On October 4, Goodwin’s New York office hosted an exclusive breakfast presentation with FinTech thought leader Chris Skinner on the Internet of Things, the future of blockchain technology and potential privacy problems.
Goodwin’s Digital Currency & Blockchain Technology Practice Co-Chairs Grant Fondo and Cindy McAdam started the presentation, welcoming the group and briefly discussing the newest trends in the FinTech space, including how the government is working with companies on the technology.
Chris’s presentation focused on the four major changes to society that have affected our banking and financial institutions, including:
- The evolution to homo sapiens: people now have shared beliefs
- Civilizations begin to form, money is created: people now use money as control mechanism
- The industrial revolution: banks and money now licensed by the government
- The technology revolution: people are now connected through ‘smart’ banking
The Internet of Value – or ValueWeb, for short – allows machines to trade with machines and people with people, anywhere on this planet in real-time and for free. Using a combination of technologies from mobile devices to bitcoin and the blockchain, FinTech firms are building the ValueWeb.
While Chris Skinner is known as an independent commentator on the financial markets and fintech through his blog, in his day job, Chris is chair of European networking forum, The Financial Services Club. He serves on the advisory boards of many companies including Innovate Finance, Moven and Meniga. Chris is also the author of newly-released Value Web, which tackles how FinTech firms are using mobile and blockchain technology to create the Internet of Value.