eXponential Finance

Kyle Ellicott is a Founder, Investor and Analyst deeply involved with Blockchain and Open Finance. We had such an extensive conversation that we will publish it in two parts. In this episode, we cover some of Kyle's background, his perspective on the evolution of the FinTech and Open Finance ecosystems over the last decade, the case for targeted efforts on financial literacy, and the urgent need for a reliable digital identity. 

Kyle is a Co-Founder of ReadWrite and Topio Networks as well as the Chief Labs Officer of ReadWrite Labs. He is also a noted TEDx and global keynote speaker, strategist, published author, & technologist with over 15 years of experience at the cornerstone of digital transformation between industry and technology. He’s advised venture capital funds, family offices (FOs), as well as over 175 companies globally throughout industries such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Transportation/Mobility, Blockchain/DApps/FinTech, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Health, Smart Cities and has successfully raised over $130 million in venture funding.

Quarterly, Kyle publishes the "Blockchain Infrastructure Landscape Map", with the Q1/2020 edition including more than 900 individual companies globally split into two parts, the overall landscape and supporting ecosystem. The overall landscape showcases several second-level categories throughout the Consumer, Enterprise, and Infrastructure sections. The supporting ecosystem highlights key players from venture to accelerators to consortiums.

Produced in collaboration with Tokyo FinTech. If you have an interesting story to share with our audience, and would like to appear on the podcast, please contact us via [email protected]

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We welcome our first returnee to the podcast, Benjamin Tsai, President & Managing Partner at Wave Financial, a digital asset management company based in Los Angeles. 

Having been a close observer of the Japanese crypto markets, Ben shares his perspective on the developments in the securities token market in Japan. We then discuss Wave's second product launched in November 2019, the Bitcoin Income & Growth Fund, taking advantage of the developing derivatives markets, in particular the option markets, for crypto assets. Last but not least, hitting the headlines over the last week, Wave's announcement of a new whiskey fund, tokenizing Kentucky Bourbon, a few million bottles of hard assets!

Produced in collaboration with Tokyo FinTech. If you have an interesting story to share with our audience, and would like to appear on the podcast, please contact us via [email protected]

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In our latest episode of the Tokyo FinTech Podcast, we welcome as our guest Michael O'Loughlin, the token Irishman in Berlin. Actually, the Token Irishman in Berlin, where he is the Managing Director of Global Solutions, putting a bank in every app. 

Founded by Steve Kirsch, who invented and patented an early version of the optical mouse, and had his biggest exit as an entrepreneur with the sale of Infoseek, Token is the industry’s leading open banking infrastructure provider. Token is creating the digital connectivity shaping the future of banking-enabled commerce.  

Token’s open banking market platform enables banks and developers to set the pace of innovation in digital financial services, unrestrained by technical complexity and regulatory compliance.  

By offering value-added payments functionality together with standardised, API-based access to over 3,000 banks across Europe and beyond, Token helps banks and businesses to drive new revenues through the creation and delivery of market leading open banking payment and data experiences.

Produced in collaboration with Tokyo FinTech. If you have an interesting story to share with our audience, and would like to appear on the podcast, please contact us via [email protected]

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Mohamed Roushdy is among the most well-known Chief Information Officers in the Middle East, and after having previously achieved "CIO of the Year" honors, was just recognized as a "Digital Leader" by CXO Insights. Mohamed has built multiple banking startups, and is currently the CIO for Dubai Asset Management, a holding company focused on developing, acquiring and managing a diverse portfolio of for-rent residential communities.

Dubai AM has been the first company to implement UAE Pass for digital signature of all legal contracts. UAE Pass is the first national digital identity and signature solution that enables users to identify themselves to government service providers in all emirates through a smartphone-based authentication. It also enables users to sign documents digitally with a high level of security.

We also talk about how Mohamed implemented innovative solution such as a customized bank account number and on-the-spot debit cards & checkbooks as early as 2008, something that most financial institutions have not accomplished to date. We also cover Sharia-compliant financing, and the importance of SME funding for the region. 

We hope you enjoy our conversation as much as we enjoyed recording it!

Produced in collaboration with Tokyo FinTech. If you have an interesting story to share with our audience, and would like to appear on the podcast, please contact us via [email protected]

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Before founding Zweispace, Kameta-san was CEO of ARK Asset Management, the fund arm of Openhouse, and previously at the legendary Century21 world wide #1 real estate company in Tokyo's Shibuya district. With Zweispace, he looks to digitalize the real estate industry, by applying analytics to the valuation process, assessing earthquake robustness with IoT sensors, and putting the necessary documentation onto the blockchain. Kameta-san's ultimate goal is to re-create a real estate-based/backed financial system. Zweispace has just been accepted into the Plug & Play accelerator program in California, and is one of a few Japanese startups looking at markets globally at this stage of their growth. 

Earlier in his career, after graduating from Kyoto University with a  B.S. in Physics, Kameta-san worked at Softbank, where he had the opportunity to learn much about the Silicon Valley ecosystem through the 400+ startup investments the group had made at the height of the late 90s internet bubble. He later was the Director of the CEO office, and the CEO of Prosper Asia, the P2P lending platform founded by Chris Larsen, who later went on to create Ripple. 

The company name derives from a word play on Einstein that physicists will appreciate. Please listen in!

Produced in collaboration with Tokyo FinTech. If you have an interesting story to share with our audience, and would like to appear on the podcast, please contact us via [email protected]

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Charles Hoskinson, CEO of Input Output HK and creator of the Cardano blockchain protocol, had a passionate response when asked about his Twitter fights with Dan Larimer during a recent Tokyo FinTech Meetup. This is only a short excerpt of almost two hours of opening comments and Q&A, which you can find in full length on our YouTube channel. We had the honor to host Charles three times in Tokyo over the last two years, this last appearance was in mid-2019. 

Charles' Opening Comments

Charles Q&A Part I

Produced in collaboration with Tokyo FinTech. If you have an interesting story to share with our audience, and would like to appear on the podcast, please contact us via [email protected]

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Having come to Japan initially as an 11-year old on a school exchange program, Arne has been an admirer of Japan all his life. An illustrious career as submarine officer, shipping executive, FinTech founder & investor later, he has just spent a week in Tokyo, joining a Nordic delegation also including members from Denmark, Estonia, Sweden and Finland, to take a closer look at the startup & investment ecosystem. 

We discuss - of course - Arne's career, and very quickly get carried away on discussions about politeness and respect (still plentiful to be found in Japan), the need to look beyond our own selfish needs (defined by Maslow's pyramid) to becoming "Earth positive", how to create the future of democracy through the right incentives, what makes successful founders, and why any stock market downturn is an opportunity for founders in Japan and elsewhere. 

We would have liked to dive much deeper into many of these topics, and will certainly do so at a future Tokyo FinTech Meetup when Arne is back in Tokyo. Thank you very much for this wonderfully engaging conversation. 

Produced in collaboration with Tokyo FinTech. If you have an interesting story to share with our audience, and would like to appear on the podcast, please contact us via [email protected]

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Nicolas Michelon is the Founder of Asia Intelligence Advisory and an Editor of Asia Power Watch. He is speaking frequently at conferences and corporate events about geopolitical trends, economic power and competitive intelligence, with a specific focus on Europe/Asia relationships. 

In this episode, that as an exception is neither Fin- nor -Tech, we evaluate the Carlos Ghosn case from an economic warfare perspective, speculate as to the future of the Renault/Nissan alliance, including future options especially on the Japanese side, as well as for the broader France/Japan trade relationship. We also take a look at how other foreign CEOs have fared in Japan, while clarifying the details of the Olympus dismissal and highlighting the Takeda success.  

Produced in collaboration with Tokyo FinTech. If you have an interesting story to share with our audience, and would like to appear on the podcast, please contact us via [email protected]

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This session of the Global FinTech Index Briefings features FinTech Australia, FinTechNZ and Tokyo FinTech. Re-broadcast with kind permission by Findexable.  

In December 2019 Findexable launched the Global FinTech Index City Rankings 2020, the first fully global ranking of FinTech ecosystems – across more than 230 cities, 65 countries and over 7,000 fintech companies.  Join the GFI Briefings to hear from FinTech disruptors and innovators and to learn what it takes to build a thriving hub that supports growth, attracts investment and engages with regulators to create a competitive and fair landscape for FinTech.  

The Speakers  

Simon Hardie, Co-founder and CEO of Findexable, has two decades of experience producing financial intelligence content, research and events for global financial publishers as well as boutique research publishers and media companies across Europe and the Middle East.  

Rebecca Schot-Guppy is the GM of peak fintech group FinTech Australia. FinTech Australia represents over 300 companies in Australia on key policy issues and supports the local fintech ecosystem with events and partnerships. It also works to grow Australian fintech sector’s influence abroad. Before working at FinTech Australia, Rebecca was head of community at fintech startup hub Stone & Chalk. She also practised as a corporate lawyer at Hall & Willcox.  

James Brown, GM of FintechNZ, is an Ambassador for the 4 day week campaign to drive productivity and give people time back to learn something new, spend time with their family or do something for the community. He is a serial networker who is driven to making New Zealand the number one choice for Fintech and Innovation giving great access to ASIA. James is focused to address our Financial and Digital Literacy issues, which leads to cashflow stress which impacts the Health and Wellbeing of New Zealanders.  

Norbert Gehrke, Founder & Representative Director of Tokyo FinTech, and a General Partner at FinMirai, has spent most of his career as a Managing Director in Goldman Sachs’ Technology Division, Barclays Investment Bank, and as a consultant. Norbert has led a number of greenfield broker/dealer implementations around the globe, innovation & transformation initiatives, as well as new product launches.

Produced in collaboration with Tokyo FinTech. If you have an interesting story to share with our audience, and would like to appear on the podcast, please contact us via [email protected]

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Nir Netzer is the Chairman of the Board for FinTech-Aviv, the Israeli FinTech Association, a highly valued Community Partner for Tokyo FinTech.

With their Annual Summit just behind them, it was an excellent time to catch up with Nir and to discuss:

- Startup Nation Israel

- The strength of the Israeli FinTech sector, also in comparison with startups in other industries

- How Israeli startups are looking at the opportunities abroad

- The origin and motivation behind FinTech-Aviv

Produced in collaboration with Tokyo FinTech. If you have an interesting story to share with our audience, and would like to appear on the podcast, please contact us via [email protected]

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