So, Fintech is moving fast. It has to. If you’re looking for a good analogy, here you go: The average human neuron in the brain fires an average of 0.16 times per second, and serves the human body. How many times does the Fintech sector fire impulses to serve the world’s financial sector? Much more often than that. Because Fintech is a complicated, distributed system like the human brain, it needs a holistic, system-level of understanding to be, um…understood.
In this analogy, the world’s financial sector is the body, and Fintech is the brain. Or at least a part of it. You get the picture.
SmartDev is part of a tech family called VerySell, which includes Fintech leader VeryPay. And VeryPay’s own CTO Andrey Tikhonov went to the world’s biggest Fintech conference: Money 20/20, hosted in Las Vegas from October 23-26. Because there’s a lot to keep up with.
The very face of VeryPay’s very talented CTO.
You may have noticed an acceleration in tech trends. That’s true across the board, and certainly in Fintech. The world of Fintech is touching more lives than ever before, and it’s looking to explode in personal utility. The focus of Money 20/20, positioned as the Fintech’s Biggest Conversation was allocated between several key aspects of developing Financial Technology in the modern era:
- Security and Vulnerability Management
- KYC and Identity Management
- Blockchain and Crypto
- Decentralized Finance
- Embedded Finance
- Banking as Service
As Money 20/20 content director Zach Anderson explained, “Financial services, Fintech, embedded finance, whatever your buzzword is — it matters. Every single person striving to build a better life and put food on the table needs hope. We need the brightest minds to care about this financial world that we love. We need to see how consequences intended or unintended can give us a sense of what happens. So — what happens when the unexpected occurs?
Vulnerability
Let’s be real: When you put financial data out there, it’s vulnerable. This can be frightening. But it can also be affirming: Knowing that your data is secure with one service compared to others gives a competitive advantage. This is the level playing field that giants are made on.
The world has certainly felt more vulnerable than ever these last few years, so people are more sensitive than ever to threats. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. What that means for Fintech providers is simple: Embracing chaos and vulnerability and imagining every possible outcome leads to stronger solutions. Stuff happens, but if you’re prepared for it, it doesn’t have to happen to you.
Offense & Defence
If you’re a person, business, or anything in between, you have two choices when it comes to handling threats: offense and defense. When businesses are challenged with threats to their bottom line, for example, they wonder if they should cut costs or aim to increase sales. A casual observer might ask, well, why not both?
The same goes for Fintech. When sensitive data is on the line, it needs to be protected both proactively and reactively. A military saying says “Offense is the best defence.” Well, that’s nonsense. The best offense is a good offense. The best defence is a good defence. When it comes to online security, there’s no room for error on either end.
Chain Reactions
Chain reactions in Fintech move as fast as lightning.
A neuron firing in the brain sets off a chain reaction in the body. Similarly, developments in Fintech ripple across the global economy, leading to uncertain outcomes. The uncertainty part is ok: That’s just what happens in complex systems.
Complex systems can never be fully described or modeled, but they can be understood as a whole. That’s just what a CTO is for, and that’s why our Andrey Tikhonov went to Money 20/20. Chain reactions these days tend to loop back on themselves, creating a resonant effect. What that means for Fintech is an acceleration tending towards exponentiality. Where this will be in ten years is anyone’s guess. But where this is right now? We’re on top of it.
Covering All the Bases
If you were to look at the future of money right now, you’d be looking through a kaleidoscope. Essentially, you’re looking at a system of ever-increasing complexity and diversity in which individual technical players — like us, of course — play an increasingly large role. We build the technical future, but our clients use it.
Want to know just how SmartDev can help build your Fintech future? Reach out to us for a free quote and we’ll show you how it’s done. It’s fun for us, anyway.
