October summary
Source: Unsplash
In case you missed out on the episodes of the Voice of FinTech podcast in October, here is your roundup! You can listen to all the episodes on the Episodes pages of this website or when you subscribe to your favorite podcast apps under Subscribe.
Upgrading core banking platform with Yves Eonnet, Chairman of Skaleet (France)
Yves Eonnet, Chairman of Skaleet, a core banking platform provider, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about the importance of getting banks ready for the 21st century by upgrading their core banking infrastructure.
Here is what they talked about:
Yves' journey to entrepreneurship
What does Skaleet provide? What's the problem you are solving? Does your core banking solution leverage the cloud?
Skaleet's key clients - incumbents or neobanks who grow into fully licensed banks?
Why should the CEO of a major European bank hire Skaleet?
The technology angle
Plans for scaling up
The macro outlook for FinTechs and banks in France and Europe this year
Implementing core banking solutions can require enormous resources. How big is your team, and where are you based?
How do you make money?
What's in store for you before the end of the year and beyond?
The best way to reach out: Skaleet website
How secure are your smart contracts? Emilie Raffo and Torgin Mackinga from Chainsecurity (Switzerland)
Emilie Raffo, founding Partner and Head of Sales at ChainSecurity and Niko Torgin Mackinga, blockchain security engineer spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about smart contracts, its pros and cons and how to make them useful and secure.
Emilie, Torgin - why did they become entrepreneurs
What is a smart contract, and how does it differ from an escrow or automating contract steps that you could do say with a macro?
Smart contracts audits – sound like the next level of difficulty in the blockchain game. So why do we need them?
What are the sort of issues you found regarding smart contracts? Did the code not do what was promised? Anything malicious?
ChainSecurity is a PwC spin-off – will audit firms venture into auditing smart contracts at some point?
What’s different between Chainsecurity and other smart contract auditors?
What’s ChainSecurity's technology angle, or is it that they have more brilliant engineers than anyone else?
Key clients for their services
How does ChainSecurity deals with potential liability for its work
Plans for scaling up
Business model
Team and locations
Further reading: Le futur des espèces, Emilie Raffo's book on crypto (in French), DeFi News from Defiant, an article about Torgin's paper on oracle manipulation https://chainsecurity.com/oracle-manipulation-after-merge/ and the full paper: https://eprint.iacr.org/2022/445, Andreas Antonopoulos Youtube channel
Reach out here: contact@chainsecurity.com
Trading crypto futures with Kraken Futures - Alexia Theodorou, Cyprus
Alexia Theodorou, Kraken Futures Product Lead, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about the role of derivatives in the crypto markets and futures in particular.
Here is what they covered:
Why join Kraken Futures?
What’s the problem you are solving at Kraken Futures, and why is it worth solving? What’s your focus?
Who are your key clients?
How secure is trading at Kraken Futures?
Why are derivatives traded so much? Why are they so important to the centralized market and why are they relevant/used to crypto?
How big is the crypto derivatives market vs. underlying and how it compares to traditional markets
Who are the key crypto derivates players? Do you need ‘market makers’ or their equivalent?
You launched MCFs (multi-collateral futures) – what’s their benefit vs. other derivatives on crypto?
How do you see the crypto markets this year? Why we have seen such a correlation with traditional public markets this year?
What’s your technology angle, or do you have more brilliant engineers than other players?
Recommended reading list: see below
The best way to reach out and find out more about Kraken Futures
Alexia's reading list:
https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin
and a few good internet articles/videos:
Voice of FinTech Africa Series with Patrick Awori: African FinTech - state of play with Andrew Barden, Director Insights Dedalus Global & Lead Organizer of Africa Fintech Summit
Patrick Awori, Founder and CEO at Imaginarium, a Kenyan-based FinTech behind the Circle, a virtual savings platform, hosted another episode of Voice of FinTech: Africa Series. Patrick spoke to Andrew Barden, Director of Insights at Dedalus Global | Lead Organizer and Content Director at Africa Fintech Summit about the state of play on the African FinTech scene and the upcoming Africa Fintech Summit in South Africa.
See more background here:
Despite global tech media coverage being awash with stories of falling start-up valuations and sell-offs witnessed in once-vibrant sectors, Africa is largely defying global trends in VC funding. African start-ups are expected to raise about US$ 7 billion by the end of 2022, representing an almost 60% increase in start-up funding from the previous year, which would be raised by a diverse mix of local and global investors. Fintech continues to dominate, raising about 54% of all venture funding in the continent in 2021. Many reasons have been given for the continued growth witnessed in Africa’s fintech sector, including the fact that these start-ups are solving big problems such as access. Others given include the base effect, and st revenue traction and so on. Whatever the case, Africa continues to attract interest and how long the boom will last is anybody’s guess. To discuss what he calls “the Africanisation of global fintech,” we interview Andrew Barden, Director of Insights at Dedalus Global, and the Lead Organizer and Content Director at the Africa Fintech Summit. In the episode, Andrew shares his outlook on the state of the sector, tips on how business leaders can build resilience in the face of global economic hardship, and what the general factors that make African markets attractive for investment are, from his perspective as a Strategy Consultant and Lead Organizer of the African Fintech Summit, the continent’s leading fintech-focused conference. Finally, we discuss in detail what to expect at the 8th edition of the Africa Fintech Summit, which is coming up in November to be held in Capetown, South Africa, and how to participate in the conference and associated events. He describes why the AFTS is a unique space where ideas are explored, investments are mobilized, and collaborations are formed across sectors and geographies.
Helping launching and growing FinTechs smoothly with Alistair Cotton and Daniel Cronin, co-founders of Integrated Finance (UK)
Alistair Cotton and Daniel Cronin, co-founders of Integrated Finance, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about helping FinTechs focus on their primary missions and taking the back-end challenges off their hands.
Here is what they talked about:
Alistair, Daniel – backstory, why they got together and started a business
Integrating FinTech's back-end - why is it a problem worth solving?
How does one measure the success of an infrastructure provider?
Who are key clients of Integrated Finance
What’s your technology angle, or do you have more brilliant engineers than anyone else?
What are their plans for scaling up their business
How does Integrated Finance make money?
How big is your team, and where are you based?
What’s your favorite business book or another resource? Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger's publications and Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, creator of Nike
What’s the best way to reach out: LinkedIn - Alistair Cotton and Daniel Cronin's profiles
If you have suggestions for topics or guests on the show or have ideas about how to make this podcast better for you, please e-mail us at info@voiceoffintech.com. Alternatively, you can also leave a voicemail here.
Keep safe!
Sincerely,