Appetite for Disruption: The Business and Regulation of FinTech

Bloomberg reporter and author Matt Leising joins Troy and Lee to discuss his recent book about the Ethereum blockchain and the DAO hack.  Part history and part detective story, Matt doesn’t spoil the whodunnit but he gives us great insights into what happened and how he solved the mystery.  He also talks a lot about his views regarding the promise of blockchain and Ethereum and articulates the different visions that different people in the blockchain community have for the technology and its use cases.  The book is a compelling read and will give readers both a well-told story and insights into a potentially very important technology and how it developed.  As a reminder, nothing in this episode is investment, legal, or any other advice of any kind, and nothing in this episode is an endorsement or recommendation of any kind.

How might applying Nobel Prize winning economics to markets affect how they operate?  Jesse is the COO at alternative trading system OneChronos.  He explains the thinking behind the ATS and how it matches securities orders in a unique manner that employs Nobel Prize winning auction theory, probabilistic search, expressive bidding. and other advanced concepts.  We talked about how OneChronos combines them into a very frequent auction process.  How will this impact execution quality and the user experience?  We’ll find out.  It certainly should spark a lot of discussion and exchange of ideas.  Troy and Lee share some of their thoughts at the end of the episode.  As a reminder, nothing in this episode is investment, legal, or any other advice of any kind, and nothing in this episode is an endorsement or recommendation of any kind.

Cost/benefit analysis and emerging technologies.  We continue our conversation with Haime Workie of FINRA’s Office of Financial Innovation with a deep exploration of questions about balancing policy and regulatory considerations with innovation and offering new products and services.  Haime shares his views on the opportunities and challenges, both from his legal background and from his engineering background.  If you are too rigid, you might miss big opportunities.  If you don't exercise appropriate caution, you might expose market participants to significant risks.  And there are questions about what risks are posed, whether traditional risks are mitigated by new technology, and the magnitude of each identified risk.  Haime also talks about how regulators use technology.  Troy and Lee share their thoughts at the end.  In this episode, Haime is speaking for himself and not for FINRA.

Can financial innovation create the best day ever?  Haime heads FINRA’s Office of Financial Innovation where he and the team study the future of financial services and the potential impact of innovation on investors, markets, and FINRA’s mandate.  This work involves lots of learning about new technologies and new applications of technology to all aspects of financial services as well as parsing the potential benefits and risks.  Their recent AI report highlights this work and assesses many considerations across various AI use cases.  Haime discusses some details of the report and considers whether automated investment decisions are here to stay.  In this episode, Haime is speaking for himself and not for FINRA.

Troy and Lee welcome Bea Wray and discuss her new book and its main messages.  She teaches us about gratitude as an attitude and the art of “thank you” notes.  It turns out that "thank you" notes can make a big difference in relationships, both business and personal.  You might say that they are Bea’s “secret sauce.”  We also talk about how to create an organization that is focused on people -- employees, customers, vendors, and others in a company’s ecosystem.  Creating great relationships that involve collaboration and helping each other can be an effective way to build a business and move it forward.  Her energy, complemented by her thoughtfulness and insights, should translate into a great book with nuggets of wisdom.  At the end of the recording, Troy and Lee chat about Bea's key points and how they apply to their lives and business.

The GraniteShares CEO finishes our conversation sharing his thoughts about the differences between public companies and private companies and how public markets can force companies to have more discipline.  He also offers insight into some of his ideas for ongoing innovation and our financial markets.  Stay tuned at the end as Troy and Lee discuss where technology might be headed.  As a reminder, nothing said in this or any other episode is investment, legal, or any other advice of any kind.  

William Rhind is founder and CEO of GraniteShares, a recent entrant in the exchange traded funds space.  As William explains, financial innovation -- and associated disruption -- continues.  That disruption could come from new goods or services or whole new business models.  He also touches on themes we hear from other entrepreneurs around the challenges of a startup.  But thinking differently about things is often where the innovation begins.  As a reminder, nothing said in this or any other episode is investment, legal, or any other advice of any kind.