Rajiv Sainani is a FinTech leader, specialising in trading systems and digital strategy, with more than 35 years of experience in international markets. He is currently the Europe Growth Lead of MakerDAO, an unbiased global financial system. Allan Pedersen is a FinTech private equity investor, global business strategist, and serial entrepreneur, who has been making a significant impact in the fintech and insurtech markets with his innovative and out-of-the box approach. He is now the CEO of Monetalis Group. Both guests feature in the latest episode of the Dinis Guarda YouTube Podcast to showcase their collaborative efforts in the intersection of traditional finance and decentralised finance.
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Welcoming the guests to the podcast, Dinis asked Rajiv and Allan to highlight their trajectories that ultimately led them toward each other. Rajiv shared that his passion for emerging technologies and financial markets found a new dimension with blockchain technology, and he embarked on the journey to find sustainable solutions that led him to MakerDAO. Allan, on the other hand, told Dinis that his interests in entrepreneurial activities and investing drove him to create a network of people and "find out the discontinuities in financial systems and new technologies that can fit in to make dramatic changes."
Agreeing with the guests' emphasis on collaborative efforts to bring impactful solutions, Dinis asked them to share their experiences. Allan shared:
"It can be hard for you to build a lot of things from scratch as an entrepreneur in financial services. It's a regulated activity, so you have to get involved in a lot of things like licenses, capital, and so on. Therefore, finding the right partner in financial services gives you a great stepping stone in realising that innovation."
Adding to this Rajiv said that although he has quite an extensive experience in financial markets, collaborating provides the necessary diversity in terms of age, nature, culture, and perspectives. This, he said, could be the learning opportunities that facilitate the growth of an individual.
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MakerDAO: Laying the rails to create a stable intersectionality of TradFi and DeFi
Referring to the latest innovative solutions that Rajiv and Allan are collaborating on, Dinis asked his guests to elaborate on the distinguishing feature of the evolving blockchain technology. Rajiv told Dinis:
"In the emerging world today, it's not just about technologies. DAO is the added feature: the governance innovation. It's a community that has come together to manage a protocol. You have various contributors to that community that are distributed across core units. It's a completely new model of governance."
Allan added that the two financial markets: traditional finance and decentralised finance can yield better when they are integrated into an underlying layer of blockchain technology. "Many Traditional financial bodies are interested in working in this integrated space. Our first step has been the deployment in the US Treasury, but we will expand further", he said.
Building a thriving DAO ecosystem with community efforts
Having been involved in the DAO concept since its inception, Dinis was interested to know about the MakerDAO ecosystem. An expert, Allan told him:
"When you get into or make a DAO, the first step is to realise that there are a good number of stakeholders involved that you are going to have to engage with and make connections with. It's a long process and needs a lot of transparency: that's a great thing that a DAO brings with itself." He also explained that a DAO also brings stability to decisions and operations.
Referring to the community as a key tool in creating an ecosystem, Allan said
"You get as much as you give in. If you are adding to the community, you are doing things, there is a good chance that they will start trusting you. And this leads to positive decisions in the end, and you are able to find solutions and proposals that fit with the overall community."
Concluding an informative session, Rajiv said that the collaborative teams are learning and adapting to the evolving markets and technologies.
"Always be humble and seek that learning opportunity, because it doesn't matter how much knowledge you have in an area, it doesn't much apply everywhere. We are laying the rails and almost proving the concept that can bring the two worlds together", he added.
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