This is a special emergency episode of Barefoot Innovation with a call to action for helping to protect Ukrainian refugees from being preyed upon by human traffickers.

Yesterday, I got a message from Stuart Watkins, the CEO of Zenoo, in Prague. I got to know Stu two years ago when AIR ran our first TechSprint on the US Paycheck Protection Program, which provided rescue funding for small businesses hit suddenly by the covid shutdowns. Zenoo, based in London and Prague, worked with the TechSprint teams from a Friday night to a Sunday night, developing tools for banks to use for fast, automated onboarding of PPP loan applicants. 

This week, Stu was reaching out for help with a different idea:  a plan for protecting Ukrainian refugees by setting up a system to authenticate the identities of people offering them shelter and transportation.

My guest today is Ian Hollowbread, the Global Innovation Lead for Safe and Compliant at ING Bank. Ian and I have known each other since the early days of regtech, and even fintech, as I visited him in London to see the innovation lab he built at ING, figuring out how to do compliance better, using the best technology.

I started the Barefoot Innovation show in 2015. My guest today is the person who suggested I create a podcast. He is Matt Van Buskirk, Co-CEO of Hummingbird Regtech and also, among many things, a member of AIR’s Advisory Council.

We are starting a new special series of shows where we’ll bring in guests and, instead of having them talk about what they’re doing, we’ll ask them to talk about what they are seeing, and learning, and thinking. In a way, we’ll be going back to the original concept of the show, which was to make it possible for listeners to be like a fly on the wall in a fascinating conversation. I, for one, am having these kinds of conversations almost every day lately, with smart, visionary people who are trying to figure out the uncharted territory ahead, and how to navigate it. 

This is a special episode of Barefoot Innovation because I have no guest – it’s just me.

As we go into 2022, I want to share the advice I have on my mind for everyone (including myself). And I’m also going to share a quick overview of what we’re doing at AIR. We are a small organization doing very big work, in the US and worldwide. I’m going to describe the highlights, partly to encourage you to engage with us if we have points of connection.

In addition, I want to invite you all to tell us what you would like to hear about this year on Barefoot Innovation. What kinds of guests should we have, and what kinds of issues should we explore? Come to www.regulationinnovation.org and let us know!

Happy New Year everyone! As we enter 2022 and hope it turns out better than its two predecessors, one of my goals for the year is to invite you on a journey with me to explore the frontiers of change in finance, and of course therefore, financial regulation. We’re going to look at Web 3.0, DeFi, crypto, blockchains, tokenization, DAOs, embedded finance, and the whole universe of mold-breaking innovation flooding into the financial sector.

To kick it off, I’ve invited our second-ever four-time guest onto the show. In our final episode of 2021, I featured our first four-time guest on Barefoot Innovation – Chris Giancarlo, talking about his great new book, CryptoDad. Today, we’re talking for the fourth time with Shamir Karkal – and for very good reason.

Dubbed “CryptoDad” for his celebrated call on the US Congress to respect a new  generation’s interest in cryptocurrency, the Honorable J. Christopher Giancarlo served as 13th Chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  

Considered one of “the most influential individuals in financial regulation,”  Giancarlo also served as a member of the US Financial Stability Oversight Committee, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, and the Executive Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions.

My guests today are Lisa Rice, CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, and Kareem Saleh, founder and CEO of Fairplay. Lisa is a civil rights activist. Kareem is a tech guy who founded a startup that uses AI analytics to deliver what he calls Fairness as a Service. They come from two different worlds, but they have teamed up to work on the problem of unfair lending.

Corey and Todd argue that, as with so many other things, new technology is opening new possibilities. In this case, they think the tough old problem of financial consumer protection and financial health should be looked at afresh because….yes, you guessed it: because we now have digitized data that changes the whole game.

Today I have something different for you. Last spring, I recorded a conversation for the virtual South by Southwest conference with Cleve Mesidor. Cleve founded the National Policy Network of Women of Color in Blockchain, among other roles. SX had asked us to talk about the lack of diversity in the tech sector, and what to do about it. We had a great conversation, and we got permission to share it with you as a podcast.

My guest today is one of the most high-ranking women in the world of banking. Stephanie Cohen is Global Co-Head of Consumer and Wealth Management, Goldman Sachs. In that role, she co-leads Goldman’s digital bank, Marcus.