Henri Arslanian (1): Tectonic Times: FinTech, Crypto and a Cashless Future

Regulatory Ramblings

Cryptocurrencies and FinTech are the dish du jour these days, but what does the future hold for such financial innovations? The global market for FinTech is expected to reach US$332.5 by 2028 billion from US$112.5 billion today. As for virtual currencies, the global crypto market size was valued at US$1.49 billion in 2020, with expectations of hitting US$4.94 billion by 2030.

Such figures suggest the story is still evolving. Henri Arslanian, the host of "The Future of Money" podcast, is just the man to help us make sense of the matter. With his latest work, “The Book of Crypto: The Complete Guide to Understanding Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets,” published by Palgrave Macmillan and having reached Amazon’s global top 10 list for financial services best-sellers, he’s worth listening to.

Henri is an adjunct professor at the University of Hong Kong, where he’s an instructor for the first global university FinTech course. He also advises many of the world’s leading virtual currency exchanges, investors, financial institutions and tech firms on their FinTech and cryptocurrency initiatives as well as numerous governments, regulators and central banks on Fintech and crypto regulatory and policy matters.

He talks to us about FinTech, virtual currencies, and the looming phenomenon of the Metaverse. He also shares his views on whether Hong Kong, Singapore, or Dubai will prevail as the world’s FinTech hub, as well as whether Asia-Pacific jurisdictions have the necessary regulatory apparatus and expertise to oversee such developments.

Henri was previously PwC’s Crypto Leader and Partner based in Hong Kong, and the former chairman of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong. He’s currently situated in Dubai.

HKU FinTech is the leading fintech research and education in Asia. Learn more at www.hkufintech.com.