As lately as 2022, it appeared as if blockchain and cryptocurrency firms had been about to reshape massive swathes of the worldwide monetary sector straight away. Nonetheless, macroeconomic shifts and company-specific missteps have spurred heated dialogue round whether or not blockchain will remodel the web, world commerce and monetary companies. Regardless of latest challenges, the promise of this transformative expertise stays too nice to disregard. It’s equally true that work nonetheless must be carried out to enhance the underlying infrastructure, belief and consumer expertise earlier than we onboard the subsequent billion customers.
A few of the most vocal narratives body early-stage crypto firms in sharp opposition to current monetary incumbents. In actuality, crypto FinTechs and TradFi establishments are becoming a member of arms to ship new, revolutionary types of commerce. Incumbents daring sufficient to embrace rising expertise exterior of their 4 partitions typically acquire an early aggressive benefit and are properly positioned to reach the longer-term.
Shayaan Khanna leads the Blockchain Product Partnerships crew at Mastercard and has taken cost of making strong alliances between the cost tech participant and rising enterprises within the blockchain and crypto-asset house. In a collaborative effort, Shayaan helps to bridge the hole between the normal and the revolutionary, forging partnerships that might form the way forward for finance.
On this article with Wharton Fintech’s Josh Benadiva, Shayaan shares his ideas on the way forward for finance, his private journey into the world of blockchain, and the function that he sees Mastercard enjoying in shaping the business.
Shayaan’s curiosity in fintech started whereas he was a scholar at Wharton Enterprise College, graduating in 2020. His ardour for expertise and finance introduced him to the Penn Blockchain Membership and the Wharton Fintech Membership.
Josh Benadiva:
Why don’t you begin off by telling us about your journey into the world of FinTech, notably blockchain and cryptocurrencies, throughout your time at Wharton? How did your background in monetary markets and tech affect your choice to deal with this vertical, and what had been among the key initiatives and experiences that formed your understanding of the potential of blockchain expertise?
Shayaan Khanna:
First off, it’s nice to be on the opposite facet of the chair — I had a good time internet hosting people on the podcast earlier than! I arrived at Wharton with an energetic curiosity in monetary markets, having labored in capital markets at J.P. Morgan for a number of years. I used to be lucky to get a crash course within the fundamentals of economic markets and tech within the workforce, so quite a lot of the textbook materials was acquainted to me. I shortly realized I wanted to maintain constructing my craft with sensible expertise and impartial exploration. The MBA offered a big quantity of devoted time, sources and (most significantly) a supportive neighborhood to attend varied conferences and occasions, enabling me to constantly develop my data. The chance value of leaving a wonderfully good job on Wall Road was a continuing reminder that I needed to take advantage of out of my time in this system.
Step one was choosing a favourite vertical throughout the expansive realm of FinTech. Some broad verticals are funds, funding platforms, various lending, insurtech, regtech, and, in fact, blockchain and cryptocurrency. I picked crypto as a result of it was essentially the most controversial, intriguing, community-driven and earliest stage in comparison with the others.
One in every of my favourite initiatives was interviewing business leaders on crypto governance for Professor Kevin Werbach. I’ve since remained in contact and have been a TA for an Government MBA course across the “Economics of Blockchain and Digital Belongings” for the previous yr. I’ve been capable of have interaction with tons of of scholars, desirous to learn the way blockchain expertise can impression our every day lives. It’s superb to see folks motivated by the chance to resolve advanced issues or the will to be part of a neighborhood that values creativity and collaboration. Those that take pleasure in engaged on blockchain are sometimes united by a shared imaginative and prescient of constructing a extra clear, environment friendly, and decentralized future. I typically discover myself in deep discussions concerning the potential for this expertise to disrupt finance, legislation, healthcare, social governance and the creator financial system.
After graduating from Wharton, Shayaan joined BNY Mellon’s Digital Partnerships and Strategic Investments crew specializing in Blockchain and Digital Belongings.
Josh:
Are you able to share your thought course of behind selecting BNY Mellon to dive deeper into disruptive applied sciences and fintech, and the way your involvement with the crypto neighborhood throughout the firm ultimately led to a extra centered function within the blockchain house?
Shayaan:
Admittedly, BNY Mellon was an fascinating profession alternative. I had already spent round seven years at a prime NYC financial institution and went to grad college to discover disruptive applied sciences and fintech extra deeply. BNY Mellon has been one of many main monetary establishments for 230+ years and was based by Alexander Hamilton. I knew that BNY Mellon was constructing a repute as a market chief in each permissioned blockchain and crypto. It was additionally turning into evident that there was a necessity for trusted, institutional-grade options within the crypto custody house. Although I used to be technically protecting all FinTech verticals, I discovered myself a part of a grassroots crypto neighborhood that obtained maintain of the corporate. It grew from sporadic classes to a extra centered working group, till our ragtag crew might rewrite our jobs to focus completely on blockchain tech.
As curiosity in blockchain and cryptocurrency continued to blow up in 2020, many conventional monetary establishments started to discover these rising applied sciences. Throughout his time at BNY Mellon, Shayaan had a direct line to the crypto neighborhood. He helped safe a cope with Fireblocks and launched their partnership, which was one of many only a few crypto custody offers a GSIB financial institution has embarked upon.
Josh:
When you accomplished the deal at BNY Mellon, it looks as if you had been anticipating a brand new problem within the crypto world. How did the chance at Mastercard come up, and what excited you concerning the prospect of making your personal function, constructing a crew, and specializing in crypto, CBDCs, and digital asset tokenization?
Shayaan:
After the deal, I felt as if I had reached the height of the mountain and was prepared for a brand new problem the place I might solely deal with digital belongings. The function on the blockchain partnerships crew at Mastercard was on my radar, which offered me with the chance to mould my very own function. There was additionally the potential to construct a crew (which occurred inside months of my becoming a member of!). Moreover, I used to be capable of deal with crypto, CBDCs and digital asset tokenization which had been of nice curiosity.
Because the monetary business continues to evolve, the mixing of blockchain expertise and cryptocurrencies is turning into more and more essential. Whereas some firms have been hesitant to embrace these improvements, Mastercard has taken a proactive method to work with regulators, banks and crypto-native Fintechs.
Josh:
Are you able to inform us extra about your day-to-day work? How do you handle to remain engaged and up-to-date with the fast-paced developments within the crypto business?
Shayaan:
I discover Partnerships (generally referred to as Biz Dev) roles notably satisfying since you get to play a task in supporting revolutionary startups as they create new and thrilling monetary services. It’s like being a matchmaker, however for monetary expertise! I can spend my day studying a couple of Seed-stage startup, serving to a big financial institution perceive blockchain tech, working with our inside stakeholders to get a deal over the road, or determining the very best GTM method for a brand new product. The countless studying that comes with working within the crypto business may be overwhelming at instances, however the fixed problem of staying up-to-date with the newest developments retains me engaged.
Mastercard is well-known for delivering cutting-edge applied sciences to hundreds of banks, fintechs and corporates over its historical past.
Shayaan’s crew is liable for constructing relationships with rising blockchain and crypto-asset firms, and integrating their expertise into Mastercard’s current methods. By doing so, Mastercard is ready to provide its clients entry to new and revolutionary monetary services.
The thesis behind Shayaan’s work is that there will likely be a symbiotic relationship between the revolutionary vitality of blockchain startups and the business data of Mastercard.
Josh:
Are you able to focus on the significance of partnerships within the crypto business and the way they’ve advanced, alongside along with your expertise launching a Begin Path observe for digital asset startups? How has your Wharton training knowledgeable your strategic method, and what recommendation would you give to these trying to keep up to date on this area?
Shayaan:
I imagine crypto and blockchain applied sciences have an extended solution to go earlier than mass adoption. Like different rising applied sciences, there may be room to enhance consumer expertise and safety. I imagine that among the key infrastructure will likely be constructed by way of partnership between incumbents and cutting-edge tech suppliers. Established gamers who embrace ecosystem innovation would be the ones greatest positioned to seize the upside. I imagine joint approaches equivalent to Fireblocks-BNY Mellon, and Blackrock-Coinbase carry collectively the very best of each worlds on the funding facet. One other instance is the MoneyGram-Stellar deal, which demonstrates the potential for cross-border funds which might be sooner, cheaper, and safer than ever earlier than.
Startups are more and more refined of their negotiation and outreach. That mentioned, I nonetheless imagine working with established gamers can typically bolster their go-to-market technique and assist them launch in a number of markets, reaching a a lot wider viewers than they could be capable to on their very own.
Narratives inside bigger firms have additionally shifted from a easy white-label relationship and vanilla associate packages to co-creation of merchandise and extra advanced strategic finance buildings. Mastercard is well-known for its award-winning startup engagement program referred to as Begin Path. Mastercard has engaged with greater than 350 firms from 42 international locations since 2014. I co-led the creation of a crypto-specific observe that may greatest serve the distinctive wants of the business and could be focused at earlier-stage firms. We are sometimes challenged to assume exterior the field to supply options to market members who’re both early of their lifecycle or coming into a comparatively uncharted facet of the business.
Initially, I had reservations when Professor Siggelkow (strongly advocate his class, by the best way) asserted the essence of technique is selecting what not to do. Nonetheless, in my skilled profession I’ve realized to articulate and observe an intentional method to stipulate the tradeoffs of every strategic alternative. It’s fairly simple to unfold one’s consideration and sources too skinny throughout varied interesting choices. Fortuitously, at Mastercard now we have pretty strong product validation processes from concept conception to launch. I’ve typically discovered myself interviewing Fortune 100 manufacturers, cost facilitators, crypto wallets and NFT platforms to get their suggestions firsthand on learn how to fine-tune a product concept.
I might encourage college students (and lifelong college students!) to learn our weblog to learn the way we’re remaining a trusted associate to innovate with, regardless of all of the latest uncertainty within the business.
See right here for Mastercard’s blockchain and cryptocurrency weblog:
Because the monetary business continues to evolve, it’s clear that firms like Mastercard will play an more and more essential function in shaping its future. With Shayaan Khanna enjoying a task in main the cost, it appears that evidently Mastercard is well-positioned to stay on the forefront of this innovation.
About Shayaan Khanna
Shayaan Khanna is a fintech fanatic and leads crypto and blockchain partnerships at Mastercard. He’s labored in institutional capital markets and fintech, creating merchandise and managing key shopper relationships at each J.P. Morgan and BNY Mellon.
Shayaan graduated with an MBA from Wharton in 2020. Whereas at Wharton, he was an energetic member of Penn’s fintech and crypto neighborhood (together with being a number on Wharton FinTech Podcast). He enjoys exploring breakthrough applied sciences, driving change by way of innovation and constructing relationships throughout business.
Concerning the Writer
Joshua Benadiva is a second-year MBA Candidate at The Wharton College and a second-year Grasp’s in Pc and Data Expertise Candidate at Penn Engineering. He’s the co-head of the Wharton FinTech Podcast crew, and he has a ardour for constructing enjoyable and easy-to-use merchandise and fixing vital monetary issues by way of software program. Don’t hesitate to succeed in out with questions, feedback, suggestions, and alternatives for Josh at benadiva@wharton.upenn.edu.
