Health innovation has been the story of COVID, but economist Mariana Mazzucato says we’re still not doing it right. We need to redesign procurement, rethink old narratives and reassess the value of public investment.
Speech delivered at The FINRA Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional Program
Fidelity says that 90% of its biggest clients are interested in accessing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The firm is now planning to open up the digital asset space to retail investors.
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Fintech Interviews and Podcasts
“It’s absolutely mad if you think about it” — the need to rethink what we value
MaRS | Molly Shoichet | Sep 8, 2021
Health innovation has been the story of COVID, but economist Mariana Mazzucato says we’re still not doing it right. We need to redesign procurement, rethink old narratives and reassess the value of public investment.
Mariana Mazzucato is one of the world’s most influential economists — professor at University College London, founder of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose and author of books rejecting business’s monopoly on risk-taking and value creation.
Molly Shoichet: The COVID economy has had an outsized impact on women and racialized communities. What is the connection between public health and a healthy economy?
Mariana Mazzucato: We hear it’s important to invest in health, it’s good for the economy. But in my work as chair of the World Health Organization’s Council on the Economics of Health for All, we want to determine the actual goal we’re trying to achieve.
COVID-19 has woken us up to the fact that we don’t have health for everybody. It’s not enough to have a vaccine if not everyone has access to it. So, if our ambition is health for all, how do we set up our economy? Outcomes-oriented budgeting? Procurement processes and budgets?
See: Why a shift to Impact Investing will create big winners and big losers
So, the connection between health and the economy has to be about creating stronger health systems. But it also has to be about how we structure the economy to deliver on our goals, including the nitty gritty of tool design.
Shoichet: How can we ensure vaccines are equitably available around the world?
Mazzucato: I think we need to really question whether vaccines should be produced in a for-profit model.
With the pandemic, unless vaccines are available to everyone, we’re all going to remain unsafe. Otherwise we have vaccine apartheid, as WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus calls it.
There is this idea of having a patent pool — we have to rely less on voluntary charity. Governments and philanthropies can also use prizes to encourage certain types of inventions. We don’t just have to rely on patents and pricing, especially in an area with such a strong “public good” dimension.
Read: Getting tangible about intangibles: The future of growth and productivity?
There’s also the concept of collective intelligence. One example is the “people’s vaccine” concept promoted by the Costa Rican government and others. And there are people like Dr. Tedros who are asking how we share knowledge, how we construct collective intelligence about tools and therapies in a pandemic, how to structure public-private partnerships.
Shoichet: Societal value is increasingly equated with financial value. How do initiatives like value-based care help create new frameworks that will truly help people?
Mazzucato:
In a system that confuses price with value — the thesis of The Value of Everything — we assume that just because someone is paid a lot, they are more valuable.
This is why Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, had the guts to say after the financial crisis that his workers were among the most productive in the world. We laugh at that, but in a way, he was right. Because when we look at productivity in terms of output per labour, we don’t know how to value the output of public health workers. Their output might end up being free to the consumer, so we can only put a number on their inputs.
Also: Financial data unbound: The value of open data for individuals and institutions
We must value the work of women, caregivers, public health workers, school teachers, in such a way that validates them and the value of their labour. It goes beyond their incomes to the value of the output. GDP doesn’t include the value of a well-structured public education or health system because it’s free. It’s absolutely mad if you think about it. We currently just look at the cost of the teachers or the nurses.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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On the Brink Podcast: George Selgin of the Cato Institute on Stablecoins, Bitcoin and Free Banking
On the Brink Podcast | Aug 2, 2021
George Selgin, director of the Center of Monetary Alternatives at the Cato Institute joins the show to discuss Bitcoin, Free Banking, and stablecoins. In this episode:
- Why George refers to Bitcoin as a synthetic commodity money
- Why George was excited by the possibility for synthetic commodity money
- What conditions would have to hold for Bitcoin to be considered money
- Why money is a spectrum rather than binary
- Are stablecoins prone to bank runs?
- Is Tether’s melange of underlying collateral sufficient?
- How should stablecoins be regulated?
- Why are regulators looking into stablecoins today?
See:
FCA Chair Charles Randall Discusses Crypto, Stablecoins and Digital Asset Regulation
More regulation coming: SEC Chairman signals stablecoins and other tokens could fall under its rules on security-based swaps
Minister Freeland releases final report with 34 recommendations on Open Banking from the Advisory committee
- Comparing stablecoins to Money Market Mutual Funds
- Why money market funds broke the buck in 08
- Are stablecoins as systemic as money market funds?
- George’s objections to Gorton and Zhang’s paper on free banking and stablecoins
- George’s definition of free banking
- Was the 1830s-60s period in the U.S. a period of genuine free banking?
- The actual causes of bank failures in the pre-Civil War period
- Why ‘unit banking’ was so fragile
- What lessons can be taken from Canada’s experience with free banking in that era
- Why the history of Free Banking is a red herring in the stablecoin debate
- George’s recommendations for a primer on free banking
- George’s reflections on Hal Finney’s reference to his work
- Why bank failures are often the consequence of regulation
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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The Carbon Footprint of Cryptocurrency
Smart Prosperity Institute | Podcast | Aug 18, 2021
IN THIS EPISODE:
The carbon footprint of cryptocurrency
What do Sweden, Argentina, Norway, Belgium, Ukraine and Chile have in common? They all consume less electricity in one year than Bitcoin does. Yes, Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that is shaking up the financial world, is a massive energy hog. In fact, Bitcoin “miners” have been responsible for bringing retired coal and natural gas plants back online in order to satisfy their energy needs.
Why is Bitcoin so dirty? Can cryptocurrencies go green?
Guest: Alex de Vries – Economist and founder of Digiconomist.net
See: How blockchain and cryptocurrencies can help build a greener future
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Speech by SEC Commissioner Peirce: Prosperity’s Door
SEC | Commissioner Hester M. Peirce | Aug 26, 2021
Speech delivered at The FINRA Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional Program
Georgetown University
Thank you, Jim [Angel], for that kind introduction. It is a delight to be here with you tonight to talk about the future of financial markets regulation. I commend all of you for putting in the time to understand better both the fundamental underpinnings and practical realities of securities law and the role it plays in our rapidly changing markets. Tonight, I look forward to exploring with you what that role should be as we look to bring more and more people into these markets as investors, entrepreneurs, and financial professionals. Before I begin, I must offer my standard disclaimer, which is that the views that I represent are my own views and not necessarily those of the Commission or my fellow Commissioners.
See: FFCON21: Keynote interview with Commissioner Peirce
Several weeks ago, economist Steven Horwitz passed away. Hearing the sad news of his death inspired me to read one of his speeches, which was itself inspiring and helps to lay the groundwork for what I want to talk about tonight. Professor Horwitz spoke of how human diversity is the key to human prosperity. He wrote:
We are fortunate to live on a planet populated by 7.5 billion people, each of whom has his or her own unique genetic blends, learned skills, and particular preferences and goals. Each of us brings something distinct to the human conversation. The challenge is how to turn those differences into productive cooperation rather than destructive conflict in a world where most of the planet are strangers to one another. . . . The answer to this puzzle is exchange. Exchange enables us to overcome our differences by providing a way for us to interact not just despite those differences but because of them. . . . Contrary to what critics say, free markets do not shut the door on the most vulnerable among us. The door to prosperity is open to everyone.
Horwitz is not alone in celebrating the way markets push open the door to prosperity. Since at least the 18th century, economists and philosophers have marveled at the power of free exchange to break down barriers between people by creating the incentives for them to look past their differences to a shared interest that can transform those differences from a source of mutual suspicion and resentment into a creativity that far exceeds the sum of those differences.
Increasingly, though, we hear criticism that our economy and our financial markets do not in fact work for everybody, that they produce increasing inequality, exclude the disadvantaged, and discriminate in the provision of opportunities for employment and career advancement. Proposed solutions to these problems often appeal to people like you and me, regulators, regulatory experts, and lawyers who are paid to use our own ingenuity to design and implement technocratic solutions. The prospect of engaging in social engineering can be quite enticing to us, as it plays to our predilections and strengths. If, however, Professor Horwitz is correct—that people, left to their own devices, will come together in acts of mutual enrichment to exchange not only goods but ideas, capital, and labor—we should resist the allure and instead examine what our prior social engineering efforts have wrought. If we find that some individuals cannot access markets or cannot take advantage of opportunities that markets offer, our own solutions to past problems may be to blame.
See: Davos 2020: Financial inclusion and fintech is key to meeting the UN SDGs
Let us think tonight about how we might be able to open the door to prosperity wider for everyone through changes in how we regulate our securities markets. These markets have served the United States and the world well for centuries. We can spread the wealth and prosperity these markets create by ensuring that even more people participate in them as investors, users of capital, and financial professionals. During our time together tonight, I hope that instead of talking about the complex technocratic top-down approaches that appeal to our regulatory sensibilities, we can explore solutions that rely on regulators getting out of the way and allowing the market to do its work.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Fidelity bites on bitcoin
Boston Globe | | Aug 16, 2021
Fidelity says that 90% of its biggest clients are interested in accessing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The firm is now planning to open up the digital asset space to retail investors.
In 2015, the Boston investment firm started to dabble in bitcoin “mining,” using high-powered computers to produce new digital coins — an activity that continues today. It now offers custodial services to large institutional investors who want a safe place to stash their bitcoin holdings. In March, Fidelity announced its intention to create an exchange-traded fund to give individual investors access to the volatile cryptocurrency. And this summer, Fidelity said it will add about 100 new jobs to its “digital assets” team, on top of a headcount of about 150.
Tom Jessop, president of the digital asset business unit at Fidelity, says the company is making a long-term bet on the emergence of a new kind of financial infrastructure. And he notes that Fideilty chief executive Abigail Johnson often participates in startup demonstrations and educational talks related to cryptocurrency — observing that it’s helpful to have support at the top, especially since his group is operating in uncharted (and mostly unregulated) terrain.
See: Future of Crypto Market Infrastructure: The Role of Custodians and Exchanges
Bitcoin is the key focus now. While the cryptocurrency world sees regular cycles of hype around newly created cryptocurrencies, Fidelity is focused for the moment on bitcoin, which was born in early 2009.
“We’re dealing with the more traditional investors, and the entry vehicle to this space is largely bitcoin,” she says. But she adds that the interest for ethereum, another type of cryptocurrency, “has been escalating in the last few months, but it’s not anything close to what we see in bitcoin.”
The pandemic has sparked new interest. Large institutional investors were learning about cryptocurrency before the pandemic, but may not have actually purchased any prior to last spring, Jessop says.
“What really got people off the fence was the pandemic, because you’ve got this scarce asset class — there will only ever be 21 million bitcoin created — and an environment where our currency is being debased, and there’s a ton of money printing.”
More regulation is coming, and that’s OK. Congress is enacting new rules, as part of the infrastructure bill, around how tax reporting will work for cryptocurrency holdings. SEC chairman Gary Gensler said earlier in August that his agency needs more authority to oversee cryptocurrency exchanges and protect consumers who may use cryptocurrency as an alternative to traditional financial institutions.
“We’re supportive of regulation,” Jessop says. ”For this asset class to grow, and for investors to have trust in what we and others are doing, you need regulations commensurate with other asset classes. We’re not saying that it should be overregulated, but we think that it should be regulated consistent with other financial products that consumers and institutions purchase today.”
See: Fidelity-backed crypto security startup Fireblocks launches ‘Secure Asset Transfer Network’
Fidelity is putting capital into cryptocurrency startups. Through a venture capital division called Devonshire Investors, Fidelity has invested in promising startups like ErisX, Talos, and Boston-based Coin Metrics, which collects and publishes data related to cryptocurrencies. Those kinds of investments, Jessop says, “keep us sharper on what’s actually happening, which is super-important given how fast things are moving.”
Supporting registered investment advisers will be key for Fidelity. Financial advisers who rely on Fidelity for trading and custody services want to see cryptocurrency options integrated into Fidelity’s existing portfolio management technology.
“Advisers want to keep assets on the platform,” says Jessop. “Otherwise, the client wires out X amount of dollars to fund their Coinbase account or their PayPal account,” purchasing cryptocurrency there instead.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Documentary (30mins): Quantum technologies role in our sustainable future
Tech UK | Jul 29, 2021
Quantum Computing Can Serve as a Multifaceted Tool to Help Scientists and Engineers Take on the Challenge of Ensuring a Sustainable Future, Say Industry Figures.
A new documentary – Quantum Technology | Our Sustainable Future from The Quantum Daily, developed in partnership with Oxford Instruments Nanoscience – was released today with a call from industry experts to leverage the power of quantum computing in addressing the world’s urgent sustainability challenges.
See: Task Force Analyzes Role of Fintech in Accelerating SDGs
The documentary features insights from leading quantum computing experts and tech giants such as Google, IBM and Intel, as well as start-ups such as SeeQC and PsiQuantum regarding how quantum technologies could help address key sustainability issues, including:
- reduce the energy use of datacenters and servers that underpin today’s digital world
- reduce the energy required for complex computations even as demand continues to rise in AI, optimization, simulation and more
- accelerate the development of new applications to address global sustainability such as carbon capture and battery development
- minimize quantum computing’s own potential environmental impact
Quantum computers use quantum phenomena such as superposition and entanglement to perform computations that can vastly outperform classical computers at certain tasks. The tasks quantum computers can do may lead to solutions for humankind’s most pressing challenges. Nonetheless, there continues to be significant obstacles to overcome before these machines are powerful enough to meet their expected potential.
“We have one planet, and these conversations must happen now”
See: Rise by Barclays Insights Report: Climate Fintech
“We have one planet, and these conversations must happen now,” said Stuart Woods, Managing Director of Oxford Instruments NanoScience, a leading provider of high technology material science tools and systems for research and industry. “The broad participation of industry thought leaders in this film shows the support and the importance of prioritizing sustainability in quantum technologies.”
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Podcast: Requirements for a fully functional CBDC
OMFIF | Aug 3, 2021
Charles Kerrigan, partner at CMS Law, and Seokgu Yun, founder and chief executive officer of Sovereign Wallet Network, join John Orchard, CEO of OMFIF, to discuss privacy concerns associated with central bank digital currencies, how policy-makers can address these and the challenges of launching a CDBC. As well as this, they share their perspectives about the underlying technology and set of features necessary for programmable money, an idea gaining momentum but which is often misunderstood. They also touch on the most significant trade-offs between design choices and briefly discuss how to build a CBDC that can adapt to future needs.
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Other links:
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BIS Research: CBDCs beyond borders: results from a survey of central banks
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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Central Bank Digital Coins (CBDCs)
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FFCON21: May 13 Central Bank Digital Currencies CBDCs - The Future of Money
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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