Atomic settlement sounds flashy, but most market participants actually want T0. In this episode, capital markets leader Renee Berman breaks down where blockchain is delivering real value today and what still needs to happen before it scales. From DTCC to Broadridge, Renee has led digital asset initiatives across core market plumbing. She explains tokenization, stable coins, smart contracts, and why a single source of truth plus 24 by 7 rails can cut risk and cost. We cover regulation, interoperability, buy side adoption, and a practical path from pilot to production.

Chapters:

00:00 | Atomic settlement vs T0 why near real time beats instant for markets
00:41 | Meet Renee Berman strategist operator and blockchain leader
01:11 | A nonlinear career with a through line of impact
02:01 | Inside DTCC volumes custody and the digital asset mandate
03:00 | At Broadridge exploring how on chain rails change trade processing
04:12 | From nonprofit strategy to Goldman and Credit Suisse foundations
05:20 | Moving into the COO seat for equity derivatives learning on the fly
07:25 | Where blockchain delivers value today tokenization and market plumbing
08:02 | Tokenizing real world assets bonds equities private markets explained
09:15 | Market size today and 2030 projections for tokenized RWAs and stablecoins
10:00 | Early traction tokenized money market funds from major managers
10:52 | Repo and collateral use cases trillion dollar monthly volumes on DLT
11:28 | Why single source of truth and 24 by 7 availability matter
12:20 | T1 to T0 settlement netting tradeoffs and risk reduction
13:16 | Smart contracts automate asset servicing coupons dividends and more
13:54 | Democratization lowering minimums expanding investor access
14:49 | Adoption headwinds regulation interoperability identity and UX
15:23 | US momentum stablecoin rules Genius Act and the Clarity Act
16:39 | Buy side needs invisible blockchain no wallets same workflow better rails
18:21 | Making regulators comfortable DTCC Euroclear Clearstream BCG risk work
20:20 | New public chain risk framework focus on non financial risks
23:04 | Stablecoins what they are and why cross border payments lead
24:34 | Use case dollar access in high inflation economies
25:10 | One to one backing consumer protections and what is still missing
26:00 | Market structure who oversees what SEC and CFTC delineation
27:54 | Women in finance and crypto mentorship programs and progress
31:03 | The fourth industrial revolution AI blockchain robotics and finance
33:22 | The future 24 by 7 global markets programmable money and wallets
34:24 | How to get Renee’s white papers and continue the conversation

Renee

(0:00) The other piece that blockchain allows is for instantaneous settlement. (0:04) So you can have what’s called atomic settlement, where you can basically settle in near real time. (0:09) Currently, the industry for most products is at T1, and that we actually moved this year, earlier this year to T1.

(0:16) With blockchain, you could settle almost instantaneously. (0:18) Interestingly enough, we found that most people actually don’t want instant atomic settlement with blockchain.

Melissa

(0:24) What they want is T0 settlement, because How do you go from being a COO for equity derivatives to re-imagining capital markets with blockchain? (0:35) You call Rene Berman. (0:37) With deep roots in finance, a strategist’s brain, and a futurist’s eye, Rene has helped lead the charge of digital assets at DTCC, Broadridge, and beyond.

(0:49) On today’s Executive Connect podcast, we’re diving into how blockchain is transforming trust, transparency, and tech that powers the markets. (0:59) Welcome, Rene.

Renee

(1:01) Hi, Melissa. (1:01) Thank you so much for inviting me on your podcast. (1:04) It’s so great to be here.

Melissa

(1:06) Rene, your path winds through Wall Street, strategy firms, and now cutting-edge blockchain initiatives. (1:14) What has been the through line in your career, and what pulled you into the digital asset space?

Renee

(1:21) Melissa, it’s great. (1:23) I’ve had what I would consider a very non-linear career. (1:27) I’ve done a number of different things throughout my career.

(1:33) The guiding principle, though, has been around impact, and really wanting to drive impact. (1:40) Most recently, I was a managing director at DTCC in their digital asset practice. (1:46) For those who are listening who don’t know who DTCC is, it is the Depository Trust and Clearing Court.

(1:54) It is a financial market intermediary that was set up 50 years ago to minimize risk across the financial services sector. (2:02) DTCC processes almost every trade in America. (2:06) Last year, they processed 3.8 quadrillion in securities, and they settled over 500 trillion in transactions. (2:15) They sit on over 100 trillion in AUM, that they are AUC in terms of what they custody. (2:24) DTCC is really thinking about how blockchain is going to help reimagine financial services. (2:30) But prior to DTCC, I led strategy for capital markets at a company called Broadridge.

(2:37) Broadridge is a public company, but really is focused on two areas. (2:42) One is investor communications. (2:44) Broadridge processes almost every proxy in America.

(2:48) But the area that I worked in was GTO, which is global transactions. (2:56) There, Broadridge was responsible for trade processing for banks and broker dealers. (3:03) It processed, I would say, 19 of the 24 fixed income dealers and eight of the top 10 equity dealers.

(3:10) And in that capacity, we were really trying to understand what would be the impact of blockchain technology on their business model. (3:19) And that’s really how I got into the space, because blockchain, if you’re familiar with it, has a single source of truth. (3:26) So from Broadridge’s perspective, they were concerned if everything goes on chain and if everything is tokenized, what are the impacts for their business, because there won’t be any reconciliation, there won’t be any asset servicing.

(3:39) So that’s really was my entree into the digital asset blockchain space. (3:45) And as I mentioned, from there, I moved to DTCC to really help think through and think about how blockchain is going to affect DTCC’s operations. (3:56) But even prior to that, I had, I would say, a much more interesting career.

(4:01) I spent a number of time out of business school in consulting, and a lot of my career has been at the right place, being at the right place at the right time. (4:11) So I joined a company called Bain, which is a consulting firm out of business school. (4:16) And Bain, at the time, had just set up a company, a consulting firm that focused on the non-profit sector.

(4:23) I was very interested in this space. (4:26) And there, so I moved to the non-profit group. (4:29) But what I realized very quickly in the non-profit sector, to really drive impact, you need to be driving the dollars.

(4:37) So I had the opportunity to move to the Goldman Sachs Foundation and I gave away their money. (4:42) And then I moved to the Credit Suisse Foundation. (4:45) And as I mentioned, right place, right time.

(4:48) In 2004, the tsunami occurred. (4:52) And it’s interesting because there’s a tsunami today, as a matter of fact. (4:55) So the timing of this is very funny.

(4:57) But the tsunami occurred and Credit Suisse put aside $10 million for tsunami relief. (5:02) And they asked me to move to Hong Kong to distribute the money. (5:05) So I moved to Hong Kong for three months.

(5:07) I stayed for a year. (5:08) And I just had this great experience there. (5:12) But when I came back to New York, I wanted to do something else.

(5:16) And the consulting firm that I was at trained general managers. (5:19) And in a bank, a COO is a general manager. (5:22) So I moved into a COO role for equity derivatives.

(5:26) And I was in that role for a long time. (5:29) And when I joined, as I mentioned, you know, being at the right place at the right time, I knew nothing about derivatives. (5:35) I knew nothing about I knew nothing about being a COO.

(5:39) And I knew nothing about being in the front office. (5:41) But the head of sales knew me from because she was on the board of the foundation. (5:46) And so she was she, you know, her perspective was, Renee will come in and she will figure it out.

(5:51) And, you know, that’s how I feel a little bit about blockchain, you know, that I will figure it out. (5:56) And that’s what I did over the course of my career.

Melissa

(5:58) This episode is brought to you by Summit Ventures. (6:03) If you’re an accredited investor, Summit gives you access to one of the greatest tax advantage opportunities, direct ownership in oil and gas, their projects deliver what they call the triple play cash flow, equity growth and powerful tax benefits. (6:23) And here’s the best part.

(6:24) These investments qualify for 1031 exchanges. (6:29) That means you can roll gains from real estate into energy while deferring capital gains. (6:35) To learn more and get a free white paper, oil and gas demystified just visit www.summitven.com forward slash executive connect. (6:50) Oh, that was so good. (6:52) Thank you so much for sharing that. (6:54) I think I love two points that you made is right place, right time.

(6:58) So true. (6:59) So true. (6:59) But I think the other side of it is being open to actually taking the opportunities when they’re presented.

(7:06) And then secondly, a woman that brought you in supported you as an ally lifted you up and knew that you didn’t have all the tools, but you could figure out what needed to be done. (7:19) So that is such an amazing story. (7:22) Thank you for sharing that.

(7:23) And I know there’s plenty and loads of buzz around blockchain right now. (7:28) I’m curious, where do you see it delivering real value in capital markets?

Renee

(7:34) Yeah. (7:34) So I think there’s great opportunity within blockchain. (7:38) And for the, as I mentioned, like for those on the audience who are blockchain novices, blockchain is the technology that underlies crypto.

(7:46) So it’s not crypto, but it’s the technology. (7:48) And what excites me about blockchain is the fact that it’s the real opportunity to help re restructure and reimagine like how, as I mentioned, financial services operates. (8:00) And what the area that I’m mostly focused on is tokenization.

(8:04) And when we talk about tokenization of real world assets, that’s bonds, equities, private real estate, private equity, private credit, that’s really about a representation of that of that asset on a blockchain as a digital token. (8:21) And what’s exciting is that that token can now have, it allows you to do things with that token that you can’t do in a more traditional sense. (8:32) So this blockchain technology, or some call it distributed ledger technology, is really transformative.

(8:39) So similar to how the markets dematerialized in the 70s, where they moved from paper to electronic record keeping, I see this seismic shift right now happening in the market, where activity can move from electronic to tokenization. (8:58) And I do believe as Larry Fink, who’s the head of BlackRock has said that in the future, everything will be tokenized. (9:05) And I do believe that’s going to be the case.

(9:08) I think the challenge though, is how quickly that’s going to happen. (9:12) And when we look at the market today, there’s only about, and I say only, but there’s about $275 billion of what are called real world assets that have been tokenized to date. (9:24) And I actually checked this last night just to make sure my numbers were right.

(9:28) There’s about 21 million in what are considered real world assets, and about 250, 21 billion, sorry, in real world assets, and about 250 billion in stable coins. (9:38) And we’ll talk about stable coins a little bit later. (9:41) But people think that market is going to grow to about 10 trillion by 2030.

(9:46) Now, whether it grows, if that number is even close to that or not, there’s still demonstrates that there’s a huge opportunity here. (9:53) And what we’re seeing today is we’ve seen a lot of activity in what are called like tokenized or we’ve seen in tokenized money market funds. (10:03) BlackRock has a very, has almost two and a half billion dollars in a product called Biddle.

(10:09) Franklin Templeton also has a tokenized money market fund. (10:13) And then last week, BNY announced that they’re developing one as well. (10:17) We’ve seen some bond issuances that have occurred that have been tokenized.

(10:21) But where we’ve really seen activity has been in areas like margin and repo. (10:27) So Broadridge, the company I worked for, has a distributed ledger repo product that is transacting over a trillion dollars monthly. (10:36) JP Morgan also has a has a repo product or a repo platform that leverages blockchain technology.

(10:41) And DTCC, my former employer, is building an entire collateral mobility solution, which I think is going to be really exciting and game-changing for the industry. (10:50) The other major use case around blockchain technology is on round payments. (10:56) And this is where stable coins can be used as on-chain money or digital money, and they can provide instantaneous settlement.

(11:03) And there really is an opportunity to facilitate cross-border transactions or cross-border money transactions using blockchain technology. (11:11) And that’s really where we’re seeing a lot of activity. (11:15) And the stable coin bill that was passed earlier this month in the U.S. is really going to help drive that momentum forward. (11:21) And I just want to spend a few minutes talking about why this technology is so transformative. (11:28) If you’re on a blockchain, you have a single source of truth. (11:32) So you have an immutable record, a ledger that can’t be changed.

(11:37) And that single source of truth is very different than what occurs right now. (11:41) Now, in the financial services sector, you may have different ledgers, different trading platforms, and they all have to be reconciled. (11:52) If you have a single source of truth, you create a substantial amount of efficiency.

(11:56) In addition, if you’re on a blockchain, you now can actually execute your trades or execute your activity 24-7. (12:04) The blockchain never sleeps, it never shuts down, it never stops working. (12:08) There’s no downtime.

(12:09) So that 24-7 availability, I think, is game-changing for parts of the industry. (12:17) And the other piece of blockchain allows is for instantaneous settlement. (12:21) So you can have what’s called atomic settlement, where you can basically settle in near real time.

(12:27) Currently, the industry for most products is at T1, and that we actually moved this year, earlier this year, to T1. (12:34) From T plus 2, which is when you would execute a trade, now you settle next day. (12:40) With blockchain, you could settle almost instantaneously.

(12:44) Interestingly enough, we found that most people actually don’t want instant atomic settlement with blockchain. (12:51) What they want is T0 settlement, because if you’re in instance, if you have atomic settlement, you lose what are called the netting ability. (12:58) So you lose the ability to net your positions over the course of the day.

(13:03) So even so, T0 settlement really reduces counterparty risks and takes a substantial amount of risk out of the system. (13:11) The other advantage to blockchain is that now you can create something called a smart contract, which can automatically execute, can be programmed to execute a component automatically. (13:28) So areas like asset servicing, where you might pay a dividend or receive a coupon payment, that can all be programmed.

(13:35) So there’s no human intervention. (13:38) It’s done completely electronically or completely autonomously. (13:46) And that is a game changer, I think, in creating efficiency.

(13:52) The other area where blockchain technology can really have an impact is what’s considered the democratization of finance. (13:59) Because you’ve created so much efficiency in the process, instead of for some assets like private equity or private credit, where you might have a minimum requirement of, let’s say, $5 million as an investment, just because right now the process is so consuming for paper and it’s so time intensive, by creating efficiencies, you can lower that cost of your entry point. (14:29) So maybe it’s not $5 million, but maybe it’s $50,000 is your minimum.

(14:33) And what that can do is help diversify your investor base, but also allow people who historically have not had access to some of these products to have access to them. (14:42) So that’s really a game changer as well. (14:46) So there’s a lot of things that I believe are really exciting about blockchain technology.

(14:52) And the problem right now is that there are a fair number of challenges. (14:57) So even though we believe that, I’ve seen estimates of being able to take out 20% to 25% of costs from the operations, we’re still seeing, I wouldn’t say resistance to blockchain, but it’s just the adoption is slow. (15:14) And some of the reasons why is that, and some of the reasons that are slow today are being addressed.

(15:21) So historically, there hasn’t been regulatory clarity. (15:24) And so organizations have decided to step back and they’re waiting. (15:28) Now we’re starting to see regulatory clarity.

(15:30) So in the U.S., the Stablecoin bill passed, the Genius Act passed earlier this month. (15:35) The Clarity Act has passed the House, and now it needs to go to the Senate. (15:40) So in the U.S., we’re starting to see that regulatory clarity happen. (15:45) Also, historically, there hasn’t been a real, what I would consider a good cash on chain solution, a digital cash solution. (15:52) But now with Stablecoin regulation, we’re starting to see that as well. (15:57) Other challenges though, to the industry is that, interoperability is a challenge.

(16:03) Right now, there’s a lot of activity that is happening on public block, on private blockchains. (16:08) And you cannot take something that’s issued on a private blockchain and move it easily to another blockchain. (16:14) So that challenge exists.

(16:17) And over time, I think technology will help address that. (16:20) But that is a challenge, interoperability. (16:23) Digital identity is also a challenge as well, because it is difficult.

(16:27) We don’t have a real good solution about taking your identity from one blockchain to another. (16:35) And then the big challenge though, for me, is really creating products that get the buy side involved and engaged in the market. (16:43) Because without the buy side, the sell side and institutions can create products.

(16:47) But if no one’s there to buy it, the market will never take off and then will never scale. (16:53) And for the buy side to really come into the market, what has to happen is that the idea that you’re buying a tokenized bond or a tokenized security has to be completely taken away. (17:05) They’re just buying a security.

(17:06) The fact that it’s on tokenized rails should mean nothing to an investor. (17:13) And you have to completely abstract the process away. (17:16) So an investor just sees that they’re buying a security that has to have the similar interface than they have today.

(17:22) They don’t need to set up their own wallet, which is what they would have to do today. (17:25) You have to make it easy for them. (17:27) And so until we get to that point, I really don’t see the market scaling.

(17:30) But once we do, I think there’s going to be a huge amount of activity in the space. (17:38) And I’m excited about that.

Melissa

(17:40) This episode’s sponsor is a couple I absolutely love, David and Alexis Kiwi. (17:46) They help power couples be successful at home just like they are at work. (17:51) If you’re crushing it in the business world, but quietly disconnected from your spouse, you’re not alone.

(17:57) Check them out at DavidandAlexisKiwi.org. (18:00) They have spent years creating a simple tool set that will help you save your marriage. (18:06) Don’t forget to use code executive one to save $500 off their six week coaching program.

(18:13) DavidandAlexisKiwi.org code executive one. (18:19) Yeah. (18:20) And I think blockchain is just a completely different animal than the traditional systems we have.

(18:26) So anything that’s new is often uncomfortable and there’s going to be some risks associated with it. (18:34) So I’m curious, you know, what do you think it’s going to take for institutions and regulators and investors to really get truly comfortable with blockchain and the technology?

Renee

(18:46) So Melissa, this is a topic that’s near and dear to my heart. (18:49) So when I was at DTCC, we partnered with Euroclear, Clearstream and BCG to write a white paper specifically around the risks associated with digital asset securities. (19:01) This white paper was extremely well received by the industry.

(19:04) It was downloaded 40,000 times. (19:06) It’s probably the most downloaded white paper that DTC has ever produced. (19:10) And in it, we identified very specifically the risks associated with issuing a digital asset security for both regulators, for risk managers and for investors as our target market.

(19:24) And we focused on six principles, legal and regulatory clarity, certainty, safety. (19:32) You need to ensure you have safeguarding of customer assets. (19:35) You need a system to be resilient.

(19:37) You need them to be interoperable and you need to have them scalable. (19:40) So along these six principles, then we identified about 30 risks and about 50 mitigating factors that can be used to address those risks. (19:50) Now, when we issued this white paper, though, it was asset class agnostic and it was blockchain agnostic.

(19:58) And we recognized from the feedback we heard from the industry that it’s not that wasn’t enough, but they wanted more. (20:06) And so we most recently, we partnered with GBBC, who ran the effort, partnered with Oliver Wyman and a number of institutions across the industry to really issue like the second version of this paper. (20:20) And so last week we issued a risk mitigation framework that is focused very specifically on non-financial risks for digital assets, digital asset security specifically.

(20:33) And what’s different about this is this was very focused on the risk for if you’re operating on a public blockchain, whether it be public permissionless or public permission, but very much focused on if it’s a public chain, because the perspective is, is that if you’re on a private chain, your risk, your current risk framework that you might have in an organization covers that activity. (20:56) So we want it to be, you know, there’s a few nuances you’d have to, you know, focus on, but we want it to be very specific around if you’re on a public blockchain, what do you need? (21:04) And the reason why we did this is we really want regulators and the, you know, and, you know, as I mentioned, risk officers and investors, but really regulators to feel comfortable allowing organizations to issue activity on public chains, because I believe that until you get to that, that point, the industry is not going to scale.

(21:22) And so, you know, we’re at the very, you know, we just issued this last week. (21:27) We’re excited about it. (21:28) The feedback so far has been positive.

(21:31) But, you know, the next version of this, you know, the goal is to expand this, not just from securities, but to, you know, the next version will include stable coins, the risks for stable coins, and then ultimately for cryptocurrencies as well.

Melissa

(21:43) Yeah. (21:43) And it’s amazing. (21:44) I know in a separate industry, sometimes just educating people on what it is and, and really making it simple, like you were mentioning with a white paper and what it is, what it means to you can put people at ease as you wrap regulation around it and make it safe for people to trust, right?

(22:06) Because trust is such an important thing, especially when people are going to use any technology or move their money anywhere. (22:13) I’m curious, I know, like, kind of what you were touching on the US regulatory environment. (22:19) I see it personally, like you were mentioning, as an opportunity as well.

(22:22) And I know the Genius Act earlier this month, regulating stable coins. (22:28) What do you think that means for what’s coming next? (22:32) Like, I would agree with what you were saying that at one point, it’s all kind of moving that direction.

(22:37) But I think, like you said, the in between is, like, how long is this going to take for everybody to trust to move their money places that they feel safe? (22:49) So is there any kind of, you know, thoughts you have around what’s on the horizon as we move through what’s coming next?

Renee

(22:59) Yeah. (22:59) So as I said, I think the stable coin bill is a great, it really demonstrates that the US is going to be driving some of the innovation going forward. (23:09) And it’s a real stake in the ground.

(23:11) And so for those who aren’t familiar with stable coins, they’re primarily cryptocurrencies that are pegged one to one to fiat currency like the US dollar. (23:20) So when I say fiat, that’s really like hard currency. (23:22) And I do feel that there’s a huge momentum around that.

(23:27) What’s exciting about stable coins is you can program them, it’s much cheaper and faster to use them for cross-border payments. (23:35) That’s really the main use case right now for stable coins. (23:39) And we’re starting to see that being, you know, incorporated into, you know, institutions.

(23:45) Right now, the market cap is about $250 billion, as I mentioned, dominated by Tether, which is $160 billion and Circle, which is $60 billion. (23:55) But I anticipate that there’s going to be many other issuers of stable coins in the very near future, now that there is regulatory clarity. (24:04) And the cross-border payments, as I mentioned, is a very specific use case for stable coins.

(24:11) The other use case that we’ve seen stable coins being used for is that for individuals who are in countries that have high inflation, what they do is they invest in dollars. (24:24) And historically, they haven’t really had access to dollars easily. (24:27) But now through digital technology or through blockchain technology, they can take their local currency and purchase USDC or Tether very easily.

(24:40) And now they can hold US dollars where their local currency might be experiencing high inflation. (24:45) In general, the US dollar has been pretty stable. (24:48) I mean, you know, it’s been up and down recently, but in general, it’s much more stable than their local currencies.

(24:53) And I think once you combine stable coins with real world asset tokenization, you really start to see how the next generation of financial infrastructure is going to evolve. (25:08) So if you’d like, you know, just in terms of the Genius Act, which was passed earlier this month, it really allows stable coins to ensure that they are backed one to one by high quality assets. (25:21) So it makes them much more secure and it creates consumer protection as well.

(25:27) So I do think that that’s going to move the market forward. (25:31) However, what we haven’t seen, though, yet are rules around how the market is going to operate, which is really around market structure. (25:39) So that’s what the Clarity Act is expected to address or is addressing.

(25:44) So as I mentioned, the House has already passed the Clarity Act. (25:47) Now it’s gone to the Senate. (25:49) So it’s not unclear what changes they may or may not make.

(25:54) But the whole concept of creating a market structure is to provide real clear rules and regulations for the industry around who is responsible for what, specifically around the regulatory side. (26:05) So currently in the Clarity Act, the SEC is responsible for anything that is considered a restricted digital asset. (26:16) But that’s very specifically a token that is sold as an investment contract.

(26:20) So really a security where you’re expected to generate revenue from where the CFTC jurisdiction is around what’s considered a digital commodity. (26:28) So anything that’s a utility token or anything that’s decentralized. (26:32) I don’t know if that’s where it’s going to end up, because I say, as I mentioned, the Senate still needs to weigh in on this.

(26:37) But what it does, it creates a clear structured pathway for digital assets and really clarifies who’s responsible for which oversight of which type of asset, which historically there in the U.S. there’s been quite a bit of confusion. (26:54) There’s been a lot of confusion. (26:56) And so now by once this the market structure bill passes, we will have that clarity.

(27:02) And that will also help open up the markets as well.

Melissa

(27:06) Yeah, makes makes a lot of sense. (27:08) I want to circle back something you mentioned at the beginning. (27:13) And I know you’ve been in tech and finance for many years, something I got my career started in finance.

(27:20) And then now I’m in tech. (27:21) And I know I’ve often and always felt like the only woman in the room. (27:27) And I love what you started this podcast talking about how somebody, you know, gave you a hand up, lifted you up and put you on a roll.

(27:37) And I think there’s so much so much to unpack with that that is really special. (27:43) But I’m curious from your perspective, how has the industry supported or failed women in leadership and innovation as it pertains to finance and tech?

Renee

(27:52) Yeah, so I think it’s I think it’s a really good question. (27:55) And I do think the market is evolving. (27:58) So on the banking side, when I started my career, I started my first job was an internal audit.

(28:04) And then I moved into investment banking. (28:07) And when I was in banking, I was very often, you know, the only woman in the room and also I was very junior as well as before I went to business school. (28:15) And it was very much male dominated.

(28:19) That’s not the case now, you know, because banking has evolved and there’s much more women in more senior positions. (28:25) But on the crypto digital asset side, more so on the crypto side, there’s still a lot of crypto bros, you know, and there is, you know, there is this feeling like I was just in Cannes for a huge Ethereum conference. (28:38) And, you know, it’s very male dominated.

(28:40) You could just walk around. (28:42) But part of that is because it’s, you know, if you look at who’s going into computer science, there’s only 20, 25 percent of computer science grads are women. (28:51) You know, the other 75 percent are men.

(28:53) So, you know, you see that happening. (28:56) But, you know, hopefully over time, you know, that will level out to some degree. (29:00) But you do need to have, you know, strong, you know, I think having strong mentors and having, you know, individuals that you can look up to, I believe is really important.

(29:09) So I’ve always taken mentorship very seriously. (29:12) When I was at DTCC, I actually participated in this great program where I had a reverse mentor. (29:17) So I had a junior person who mentored me, which was fabulous.

(29:21) You know, I learned so much from her. (29:22) You know, it was really a fabulous program. (29:25) But, you know, I was when I was at Broadridge, I participated in the Women’s Bond Club and I had a mentee who was at Harvard.

(29:33) And it was great to see how somebody really early on in their career I could help shape, you know, had some of their thinking. (29:39) And that was very exciting. (29:41) And then even in the digital assets space, I am on the advisory board of a fabulous organization called Women in Digital Assets.

(29:49) And they run a conference every year where they bring in, you know, it’s just it’s so exciting to look out of the room of several hundred women who are all really interested in the digital assets space. (30:00) And it brings, you know, by bringing people together, it really helps form, I would say, you know, support a support network for the industry, which, you know, unfortunately is still very male dominated.

Melissa

(30:11) Yeah. (30:11) And I love it. (30:11) And I often feel it’s not a man or a woman thing.

(30:15) It’s a different perspective thing. (30:17) I think we have different strengths that men don’t have and men have different stakes that women don’t have. (30:22) And I think together we can build such an amazing thing regardless of the industry it’s in.

(30:28) And I would agree, like I do see more of my friends going into finance and banking. (30:33) And back when I started there were not a lot of people that were working at the big banks. (30:38) And so it’s great to hear there’s been some change.

(30:41) I want to get kind of, you know, what’s next? (30:45) What should we look for futuristic? (30:48) And I know you’ve had a reputation of a visionary, a strategist.

(30:52) And so I’d love to get your, you know, thoughts on if you had to bet on what’s next in this space, what would that be?

Renee

(31:02) Well, I think we’re like in a really interesting time when you think about like the innovation landscape. (31:08) So if you step back, you know, when we talk about like the first industrial revolution, you know, that was, you know, that lasted for a hundred years. (31:17) And that was really when we started to see like the steam engine come in.

(31:21) And we started to see the shift from, you know, people working in farms to people working in, you know, in factories. (31:27) And we started to see people move from suburbs or from, you know, from an agrarian economy into like cities and the rise of the city. (31:35) And so like that was, you know, a very significant shift in how people worked and how people thought and how people operated.

(31:44) The second industrial revolution was approximately 50 years. (31:49) And that is where we saw electricity really drive change, you know, across the organ, you know, across organizations. (31:56) We started to see steel being produced.

(31:58) We started seeing mass production of goods. (32:01) And really like that’s when the modern corporations started. (32:04) And it was really a dramatic shift.

(32:08) But the next dramatic shift happened when it’s called the third industrial revolution, which was really the digital revolution. (32:14) So that started in the, you know, the 50s and the 60s. (32:18) And that’s when we saw computers start to come in, semiconductors, telecom changed dramatically.

(32:24) We saw the rise of the internet. (32:25) Could you imagine? (32:26) We couldn’t even be doing this if there was no internet.

(32:28) We couldn’t be having this podcast. (32:31) But now we’re in the fourth industrial revolution. (32:34) And what we’ve seen from time to time is we’ve seen this compression or acceleration in terms of change.

(32:39) So the first industrial revolution was about 100 years. (32:42) The next about 50, the digital revolution about 40 years. (32:45) And now 15 years is the fourth industrial revolution.

(32:49) And that’s where we’re seeing the rise of a blockchain, AI, robotics, internet of things, you know, agentic AI. (32:56) There’s a lot going on in the sector. (32:58) And it’s really going to have a dramatic impact on how we work, how we operate, and how and jobs in the job market.

(33:08) And blockchain is part of that AI is a huge piece of that. (33:11) But it’s really exciting to be in innovation and really start to think about like, how are all these? (33:17) How are these technologies going to affect us?

(33:20) So for finance specifically, like I see blockchain and not it’s not just blockchain, but it’s AI as well, as really helping drive a change and rewiring of the global financial system. (33:32) And that rewiring is going to be it’s going to be very different in the future. (33:37) Now, how long it’s going to take to get there is a little bit of everyone’s guess.

(33:41) You know, things always take longer than necessary, you know, longer than people perceive. (33:46) But I think we’re going to have 24 seven global markets. (33:49) Instead of bank accounts, we’re all going to have wallets, money is going to be programmable, we’re going to have real time activity, real time settlement, real time activity.

(34:00) And the fact that things are going to be borderless and global is is a game changer. (34:06) So I think the future is really exciting. (34:09) And I’m glad to be and excited to be hoping to drive part of that forward, and to have like a front seat at the table.

(34:16) So it’s just a really exciting time to be in the market.

Melissa

(34:19) I love it. (34:20) I agree. (34:20) I think it’s exciting times.

(34:23) A couple any final thoughts or anything that we didn’t touch on that you want to leave with our listeners today, Renee?

Renee

(34:29) Well, first of all, this has been a great conversation. (34:32) And I really appreciate you allowing me to give you my perspective on the market. (34:36) For anyone who’s interested and wants copies of the white paper, the two white papers I mentioned, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn, I’m happy to send them to you.

(34:45) Or if you want to continue the conversation, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn as well, under Renee Berman.

Melissa

(34:50) I love it. (34:51) Thank you so much for being here and sharing your knowledge and your insights with our listeners and really pulling back that curtain. (35:00) And I look forward to continuing the dialogue.

(35:03) And that is the Executive Connect podcast.