Pejic Igor. Big Tech in Finance: How To Prevail In the Age of Blockchain, Digital Currencies and Web3

Kogan Page, 2023. — 297 p. — ISBN: 978 1 3986 0898 6.Big Tech in Finance provides a cutting-edge look at Big Tech's play for domination of the crypto economy, its ramifications, and how finance is fighting back. The book analyzes the motives behind Big Tech's break into banking and unpicks the strategies behind the use of blockchain, technology interfaces, infrastructure, and investments into blockchain unicorns. The book then goes on to review how organizations in finance are countering these threats, with governments and banks driving their strategies and use of centralized blockchains. Delving into the fight between Big Tech, Big Banking, start-ups, and regulators, Big Tech in Finance analyzes which actors have the best shot at succeeding. It explores the key tools in play, such as smart contracts, digital central bank currencies, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs,) and the metaverse. The book also divulges the geopolitical dimensions underpinning the power struggle and its implications for the industry. Written by an internationally recognized expert on blockchain, the book draws on in-depth interviews with founders, investors, regulators, bankers, and blockchain experts to provide valuable insider insights. This will be an essential read for finance and fintech professionals, bankers investors, and anyone else interested in the developments of fintech.Finance as Big Tech’s El Dorado.
Railroads for a new age –the birth of the blockchain.
The lure of the Wild – redefining the idea of money.
Two roads ahead – centralization.
Land rush – crypto-economics.
DeFi unicorn stampede.
The decentralization delusion.
Robber barons feel assured… and overshoot.
The sheriffs come to town – regulation bends the trajectory.
Dawn of a new era – central bank digital currencies vs private stablecoins.
Commercial banks and the frontier experience.
Setting out for the next frontier – the metaverse and Web3.
Final remarks.