FATF and the threat to Bitcoin privacy
Panel · Bitcoin Amsterdam · Oct 2022
Crypto and traditional finance sell much the same products; the difference is access. Wallets and exchanges are the new gatekeepers.
Speaking
Keynotes, panels, firesides, and the occasional argument.
I speak on regulation, market structure, liquidity, digital assets and what finance keeps getting wrong. I'm blunt, I bring examples from the desk, and I'm happy to disagree with the panel.
On stage
Keynotes & panels
Talks and panels from London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Dubai and beyond, from 2018 on.
What's next after the FTX crash?
Panel · European Blockchain Convention · Barcelona · 2023
Why regulation alone wouldn't have stopped it, the case for industry self-policing, and hybrid market models.
Learning from history: what can forex teach us?
Keynote · Cryptoeconomy · London · Jan 2018
Forex went from “scam” to regulated market. The argument for engaging regulators early, made in 2018.
Redefining banking
Panel, as moderator · CryptoFin Conference · 2019
Moderating a panel on how crypto is reshaping banks and the wider financial system.
Why has the STO market stalled?
Talk · CryptoFin Conference · 2019
A short talk on why security token offerings stalled, and what that market actually needs.
What is money?
Panel · CryptoAM · Mar 2018
A panel on what money actually is, and whether crypto qualifies.
On the record
Interviews & podcasts
Long-form conversations going back to 2016, from the FX brokerage years to today.
Democratizing access to markets
Podcast · Nordic Fintech Magazine · Sep 2022
From FX to digital assets, liquidity vs volume, and why keeping retail out induces risk.
From losing trader to brokerage owner
Long-form · KD Launch podcast · Aug 2022
The long version of the story: two decades in FX and what the inside of a brokerage taught me.
Why exchanges go dark in a crash
Interview · AIBC Summit · Dubai · 2021
Market maturity, rubber-band markets, and why learning to trade from a book is like learning surgery from one.
A look behind the FX broker curtain
Interview · FXStreet · Apr 2016
What happens to a retail FX order after you click buy, explained from the broker's side of the desk.
Building in regulated markets
Podcast · Blockleaders · Jul 2020
The founder story, from retail FX to brokerage to digital assets, and why the plumbing matters.
Markets in the March 2020 crash
Interview · The Future is Now · Mar 2020
Bitcoin, the S&P 500 and what a liquidity crunch looks like, recorded in the middle of the COVID crash.
Does your project need a token?
Podcast · Coinstruct · Mar 2021
Markets, correlation, regulation and retail behaviour, and why most projects don't need a token.
Sandboxes and leading in public
Interview · CryptoFin Conference · 2019
Regulatory sandboxes, and running a company in front of its community.
“Security token” does not exist
Interview · Value Tokenized · Apr 2019
Tokenization, how European law treats it versus the US, and why structure matters more than labels.
Also on The Bad Crypto Podcast, talking about regulating crypto exchanges (audio, 2021), and a regular guest on BloxLive's Crypto Now in 2019 (watch an episode).
The show
Eavesdrop
A weekly, unscripted 1:1 with the mic left on: money, power, tech, and whatever blew up that week. Newest first.
When is it time to kill something
Eavesdrop · S01E03 · Oct 2026
Fail fast, but don’t quit
Let's Talk: Conspiracies
Eavesdrop · S01E02 · Oct 2026
Money & power edition
AI: Will It Make Us or Break Us?
Eavesdrop · S01E01 · Oct 2026
Doom vs. light, role-played
Co-hosted with Yana Afanasieva. Yana ran EMEA regional compliance for Amazon and PayPal in Luxembourg after more than a decade in corporate finance, then founded Competitive Compliance in Zug's Crypto Valley in 2017. She has since helped fintech and crypto companies win more than a dozen licences across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Speaking history
Where I've been
Selected engagements. Talks with a recording above are marked.
- Feb 2023CBDC and world crypto regulationBlockchain Life · Dubai
- Feb 2023What's next after the FTX crash? WatchEuropean Blockchain Convention · Barcelona
- Dec 2022The future of trading and digital assetsNordic Blockchain Conference · Copenhagen
- Oct 2022FATF and the threat to Bitcoin privacy WatchBitcoin Amsterdam
- Oct 2022Crypto crime and the bad actors who want your BitcoinGITEX · Dubai
- Oct 2022Making DeFi safe for investors: is it possible?DeFi Conf · Belfast
- Sep 2022The impact of MiCA on the crypto marketNordic Fintech Week · Copenhagen
- Sep 2022CeFi / DeFi future: vision versus realityCrypto Gibraltar
- Jan 2022Banking 2.0: how DeFi lending will affect traditional lendersAIBC · Dubai
- 2019Redefining banking (moderator) WatchCryptoFin Conference
- 2019Why has the STO market stalled? WatchCryptoFin Conference
- 2019Capital market opportunities and regulatory challengesIBA Annual Conference · Seoul
- 2019ICO = IPO?Finance Estonia Forum · Tallinn
- 2019Will regulation kill crypto?Hong Kong Blockchain Week
- Jan 2018Learning from history: what can forex teach us? WatchCryptoeconomy · London
Book
Bring me in.
Keynotes, panels, moderated firesides, closed-door sessions with regulators or boards, and guest lectures. Tell me the audience, the date and the question you want answered.