Impact Investing with Digital Assets – Interview with Sinead Colton Grant of BNY Mellon

BNY Mellon’s Sinead Colton Grant, Alex Chizhik and Shimon Lazarov chat about Digital Asset Impact Investing and many topics in the intersection of digital currencies, the traditional fintech space, and the global macro environment.We discussed:• Bitcoin as a store of value• The global macro landscape• The role of digital currencies in the rapidly developing fintech space• Ways to determine the value of digital assets• Banking the unbanked• Bitcoin as both an asset and a monetary network• Innovation in the fintech space• The results of the recent monetary expansion on the global economy• Performance of stock indexes in light of monetary expansion• Utilizing crypto currencies as part of a portfolio context• The longevity of cryptocurrencies vs an expansion of number of adopters• Is past performance indicative of future results• The impact of cryptocurrencies on the developing world• The institutional perception of digital currencies vs stocks, bonds and real estate• The volatility of Bitcoin vs its upside and uncorrelated nature with other traditional assets• Inflation as a concern for traditional investors and Bitcoin as an inflation hedge (vs traditional inflation hedges such as commodities)and a lot more…Time stamps:0:44 - Sinead Colton Grant’s background2:38 - how Sinead got into the space and why digital assets are interesting to her6:11 - Sinead’s thoughts on the recent changes in monetary policy, mainly increase in central bank balance sheets and their inflation of asset prices and how it will affect digital assets. She mentions changes in valuations in stocks, real estate, tech equities vs other equities, and the weakening of the USD.13:20 - Sinead’s views on cryptocurrencies as stores of value vs other more traditional stores of value such as commodities.25:45 - Bitcoin’s energy usage vs the value it can bring to the developing vs the developed world. Commodities, real estate and other stores of value increase in quantity as the price goes up vs Bitcoin where the energy use increases as price goes up.33:05 - Bitcoin as a money that is not dependent on any particular government, and the institutional view of that aspect.41:15 - Bitcoin as social impact investing.42:55 - Opportunity for institutions to tap into billions of consumers through the Bitcoin network that can connect them to a monetary network that doesn’t have high fixed transaction costs.44:45 - Thoughts on regulation.47:00 - BNY Mellon’s entry into the space and the reactions to that move49:25 - Sinead’s recommendation - The show “This Way Up” on Hulu - a comedy about 2 Irish women moving from Ireland to London.Apple Podcast: https://tinyurl.com/36u8fmbrSpotify Podcast: https://tinyurl.com/4zv6syfcHardcorefinance.comFollow us on Twitter@MrEBITDA@ShimonLazarovSupport the show