David Birch Defines Metaverse

"The metaverse is going to be built with an identity layer and a value layer, making it a safer and more secure place to do business."

- David Birch

It's hard to cut through the hype and tripe of the Metaverse. In this episode Dexter Cousins chats to David Birch to define Metaverse and explore what it actually means for the future of money.

What they unpack is an exciting and tangible new internet that holds incredible potential for Fintech businesses, individuals, and society as a whole.

About David Birch

David Birch is an author, advisor, and commentator on digital financial services. He is the author of several books, including "The Currency Cold War", "Identity is the New Money" and "Before Babylon, Beyond Bitcoin." Birch is known for his expertise in digital identity, digital money, payments and the future of money.

"Tokenisation is going to be much bigger than Blockchain."

- David Birch

Metamoney: Payments in the Metaverse

David Birch defines the metaverse and its potential impact on financial services. He shares his journey of exploring web 3, the metaverse and digital identity writing a research paper and book on the topic with Victoria Richardson.

David explains the difference between virtual worlds, gaming and the metaverse, emphasising web 3 is essentially the infrastructure of the metaverse. What makes the Metaverse compelling is the concept of property ownership via tokenisation, digital wallets and digital identity.

David also highlights the potential for tokenisation leading to vastly reduced transaction costs and increased security. And a key reason why major banking institutions are taking tokenisation and stable coins very seriously. David also discusses the role of AI and smart wallets in shaping the future of financial transactions for society, acting as a personal financial advisor and handling every day transactions.

Key Takeaways:

David Birch is on a tour down under August 2023 and will be making appearances at Intersekt and a number of exclusive events (details below)

Thanks to PayEd https://payed.biz/ for bringing you this podcast. You can catch David Birch in person at the following events:

You can follow David's work -
visit www.dgwbirch.com
writing David's Books/Magazines/Articles
twitter David Birch

144: Dr Dimitrios Salampasis

In episode 144 of Fintech Chatter Podcast, Dexter Cousins is joined by Dr Dimitirios Salampasis of Swinburne University.

We celebrated 250 audio interviews last week and Dimitrios is the first Academic we've featured on the podcast. Dexter poses the question 'Has Fintech innovation stalled?'

Tune in for an in depth discussion on innovation, fintech funding, talent, immigration, skills and what investors are looking for.

About Dr Dimitrios Salampasis

Dr Salampasis is a highly regarded academic and thought leader on global Fintech innovation. Honours include Senior Lecturer of Fintech Innovation at Swinburne University. Dimitrios is a visiting Professor of FinTech at the University of Québec. Blockchain and FinTech Fellow at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. A Visiting Faculty at the School of Management in Fribourg, Switzerland. And an Academic Council Member of the Global FinTech Institute.

Dimitrios’ research includes the human, technological and ESG sides of innovation in financial services and FinTech. His areas of specialist expertise, research, teaching, industry engagement, policy and advisory work. The emergence and development of FinTech-enabled business models, Blockchain and digital assets innovation. Digital transformation in banking and FinTech education, along with the relevant global FinTech-related regulatory and policy interventions.

As founding course director for Swinburne's Masters of Financial Technology, Dimitrios is an important member of the Australian Fintech ecosystem.

About Swinburne University

Swinburne University of Technology is a world leader in education by using interactive and innovative technologies to deliver courses and degrees. From vocational education and undergraduate to postgraduate study, Swinburne has online study options at all levels.

https://www.swinburne.edu.au/

Connect - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitriossalampasis/

135: ConnectID | Andrew Black

In episode 135 of Fintech Chatter Podcast Dexter Cousins is joined by Andrew Black, Managing Director of ConnectID.

About ConnectID

ConnectID aims to become Australia’s first and leading reusable digital identity exchange, allowing citizens to take more control over their identity and data, and enabling organisations to unlock value and reduce security risks. 

Part of Australian Payments Plus (which also includes eftpos, BPAY, Beem and the New Payments Platform) ConnectID provides businesses access to trusted and reliable identity data, and is partnering with the big 4 banks to launch this Digital Identity ecosystem for Australians.

Find out more - https://connectid.com.au

About Andrew Black

Andrew is an established leader in the Digital Identity industry, working with state and federal government here in Australia. He also works with international bodies to shape future technology evolutions and policies to protect citizen data and rights. 

Originally hailing from Scotland, Andrew spent the past decade leading digital ventures on data and cyber security in 2 major UK banks, having most recently led Open Banking and Digital Identity.

Connect with Andrew 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-black-a5118239/

Find out more about Open Banking/CDR

Alan Tsen, Fintech Radar on Fintech News

Fintech Chatter News is back for 2023!

In this new monthly format, Dexter chats with a friend of the show about the BIG Aussie Fintech news of the month.

This month's guest is Alan Tsen of Fintech Radar

Follow Alan on Twitter https://twitter.com/alantsen

As an OG of Aussie Fintech Alan was GM of Stone and Chalk and Chair of Fintech Australia.

More recently Alan held the Director of Revenue Strategy role for African Fintech Chipper cash.

And Alan has now gone back to his Fintech roots by heading up IAG Firemark accelerator program, FMX

Alan is also the author of the excellent Fintech Radar newsletter - Make sure you subscribe!

In this edition of Fintech Chatter News Dexter and Alan cover:

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133: Parpera | Daniel Cannizzaro

In episode 133 of Fintech Chatter Podcast Dexter Cousins talks to Parpera CEO and Founder Daniel Cannizzaro.

Parpera was Founded in April 2020, raising AUD2.7m in equity funding through Equitise - October 2021 saw the launch of the Parpera App, which grew to serve hundreds of Australian businesses. 

Then disaster struck on 29 June 2022, Parpera had to temporarily pause the set up of new accounts and was unable to serve customers due to the closure of partner bank, Volt (read more).

Dexter chats to Daniel about the relaunch of Parpera, finding new BaaS partners and facing closure of the business. This is an inspiring story of a founder who truly believes in their mission and is willing to push through what feels like insurmountable challenges to keep their dream alive.

About Parpera

We make it easier for people to manage their business finances so that they can focus more on what matters most to them.

Parpera provides everything you need to run your business finances in one app. We include access to a Business account, Business Debit Mastercard®, invoicing, cash flow insights, and tax and accounting capabilities. Parpera is specifically designed for Sole Traders (with companies coming soon!)

Focus more on what matters. Download Parpera now. It’s free to get started!

About Daniel Cannizzaro

Daniel has worked with business owners and leaders around the world, from small businesses to large scale multinational corporations. His mission has been to help solve challenging and complex strategy, operations, technology, and risk problems.

He is a graduate of both the London Business School with a Master's of Business Administration and University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Information Systems. Daniel has always sought to completement his executive-level education with courses from Columbia Business School.

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004: Fireblocks | Shane Verner

In episode 4 of Blockchain Chatter Dexter Cousins chats with Shane Verner from Fireblocks.

Shane shares the amazing story of Fireblocks, a tech startup that got to $100m ARR in record time (only Slack has accomplished this feat faster than Fireblocks!)

Dexter asks Shane why an Israeli-based Blockchain business sees Australia as such an important market.

And they talk about some of the groundbreaking work Fireblocks is doing in the Australian market.

Shane has spent many years in the banking technology sector working for companies like Thought Machine, IBM and Cisco. He shares his insights on how blockchain and digital assets are the future of the banking industry.

About Fireblocks

Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. 

Fireblocks enables exchanges, lending desks, custodians, banks, trading desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. 

Servicing over 1,600 financial institutions, Fireblocks has secured the transfer of over $3 trillion in digital assets, and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit. 

Some of the biggest trading desks have switched to Fireblocks because it’s the only solution that CISOs and Ops Teams both love. 

For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com.

Fintech Chatter TV
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132: Basiq | Damir Cuca

In episode 132 of Fintech Chatter Dexter Cousins is joined by Damir Cuca, Founder and CEO of Basiq.

Basiq provides businesses with all the tools to seamlessly acquire and use Open Banking data in a CDR-compliant way.

Damir chats to Dexter about why he is upbeat and optimistic for the Fintech sector in 2023.

Make sure to check out the full podcast where Damir shares his approach to bringing on major investors including Plaid, NAB Ventures, Salesforce and Visa.

And if you are new to the show make sure to follow us and leave a review, it really helps others discover the show and support great founders like Damir 🙏 😀

About Basiq

At Basiq, our vision is Making Finance Easy. Finance is complex and it can be hard for consumers to make informed financial decisions. We see a world where consumers are empowered to make smarter financial decisions and to engage with their finances in new and unique ways.

Basiq enables this by providing an Open Finance API platform for businesses to build innovative financial solutions. The platform facilitates the relationship between fintechs and consumers by enabling access to consented financial data and executing smart data-driven payments.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

2:40 About Basiq

4:33 Open Banking and the payments opportunity

5:58 The current state of CDR and Open Banking

10:51 The origins of Basiq

14:58 Running a successful Fintech prudently

18:23 Thriving in a downturn

24:59 3 forces impacting Australian Fintech in 2023

29:25 How to win investors like Salesforce, Plaid, Visa,

31:17 Supporting the Aussie fintech startup ecosystem

34:53 Is Sydney's Northern Beaches Australia's Silicon valley?

36:17 Attracting the right talent

40:57 How to get in touch

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Launching a Fintech in Australia

In this special episode, Dexter Cousins shares tips on launching a Fintech in Australia.

Executives from two UK Fintech, Mark Ledsham, COO of Currency Cloud and Matthew Tyrrell APAC Commercial Director of Codat join Dexter to share their Fintech expertise in this fireside chat recorded at the British Consulate in Sydney.

Recorded in September 2022 as part of the UK Department of International Trade Fintech delegation to Intersekt, Mark and Matt share how to successfully launch an international Fintech in Australia.

To enquire about support from UK DIT you can reach out to Elisa.Henderson@fcdo.gov.uk or Steven.Walker2@fcdo.gov.uk

How you can support Fintech Chatter.

Follow on your podcast player and leave a five-star review:

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Thanks for your support.

About Tier One People

Founded by Dexter Cousins in 2016, Tier One People is on a mission to help Australia become the world leader in Fintech innovation.

Connect on Linkedin - https://bit.ly/3DsCJBp

Tier One People helps companies like Revolut, TrueLayer and 10x build founding teams for launch in Australia.

And series A+ / ASX Listed Aussie Fintech like Lendi, Afterpay and 86 400 hire executive talent capable of delivering growth and scale.

If you are building a world-class Fintech venture and need help in hiring tier-one people contact us

UK Fintech News

Ali Paterson from Fintech Finance joins us for a rundown of UK Fintech news.

Welcome to Fintech Chatter News on 30th August 2022.

Caroline Tran CEO and Founder of Hello Clever joins us live to chat about their $4.5m seed raise.

Fintech News Australia

There have been lots of positive Financial results in the last few days. 

Congrats to Rael Ross and the team at Butn - they hit $274m in originations in FY22 and over $1bn since launching, capping off a successful year since their 2021 IPO.

Wisr’s latest results project profitability in the next 12 months despite the challenging market conditions.  Originations were at $611m for FY22. 

Since launch in 2017 they’ve written $1.2bn in loans and have 24 consecutive quarters of loan origination growth.

Prospa announced strong 2022 financial results. Originations increased 52% this year to $732m and revenue increased 51% to $178m

Fintech Capital Raises and Partnership deals

$4.5m Seed round for Hello Clever

Peppermint Innovation have signed a 5 year deal with Visa to expand globally. 

It gives Visa exclusive rights to provide Peppermint cards in Australia, Singapore and the Phillipines.

Superfierce has smashed its target to save its customers $100 million in fees in just 5 months. 

A big congrats to Trenna and the team for hitting a total of $116 million. A clear signal there is a market for unbiased, affordable financial advice. 

Afterpay and Westpac are dissolving their Money app 

It appeared the pioneering partnership was doomed once Afterpay was acquired by Block, as they get close to launching the Square Cash App in Australia.

Kudos to the Westpac Banking as a Service team for giving everything and pushing the boundaries on what was a groundbreaking Fintech partnership.

Events 

APPOINTMENTS 

Stephen Doyle has been appointed the new Head of Distribution at Bridgit. 

And Spriggy have appointed Scott Eddington as Chief Commercial Officer. Scott joins from World Remit.

 

A favour to ask

If you are coming back, thanks so much for your support.

If you’re new to the show, make sure to follow us and leave a review.

Every like, share, review and follow really helps us promote and support the Aussie Fintech ecosystem.

"follow" on your podcast player and leave a five-star review on 

Apple scroll to the bottom of the page (iphone or ipad only), hit 5 stars and write a review 

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Subscribe and like on Youtube

Thanks for your support.

If you are building a world-class Fintech venture and need help in hiring tier-one people contact us

Blockchain Weekly

Welcome to Blockchain news, a weekly roundup and dissection of the Big news headlines across blockchain and digital assets.

Dexter Cousins is joined by Blockchain leader of the year and Founder of Genesis Block, Chloe White.

Chloe and Dexter cover the latest Blockchain and digital asset headlines.

Reserve Bank and Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre to Explore Use Cases for CBDC

Is this a case of innovation theatre? Is there a real need for a CBDC in Australia?

What is the chance of an Australian CBDC becoming a real thing?

ASIC Survey - 44% of Retail Investors Hold Crypto Assets

What does this mean for regulation in Australia?

Ethereums Final Testnet Merge Goes Live

What does the Ethereum merge mean? What impact will it have on Ethereum moving forward?

What are some of the risks, especially if there is a fork on POW and POS?

How likely is it this will go ahead in September?

U.S. Treasury Sanctions Tornado Cash

What are the implications here for anyone who has used Tornado Cash?

What does it mean for regulation?

How does the US or any government sanction a piece of code?

What could be the potential washout from this move?

Other Blockchain Weekly News

Crypto exchange Huobi looks for a buyer. 

Reports that Leon Li, the founder and CEO of Huobi Global, is in talks with investors to sell his majority stake in the cryptocurrency exchange, 

SBF and Justin Sun are said to be likely buyers.

Crypto Moguls Compete for Huobi Majority Stake: Report

Blackrock and Coinbase are partnering to offer a spot Bitcoin trust

BlackRock has seen substantial interest in crypto from their clients despite the market’s steep downturn

Its new bitcoin trust follows a deal to connect Blackrocks Aladdin platform to Coinbase Prime

BlackRock Launches Spot Bitcoin Private Trust After Coinbase Partnership

 

A favour to ask

Fintech Chatter is free of sponsors and will always be free content. If you appreciate the interviews please help us promote the show by

Hitting "follow" on your podcast player and leave a five-star review on 

Apple scroll to the bottom of the page (iphone or ipad only), hit 5 stars and write a review 

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Subscribing and liking on Youtube

Thanks for your support.

About Tier One People

119: WeMoney Dan Jovevski

In episode 119 of Fintech Chatter Podcast, Dexter Cousins is joined by Dan Jovevski, CEO and founder of WeMoney.

About WeMoney

WeMoney is a social financial wellness platform aimed at helping people achieve their financial goals.

Since starting in 2020 WeMoney has built a strong community of users and has more than 300,000 downloads. And in 2021 WeMoney won the coveted People's Choice Award for Emerging Fintech at the Finnies Awards.

This week they announced an AU$7m capital raise to help scale the business and develop new products.

About Dan Jovevski

Dan is a second-time founder, having founded, scaled and exited his first FinTech - SwitchMyLoan.com.au back in 2016.

Dan shares some of his secrets on building a purpose/community-led Fintech. A little tip, it takes more than just a Discord group 😉

Dexter asks Dan about the experience the second time around and what he has done differently. They also discuss a recent trip to the US and the key differences between launching a FIntech in Aus vs North America.

Download the WeMoney App

A favour to ask

Fintech Chatter is free of sponsors and will always be free content. If you appreciate the interviews please help us promote the show by

Thanks for your support.

About Tier One People

Founded by Dexter Cousins in 2016, Tier One People is on a mission to help Australia become the world leader in Fintech innovation.

Tier One People helps companies like Revolut, TrueLayer and 10x build founding teams for launch in Australia. 

And series A+ / ASX Listed Aussie Fintech like Lendi, Afterpay and 86 400 hire executive talent capable of delivering growth and scale. If you are building a world-class Fintech venture and need help in hiring tier-one people contact us

118: Tic:Toc - Lisa Virgo

In Episode 118 of Fintech Chatter Dexter Cousins is joined by Lisa Virgo, Chief People Officer at Tic:Toc Homeloans. They talk about the huge benefits of having People and Culture on the founding team.

About Tic:Toc

Tic:Toc, is a platform Fintech company based in Adelaide, South Australia - with a growing presence in Sydney.  Founded in 2015, but launched to the public in July 2017, Tic:Toc offers automated digital home loans to consumers while selling its automation technology to other lending businesses. 

Lisa has been emersed in the journey of Tic:Toc from the early days, from a start-up with 9 employees to scaling the headcount of approximately 130 employees. 

Dexter talks to Lisa about the lessons they have learned along the way, including:

- How P&C delivers the growth strategy for the CEO/Founder
- The importance of values from day one
- How Tic:Toc have managed remote working
- Avoiding the growing pains
- Setting principles around salaries and remuneration
- Attracting great talent when you don't have much money or a recognised brand
- Not using job descriptions
- Getting rid of performance reviews
- Overcoming talent shortages by identifying and developing people with potential

There's some incredible advice in this podcast delivered in a very honest and candid way, which will hopefully resonate with many founders and Fintech leaders.

A favour to ask

Fintech Chatter is free of sponsors and will always be free content. Please help us promote the show by

Thanks for your support.

About Tier One People

Founded by Dexter Cousins in 2016, Tier One People is on a mission to help Australia become the world leader in Fintech innovation.

Tier One People helps companies like Revolut, TrueLayer and 10x build founding teams for launch in Australia. 

And series A+ / ASX Listed Aussie Fintech like Lendi, Afterpay and 86 400 hire executive talent capable of delivering growth and scale. 

If you are building a world-class Fintech venture and need help in hiring tier-one people, you can reach us info@tieronepeople.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dextercousins/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dextercousins 

Website: https://tieronepeople.com