Over the last 5,000+ years, the medium of exchange has evolved from a barter system to coins to banknotes to digital money. Each change has brought about a fundamental shift and enhanced efficiency in the way the world does commerce. Today, most financial assets are digital e.g. money, shares, bonds, insurance contracts.
With all its innovation, the financial system of today still has several shortcomings:
Speed: It is often not real time
Cost: It is expensive, making individual transaction costs high
Access: Every financial asset is not available to all
A key point to note is that any innovation here has to have 100% compliance with regulatory requirements such as AML, and identity verification. These are critical to deter illicit activity and preserve the integrity and stability of the financial system, and sovereign monetary policies.
We believe the problems in today's financial systems stem from the implementation of these policies (not the policies themselves), and the antiquated clearing, messaging and settlement systems which are often manual, inefficient and a key source of delay.