247: Money Talks with Mai Santamaria | Digital Identity, Trust, Risk and Blockchain (or not)
Mai Santamaria joins me once again as guest co-host as we riff on the intersection of digital identity, digital wallets, blockchain, CBDCs, and how the political regime under which an individual lives influences your senses of trust and risk. We also blow to bits my expectation that the new EU digital identity wallet will have anything to do with blockchain, contrary to what we’re seeing with digital identity frameworks in Latin America.
Mai is one of the most helpful people I know and always has a uniquely incisive insight or two on what’s going on at the crossover of finance and emerging tech. Mai originally featured on episode 5 of MoneyNeverSleeps back in 2018, she made a cameo on our 200th episode last year, she’s a Techstars mentor, and she recently helped me make sense of the crossover of blockchain and AI in episode 241. Mai is the Head of the Financial Advisory Unit for the Department of Finance in Ireland.
In this episode, Mai and I riff on the topic of digital identity through the lens of the new European Digital Identity Wallet brought forth by the eIDAS2 legislation, and look at digital identity regimes in Latin America through the latest news on Nubank’s expansion. With the investments I’m making right now in early stage ventures in blockchain, topics like decentralization, over-centralization, and the elements of trust and risk when it comes to how individuals feel about who has access to their data are also a focal point of this chat.
STORIES COVERED:
Digital ID Europe
The EU Lays The Techno-Legal Tracks For Its Rising Digital Ecosystem (Forbes, 29-Jan-24)
European Union Finalizes Digital ID Wallet Agreement, Hints at Digital Euro Integration (Bitcoin.com News, 11-Nov-23)
Digital ID Latin America
Nubank sets sights on becoming Latin America’s biggest financial group (FT, 7-Feb-24)
Brazil rolls out blockchain-based digital ID (Cointelegraph, 30-Sep-23)
Buenos Aires to issue blockchain-based digital ID (Cointelegraph, 28-Sep-23)
Colombia is using digital ID to fight its village hackers (Biometric Update, 25-Dec-23)
Digital ID in USA
Digital ID Cards Spread Across US States With Range of New Uses (Bloomberg Law News, 13-Sep-23)
LINKS:
Follow our guest co-host Mai Santamaria on LinkedIn
Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Subscribe to our MoneyNeverSleeps newsletter on Substack
Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and email us at info@norioventures.com
Follow us on X(Twitter): Pete Townsend | MoneyNeverSleeps
Follow us on LinkedIn:: Pete Townsend | MoneyNeverSleeps
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moneyneversleeps/message
Listen On
Recommended
Here are some great episodes to start with if you're new to the podcast!
257: How I Got To Techstars on a Flywheel | Hesus Inoma Interviews Pe…
This week, I’m sharing an episode of the ‘Venture with Hesus’ podcast that I recorded in late 2023 with the unstoppable Hesus Inoma, as he interviews me on lessons learned from being part of the startup ecosystem the last 8 …
252: Meet the Techstars Web3 Class of 2024
This episode features an introduction to the 12 founding teams that form the Techstars Web3 accelerator class of 2024, with each of their founder/CEOs giving you a quick look inside what they're building.
247: Money Talks with Mai Santamaria | Digital Identity, Trust, Risk …
Mai Santamaria joins me once again as guest co-host as we riff on the intersection of digital identity, digital wallets, blockchain, CBDCs, and how the political regime under which an individual lives influences your senses of trust and risk. We …
239: Web3 Wishlist | What Would You Like Web3 Founders to Solve?
Pete Townsend introduces an insightful line-up of entrepreneurs and investors who share their thoughts on web3. Opinions are gathered around what aspects they hope to see web3 founders solve - their web3 wishlist - focusing on topics such as user …
233: Money Talks w/ Elliott Griffin | Pete’s Path into Crypto | Ventu…
We’ve got a special crossover episode this week courtesy of our friends at the Irish VC podcast, with a big shout-out to Finn Hatherell for producing the initial episode on the Irish VC podcast channel over the summer. The Irish …
211: Money Talks: Lessons Learned from 1,000 Startup Deals | The Amer…
Eoin Fitzgerald and Pete Townsend take a quick look at the triumvirate of bank failures in the US with Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank before Eoin asks Pete about his lessons learned from seeing over 1,000 deals in …
207: What Makes a Great Web3 Team
In this special segment, we’re featuring web3 investors, founders and mentors such as Joey Krug from Pantera Capital, Matthew Graham from Sino Global Capital, Teana Baker-Taylor from Circle, Sam Williams from Arweave, John Wu from Ava Labs, Clarisse Hagege from …
205: Memory Lane | Sam Williams and Arweave
Sam Williams is co-founder and CEO of Arweave, a blockchain protocol allowing us to remember and preserve valuable information, apps, and history indefinitely. In this episode, Sam shares the inspirational story of how Arweave got started, their life-changing experience with …
178: Get it Together | Carla Rosenkranz and Barterchain
Carla Rosenkranz, founder of Barterchain, riffs with Pete Townsend about how the Barterchain idea is rooted in her own experience of exchanging English lessons for yoga classes, the core of her conviction to start building Barterchain, the network effects from …
166: Joey Krug | Pantera Capital, Being Early in Crypto and Shipping …
Joey Krug is the Co-Chief Investment Officer of Pantera Capital, the first institutional investment firm focused exclusively on bitcoin, other digital currencies, and companies in the blockchain tech ecosystem. Joey joins Pete Townsend on this episode originally recorded as part …
165: Matthew Graham | Sino Global Capital, Web3 and Making Your Hobby…
Matthew Graham is the CEO of Sino Global Capital, who are providing strategic investment to best-in-class companies that are moving the blockchain and digital assets ecosystems forward, and then help them to thrive in the Asia market. Matthew joins Pete …
067: Startup Insights #2: The Unexpected
In this special segment, we feature four founders sharing how they dealt with one thing they didn't expect to face as a founder - Martin Brown from Unitek, Lizzy Hayashida from Change Donations, Andrew Mullaney from Premind and Paul Smyth …
054: Startup Insights #1: Hard Decisions
The MoneyNeverSleeps crew picked out six founders from past episodes talking about the hard decisions they've made along the way, including taking the leap, operating without a playbook, building teams, penetrating new markets, and finding your way home from the …