In This Newsletter
Future of FinTech Symposium 2025
Digital ID and Physical Addressing
Federal Digital Assets Reserves
Future of FinTech Symposium 2025
Our 2025 Future of FinTech Symposium was convened in March at a critical moment for the financial technology industry, bringing together leading policymakers, executives, and experts to address the rapidly evolving regulatory and innovation landscape, with key discussions on digital asset regulation, artificial intelligence (AI) in financial services, and financial inclusion.
The agenda featured Rep. Bryan Steil, chair of the US House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence, who opened the event with insights into legislative priorities for FinTech and AI regulation. He discussed the committee’s strategy as it seeks to pass market structure legislation and the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy Act (STABLE Act of 2025) in the coming term.
Eric Ghysels, director of the Kenan Institute, moderated a fireside conversation with Lauren Belive, head of US public policy at Ripple Global Payments and Financial Solutions. She provided Ripple’s insights into the regulatory landscape for digital assets, emphasizing the shift from enforcement-driven actions toward structured collaboration. She highlighted Ripple’s limited trust charter from the New York Department of Financial Services to issue an enterprise-grade stablecoin as a milestone for regulatory progress and a model for integrating digital assets into mainstream financial systems.
A panel featuring Kara Calvert, vice president of US policy, Coinbase; Les Borsai, co-founder, Wave Digital Assets; Jelena McWilliams, partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP; Lesley Chavkin, global head of public policy, Paxos; and Corey Then, vice president and deputy general counsel, global policy, Circle, tackled the strategic and operational challenges facing digital asset firms. The group reflected on the industry’s evolution in Washington, DC, the institutionalization of crypto, the issue of debanking, and the role stablecoins can play as a transformative force in global finance.
Michael Piwowar, Executive Vice President, Milken Institute Finance, led a fireside chat with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chair Caroline Pham, which underscored the agencies’ commitment to working together on a structured regulatory framework for digital assets, Crypto News reports. Commissioner Peirce confirmed that the SEC is moving away from its “regulation by enforcement” approach to crypto oversight, a move that signals potential relief for industry participants seeking clearer compliance pathways, Pensions & Investments reports.
The speakers lineup also featured Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Financial Services Committee. The congressman discussed the growing public demand for clear, bipartisan action on digital asset regulation and the need for responsible AI development. He pointed to the bipartisan passage of FIT21 in the House last year as a key step toward modernizing digital-asset oversight. Gottheimer also discussed the geopolitical implications of China’s recent AI advancements—particularly the launch of DeepSeek—and strategies the US might pursue to maintain its lead in AI.
Digital ID and Physical Addressing
At the recent Milken Institute FinTech Advisory Council meeting, Timbo Drayson, CEO of OkHi (AI-powered address verification), joined as a guest presenter to discuss the critical need for verifiable digital addresses and how his company is solving a problem that impacts billions worldwide. Drayson, a former Google executive who launched Google Maps in the Middle East and Africa, highlighted how faulty address systems raise barriers to financial inclusion, commerce, and efficient service delivery—particularly in emerging markets.
According to Drayson, the lack of standardized physical addresses is a global challenge. In emerging markets, hundreds of different address formats exist, and many buildings lack a formal address, which forces business contacts and individuals to rely on landmarks, directions, or informal descriptions. Without government-backed address databases or presentation of utility bills, traditional proof-of-address verification remains a major hurdle for access to financial services.
For businesses, these inefficiencies drive up costs, increase fraud risk, and hinder economic mobility. Failed deliveries cost logistics firms and e-commerce platforms billions, while banks face compliance fines and higher loan default rates because of weak address verification processes.
Drayson presented his company's solution: real-time, AI-powered digital addressing that enables instant verification. The company has already made inroads in Nigeria, where it is partnering with financial institutions to streamline the “know your customer” processes, reduce fraud, and improve access to credit, Connecting Africa reports.
Federal Digital Asset Reserves: Deep Dive
On March 6, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing two significant cryptocurrency initiatives: the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the United States Digital Asset Stockpile. These measures are aimed at centralizing and managing the government's existing digital asset holdings, Wired reports.
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is designed to serve as a custodial account for all Bitcoin (BTC) currently owned by the federal government. Notably, this reserve will be capitalized exclusively with BTC seized in criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, with no immediate plans for additional acquisitions. The secretary of the Treasury is tasked with establishing an office to administer and maintain control of this reserve. BTC maximalists have argued that it is the only digital asset worth stockpiling because of its explicitly deflationary market structure. White House crypto "czar" David Sachs echoed this sentiment at the executive order’s signing when he described BTC as “digital gold.”
In contrast, the US Digital Asset Stockpile will encompass all other digital assets—excluding BTC—owned by the Department of the Treasury through similar forfeiture processes. This stockpile is intended to serve as a secure account for the orderly and strategic management of these digital assets. The secretary of the Treasury has the authority to determine strategies for responsible stewardship, including potential sales.
On the date the executive order was signed, the US government held approximately 200,000 BTC. This substantial holding positions the US government as one of the largest BTC custodians globally. While the current plan does not involve purchasing additional digital assets, the executive order allows for the development of budget-neutral strategies to acquire more, provided there are no incremental costs to American taxpayers.