Masonry Blog

There’s more than a little talk about the onerous nature of securities filings, especially for young companies, including firms involved in financial technology, that are just getting started with business.  The argument goes that making disclosure is expensive—and not infrequently, … Continue Reading

I had the pleasure this morning of doing a real Washington tradition: C-span’s morning call in show where I discussed Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency and the state of crypto regulation in Congress.  It was such a pleasure hearing from around the … Continue Reading

I ran across an interesting op-ed on upgrading the payments infrastructure, beginning with the following: America’s outdated payment system exacerbates income inequality at a scale far larger than commonly understood. Our country can be divided roughly in half between those … Continue Reading

During my Congressional testimony on Facebook’s Libra, plenty of policymakers expressed their concerns about potential AML vulnerabilities. So for this week’s Fintech Beat, I explore blockchain forensics, as well as the technological and regulatory challenges facing firms and cutting edge … Continue Reading

The entirety of the House Financial Services hearings facing Libra are now up online!  I’ve got to admit, I’ve got a vested interest in it since I was one of the witnesses, but the sessions really were interesting.  Here’s the … Continue Reading

Washington, DC, June 26, 2019 — Fintech Week is a unique, global policy forum where thought-leaders can discover, seriously discuss and debate rapidly evolving changes to the financial ecosystem that drive policy and regulation — and what they mean to markets and investors. This year, Fintech Week … Continue Reading

It was a pleasure interviewing Europe’s capital markets chief, Steven Maijoor, at Georgetown Law.  Among the interesting observations: First, that decisions on cross-border equivalence are not yet finished and that negotiations were continuing.  Second, that Facebook’s cryptocurrency at least as … Continue Reading

Looking forward to the annual Georgetown-Graduate Institute “G-2” conference in Geneva next week!–two days of cutting edge discussions, cultivating with sessions at the WTO, on trade wars, trade law, digital finance and more. Conference details can be found here.

Though experts had speculated for over a year that Facebook was considering launching a cryptocurrency, this month’s news reports confirming the rumors still sent shockwaves through the industry.  For the first time, a U.S. tech behemoth is attempting to go … Continue Reading