David Birch

2 months ago | forbes.com | David Birch

Michael Miebach, the CEO of Mastercard, was interviewed by Nicolai Tangen, the CEO of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund (which has a stake in Mastercard), for Nicolai’s interesting “In Good Company” podcast series. The conversation turned to fraud, and Michael made a key point about the impact of fraud beyond financial losses, saying "once you're defrauded, you lose trust in digital solutions". At the heart of the trust issue is digital identity.

Jan 21, 2025 | forbes.com | David Birch

A strategic reserve is a stock of a systemically important input, which can be managed to mitigate economic disruption. The key example that we all think about is the US strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) which was created in response to the Arab oil embargo half a century ago. It was most recently accessed to reduce pressure on energy prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The stockpile is essential to the economy: without petroleum the economy will grind to a halt.

Jan 16, 2025 | forbes.com | David Birch

During the Great Fire of London, in 1666, the famous diarist Samuel Pepys buried his cheese and wine in his garden to keep them safe from the conflagration threatening to consume everything in its path. I was thinking about this because of the terrible Los Angeles wildfires in which dozens of people have died and already the damage is heading past the $250 billion mark.

Jan 9, 2025 | forbes.com | David Birch

The noted venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz have released their predictions for “crypto” in 2025 and while most of them are what you would expect to see in such a list (eg, tokenisation of what they call “unconventional” assets and more companies accepting stablecoins), there were some that stood out for me because they provide a useful cross-check on my own thinking in this field. I’ve picked out what I think are the three key areas where I think we will see creativity in the coming year.

Dec 11, 2024 | forbes.com | David Birch

Remember the good old days when people used to rob banks for money? At least there was no contagion. Apart from anything else, thanks to fungibility, it wasn’t your money that was being stolen anyway, it was the banks’ money. Today though, smart criminals rob banks for identity, which is much more valuable (and not at all fungible). Security? What Security?