When you’re building a regulated institution, risk management is never an “add-on”. It quickly becomes one of the dominant threads running through strategy, operations, governance, and day-to-day decision making. You’re not just documenting risks for a regulator—you’re shaping how the organisation behaves. That emphasis becomes even more pronounced for brand new Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs) […]
Over the past few years, I’ve helped two Web3 Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI) operators progress from regulatory engagement, through approval, and into live operations. That journey is not theoretical. It is operational, political, expensive, and unforgiving of loose thinking. As the current cohort of firms enters the UK Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS), I keep seeing […]
In a previous post, I argued that one of the main benefits of RegDefy is that it allows you to explain your ecosystem to a wide range of stakeholders—investors, regulators, participants, and employees. If people can understand the scope, structure, and interconnections in your system, they are far more likely to trust it and work […]
In a previous blog post, we explored how to build a regulated operation capable of supporting and sustaining a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ecosystem. We covered the fundamentals: from designing value-delivering processes, to building value-protecting controls, to establishing the governance and oversight mechanisms required by regulators. But once you’ve built all of that… how do […]
In a previous post, we introduced the BOLT framework—a strategic model for building a regulated business through four interlocking workstreams: Business, Operations, Legal, and Technical. Each of these pillars is essential in creating a compliant, efficient, and ultimately successful organisation. Today, we’re taking a deeper dive into Operations, and what it really means to build […]
Building an organisation to meet a regulated standard requires a holistic and hetergenous approach. Here we look at how you go about such an endeavour and the programme structgure required. In today’s rapidly evolving financial services landscape, central banks face a dual mandate: safeguard the economy and encourage innovation within it. This isn’t new, but […]
One often overlooked area that every DLT based startup will have to overcome, if it wants to be seriously successful, is managing the endless questionnaires that get sent its way. These can be frankly tedious, lengthy and a potential source of risk if the answers are not quite correct. This post covers how many and […]
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is the backbone of Decentralised Finance (DeFi), enabling secure, transparent, and efficient transactions among multiple parties who may not fully trust each other. DLT ensures that all parties in a network maintain a consistent and synchronised record of transactions. It excels at coordinating and aligning facts between various stakeholders, but, as Richard […]
There are certain types of insurance most people need to have. For example, if you own a home then homeowner’s insurance may be standard. Auto insurance covers your vehicle while life insurance protects you and your loved ones in a worst-case scenario.
In 2018, a major London-based stock exchange embarked on a mission to migrate several hundred applications to the cloud. To make this ambitious project a reality, they sought out a partner through a Request for Proposal (RFP) process. Although our bid was ultimately unsuccessful, it became apparent that there was a significant gap in the […]
