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Category: Economics

Token Thoughts on the Blockchain Boom

The past 10 days have been heady for anyone in the cryptocurrency space.  The market cap of digital currencies increased to over $90 billion last week (a 50% increase in 7 days).  Bloomberg put together the chart below to show Read more…


My Talk at MIT: Beyond Finance, Considering Business and Social Impact of Blockchains

A couple of weeks ago I spoke at a conference entitled “Business of Blockchains” that the MIT Technology Review and MIT Media Lab organized in Cambridge. One of the reasons I started investing in the blockchain space 4 years ago Read more…


Are Banks the Next Dinosaurs?

Last week, I spoke at The Economist’s Buttonwood Gathering in NYC about how emerging markets (and Africa in particular) are leapfrogging innovation in the financial services sector. The most documented example of this is M-Pesa’s mobile money platform in Kenya, Read more…


Rethinking Impact Investing

Impact investing, venture philanthropy and social entrepreneurship are all areas in practice and theory that have been close to my heart for years. As regular readers of my blog know, I was born in Nairobi and grew up visiting the Read more…


Modi and Ma

The last 2 weeks were notable for the world’s two most populous countries. If there was any doubt that the 21st century will be “The Asian Century” Jack Ma and Narendra Modi, an unlikely pair, lay those doubts to rest. Read more…


Billion or Bust?

I  just wrote a short piece which Quartz published today.  I’m re-posting below.  Do I think we are in a valuation bubble?  I think that later stage valuations are frothy (for reasons I explain below) while earlier stage valuations are Read more…


The Supermarket Test

Today I was awoken by a symphony of birds chirping, I couldn’t make out how many but while I was sitting in a tiny restaurant garden eating lunch I counted no less than 8 different types of birds (and a Read more…