be the banking winners.

a weak and weakening $ does add additional stress onto the global financial infrastructure. i would expect further liquidity hiccups and other hard to explain $ flows. potentially. the fed will be on overdrive, with little visibility. more central banks will call for CBDCs. …see more

making banks great again via tax cuts. whether US or European or Chinese, banks truly are political utilities.

‪Libra backed by a basket of currencies was never going to fly with US authorities as it would have threatened the $. Libra backed by the $ is eminently more palatable to US authorities, less threatening to today’s $ global status - however teetering. ‪i suspect EU countries were against Libra, in its original version, for a different set of reasons. the EU is unifying and harmonizing its financial services industry (payments, data, asset mgmt). a supranational org like Libra would have challenged EU’s initiatives & goals. ‪as such, my assumption is EU countries will remain fiercely to somewhat against Libra, even as its management is iterating to find the most acceptable model to all. #Libra #payments #fintech #Facebook #US #EU #currencies …see more

i think we have lost sight of what financial services or financial products look like without the stigma of financialization. fintech startups were supposed to reinvent banking, finserv. many fell prey to financialization. the crypto movement was supposed to reinvent banking, finserv. it fell prey to financialization for the most part. might the current push to rearchitect capital markets & asset management succeed? or will negative rates and more QE be the nail on financialization’s coffin? #crypto #banking #capitalmarkets #blockchain #assetmanagement #financialservices #startups #fintech #banks …see more

‪the more maximalist your views the more you ascribe to *Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus*‬ ‪banks: no salvation outside of banks‬ ‪fin. regulators: none outside our regulations‬ ‪c-banks: none outside of our policies‬ ‪bitcoiners: none outside of hodling ‬ ‪techies: none outside of tech innov.‬ …see more

Botin & Orcel used Signal to discuss, not WhatsApp (the Zuck must be fuming) this should be the next HBO hit - will rival Succession.

i identify with my phone i identify with my identity & credentials i identify with the means of payments at my disposal i identify with my wealth i identify with my private keys ... …see more

‪- US bought Louisiana from the French Republic in 1803 for $15mm‬ ‪- US bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2mm‬ ‪i would definitely buy Greenland if Denmark was selling and if Masayoshi Son were to bankroll me.‬ …see more

‪assume AWS is the global reserve currency. whic currency pair would you rather specialize in (you only have one choice) as a market maker?‬ why? - AWS/IBM Cloud - AWS/Azure - AWS/Google Cloud - AWS/Tencent Cloud #currency #googlecloud #cloudcomputing #cryptocurrency #aws #tencent #IBM #Azure #reserve #cryptocurrencies #maarketmaker #fx #crypto #wouldyourather #ibmcloud #cloud #currencies …see more

interesting tension: - US politicians increasingly reliant on Facebook for their social media election strategies. - US lawmakers increasingly skeptical (even hostile) with Facebook, as evidenced by the Libra hearings. <narrator’svoice: if one does not threaten the $, then one could conceivably be co-opted and “approved”.> #tokenization #fintech #blockchain #crypto #cryptocurrencies #cryptocurrency #Facebook #Libra …see more

‪the act of creating money is the fulcrum between the known and the unknown. ‬ ‪so is the act of creating identity. ‬ ‪both involve memory as a primal muscle. ‬

further confirmation of my thesis that the global financial system is going to split up and balkanize along major currencies. each side will relegate lite and permissionless crypto to a sideshow (my current gut feel)

‪can identity be monetized without threatening privacy? ‬ ‪the identity trilemma hypothesis: can only optimize two of identity, monetization or privacy‬