PwC Partner and Fintech Lead Interview: “Fintech is Becoming Crypto’ | National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada

• Adoption and Integration of Crypto in Fintech:  PwC has been pivoting towards this emerging fintech trend, developing blockchain solutions to enhance efficiency, such as an expense management system eliminating the need for traditional reporting.

John Oliver, Partner and U.S. Fintech Trust Services Co-leader at PwC:

I wear many hats, so it depends on who I’m talking to. I co-lead our fintech practice. I’m a career auditor with PwC. I’ve been in our banking and capital markets group. We decided a little over three years ago to create a fintech practice combining our technology folks with our financial services—specifically bank and capital markets folks—and have one team that I co-lead with a partner of mine in our technology practice. And crypto has become a much bigger component of what the tech really is.  I’d say it was a fintech push, and crypto has become increasingly dominant as part of what fintech really means. When we first started this, it was people looking for faster pay rails. And what has emerged as the answer, in some ways, is crypto. I remember probably about 2 1/2 years ago, I was like, “This is really emerging”—you know, fintech is becoming crypto.

• Shift in Interest from Crypto-native to Traditional Institutions
  • Initially, the demand was predominantly from crypto-native entities seeking to go public, with a focus on establishing controls, accurate accounting, and solid infrastructures. However, the funding in the crypto space has since dried up, leading to a drop in demand from these entities.
  • Now traditional financial institutions have started to fill this void, leveraging this period to build their own blockchain infrastructures for their customer networks. This shift in interest from crypto-native to traditional institutions is vividly illustrated by the changing attendee profile at Consensus, a major crypto conference, which saw a noticeable increase in representatives from the traditional finance sector.

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• Regulatory Landscape:
  • While acknowledging that regulation hasn't progressed as expected, [however] he believes the lack of regulation may foster innovation.
  • Despite the desire for regulatory clarity to mitigate barriers, the history of American innovation suggests regulation typically lags behind technological advancement.
  • He maintains that traditional finance powerhouses will continue to play a significant role in the financial landscape, with a convergence of crypto, the metaverse, and generative AI forming the digital future. This future will consist of entirely digital assets and transactions, marking a notable departure from physical currency.

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