Transcript
During the past decade, as people shunned banks and traditional holders of power, they turned instead to the so-called TechFins, digital platforms like Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Tencent, that provide eCommerce, peer-to-peer lending, communications, and increasingly serve as the keepers of our digital identity.
The rise of the gig economy of social media sites has meant customers now have more control over nearly every consumer service, whether hailing a taxi, deciding where to stay while on holiday, and even how to pay their bills. These large digital platforms have transcended many traditional financial institutions, not only in terms of customer engagement but also in terms of trust.
But after more than a decade of explosive growth, the TechFins are themselves now caught up in many scandals and are seeing their own trustworthiness questioned. And some contend that these companies are now so large and powerful that they’re actually influencing government policy and even national elections.
So we got a few questions for you. Do you trust the TechFins like Amazon and Tencent more than you trust banks? Do you think that the TechFins should be regulated like a utility? And what do you think about companies like Facebook entering the crypto payment space?
