In the Company of Mavericks

In this episode, we move beyond the typical hype surrounding cryptocurrency and digital assets to dissect the plumbing of the global financial system. 

To do this, we have a panel of industry insiders:

You will hear from Steve Whyman, who previously ran Fidelity International’s debt capital markets business, where he built their investment thesis for digital assets from scratch. Joining him is Ian Hunt, a 40-year veteran of the buy-side who designed the very first ledger for a tokenised fund launched in the UK market. Rounding out the panel is Marvin, an economist and returning "friend of the pod," who brings his critical geopolitical lens to the discussion.

Our guests argue that the current financial ecosystem is not just inefficient, but fundamentally "absurd", filled with intermediaries that add cost without adding value. They contend that we are standing at a precipice: we can either "retool" old processes with new tech, or undergo a paradigm shift toward "composability"—a system in which smart contracts self-execute and assets are built from the ground up as tokens.

This conversation goes far beyond technical theory.

The panel explores:

• How tokenisation will democratise wealth, allowing individuals to invest mere pence into equities, bonds, and private assets.

• The massive geopolitical threat to London’s dominance, as self-executing contracts may remove the need for English Common Law in global debt markets.

• How the rise of US-backed stablecoins could act as a foreign policy tool to counter China and destabilise economies in the Global South.

Stay tuned until the end for an existential risk to the Euro and the European Union: a flight to digital dollars could trigger a major liquidity crisis.