Crypto has become increasingly integrated into the financial system, from the use of stablecoins for payments, to the trading of tokenized equities on blockchains, to the adoption of crypto holdings by corporate treasuries. We explore how PNC Bank, one of the first movers in this space, has been expanding access to crypto and the challenges it has had to overcome.

Our guest for this episode is: Amanda Agati is the Chief Investment Officer for PNC Asset Management – a firm with over $215 billion in total assets under management.

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In less than three years, the amount of tokenized real-world assets has grown eightfold, to more than $30 billion across equities, fixed income, private assets, real estate and more. And that’s just the start of the tokenization revolution, experts predict, because of four main drivers:  Increased liquidity for illiquid assets, broader investor access, operational efficiency, and global distribution and interoperability.

Our guests for this episode are:

Ric Edelman, who launched Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, the first education platform helping financial advisers responsibly navigate crypto, blockchain, and tokenized assets.

Scott Lucas, Head of Markets Digital Assets for J.P. Morgan, who was instrumental in brokering a $50 million commercial paper issuance on a public blockchain.

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Financial innovation often outpaces regulators’ ability to keep up. This was the case in the 1700s, when the Irish satirist Jonathan Swift decided to give away no-interest, peer-to-peer loans which immediately bore fruit, spawned imitators, and provided liquidity to parts of Ireland where there had been none. Despite these benefits, it took more than a hundred years for Parliament to formalize the network that had sprung up. A similar phenomenon has happened recently in the U.S., where crypto’s rise caught regulators unprepared. But now, as a pro-crypto President and Congress reshape Washington, the industry is hopeful that it can finally achieve what it needs for sustainable flourishing: regulatory clarity.

We’ll explore Swift’s innovation before turning our attention to the regulatory and legal issues that have plagued the current crypto space, learning why America has had a uniquely difficult path to regulatory clarity, what’s changing now that there’s a new administration, and the many opportunities — for investors, businesses, and consumers — that regulatory clarity will unlock.

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Oftentimes, even a revolutionary technological advancement is only the beginning of something bigger. Such was the case in the early 2000s, when the Royal Bank of Scotland released a mobile-banking app that precipitated not only the age of mobile banking, but a proliferation of other apps designed to give people easier access to and control over their money. The same phenomenon has happened since the Bitcoin whitepaper appeared: Beginning with a single game-changer, Bitcoin, the crypto space has blossomed with all manner of innovations: Not just other currencies like Ether, but entirely new ways of building, managing, and investing wealth.

We’ll learn about the creation of the very first mobile banking app. Then, along with BlackRock’s Samara Cohen, we’ll dive into the world of new opportunities that crypto has opened up, from ETH and the Ethereum network, to smart contracts, tokenization, and the recent wave of crypto ETPs that have brought even more investors into the crypto space.

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For generations, credit cards have set the speed limit for digital payments made by consumers and businesses around the world. From metal “charge plates” used to run up a tab at a department store; to the Diner’s Club card, which created a groundbreaking, cross-business credit network for everyday purchases; to the rise of digital payments connecting all corners of the world… nothing has felt more frictionless than paying with credit.

Until now. Because stablecoins (cryptocurrencies that are pegged to a fiat currency) are making digital payments faster and cheaper than they’ve ever been. And they’re changing what’s possible at every scale of our payments ecosystem — from an international corporation making B2B payments, to a small business selling artisanal tree pots, to a parent sending remittances to family members across borders.

We’ll learn how the rise of the credit card changed consumer expectations of what it means to pay for goods and services. Then we’ll dive into the concrete uses of stablecoins that could signal a new revolution in the speed and ease of payments and open up new tools for growth and stability across the world.

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For centuries, creators have given up a big share of their earnings for a chance to reach audiences. In 18th century England, authors’ desires to break free of censorship and exercise the power of the written word led to the growth of modern copyright law, a key pillar of the creator economy. But to this day, publishers and distributors of content have enormous power over how creators make money and grow with their audiences.

What if that didn’t have to be the case? What if, by “going onchain” through blockchain-based apps and platforms, creators could gain complete ownership over their content and create new revenue models, where they (not publishers or platforms) could set the terms?

We’ll examine what it means to create, consume, and connect onchain — and find out how this next evolution of the online world could rebuild the creator economy as we know it.

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Throughout history, financial markets have struggled with the issue of borders. Borders create friction, add cost and cause headaches for anyone who wants to spend money across them. On top of that, various national currencies can be wildly unstable.

Could a borderless, global currency ease friction and enhance financial inclusion and stability around the world? Cryptocurrencies offer an intriguing possible solution to money’s border problem. And a particular kind of cryptocurrency, called stablecoins, could become a powerful medium of exchange for international payments - and offer people around the world increased economic freedom.

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The costs of the paper check system – both in time and money – have been with us for centuries. But there’s a new technology called blockchain that looks as though it could provide a solution, with an online ledger that’s universally accessible and completely transparent. Blockchain also can't be hacked or altered and costs next to nothing. That may sound too good to be true, but a look back at how the paper check system was improved by the rise of digital money demonstrates that what sounds like a revolution today is often commonplace tomorrow. And blockchain may be the key to unlocking the future of money.

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Why did Bitcoin move from a currency to an investable asset in just 15 years of existence? It was because of mainstream adoption by retail investors who believed there was money to be made. But behind that mania for all things crypto was a much more serious undertaking – the birth of a new asset class. Investors came to understand that there was a market for crypto, and that it behaved differently from other assets in their portfolios. It’s not the first time the monetary system has absorbed a new asset class. In fact, the rise of crypto has striking parallels to the creation of stocks in the 1600s. 

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The history of money is riddled with crises, followed by innovation that transforms the monetary system. In 17th century England, a coinage crisis triggered a loss in trust in the money’s value. To restore that trust, Goldsmiths stepped in as intermediaries—and became England’s unlikely first bankers. Today, transferring money requires a plethora of intermediaries to verify transactions in a system that’s full of friction. Enter the next innovation: Bitcoin. Can it remove friction from the system and build trust?

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