Trends & Signals
Explore the latest insights, thought leadership, and research from FCAT®
Find “Product Market Fit,” or That’s It
May 15, 2023
In his conversation with FCAT, Levine speaks on how the current macro-economic climate impacts the future of start-ups, the radical importance he places on start-ups finding product-fit, why he doesn’t yet view generative AI as truly disruptive technology, and why great entrepreneurs should focus on the problem they are attempting to solve, rather than the solution.
What’s In A Name? The Mainstreaming of Pseudonymity
May 9, 2023
Writers and artists have donned pen names for hundreds of years. Now, the use of aliases has become commonplace across social media, gaming, and virtual worlds where anyone can explore facets of their identity and express their true selves using pseudonyms. With rapidly advancing avatar technology as well as a continued fear of public scrutiny, pseudonymity will likely further permeate into work, education, and finance where customers and employees will participate as their pseudonymous selves.
Meet the Hosts: Parth Gargava
May 5, 2023
Parth Gargava readily admits that he’s not an expert on crypto regulations. And he’s not going to lose sleep if one country or another says they want to put a bunch of rules around digital currencies. He’s too busy tweaking and tinkering, fussing with the digital engines that make crypto systems hum. That’s not to say he’s without an opinion. After all, Parth has made these technologies his life’s work.
Tech and Art Have Never Been Closer: A Review of SXSW by FCAT Design
May 5, 2023
A small team from FCAT Design (Kseniya Galper, Susan Fabry, and Will Reed) travelled to Austin, TX for the 2023 South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in March. SXSW bills itself as “the premier destination for dreamers, innovators, storytellers, and global thought leaders. Each March, this diverse group of creatives across the tech, film, and music industries converge for 10 days of collaboration.”
What’s New & What’s Lasting: Tidings from SXSW 2023
April 21, 2023
Everything that’s happened these past few months has caused legitimate questioning of how tech is tangibly making people’s lives better. Maybe it is here where reflecting on the venue city of Austin could be fruitful – a city that has risen to become a tech powerhouse, pushing many major Silicon Valley tech companies to uproot their Californian roots.
Can AI Speed Up Blockchain Development?
April 20, 2023
This article was written in collaboration with Erman Akdogan of Fidelity Enterprise Cybersecurity and Chris McGahon of the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology. All figures were generated in February using ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 model).
Finding Community Online in an Age of Individualism
April 18, 2023
Over the past 60 years Americans’ social, political, and economic lives have been dominated by a strong emphasis on individualism. But there are signs this dynamic may be changing. Social activism and labor organizing are on the rise, fueled by digital media and networks. While Americans will always value individual freedom, changing online behaviors portend a shift in priorities that could have a profound impact on business.
What’s Next for Blockchains?
April 11, 2023
Despite a rocky 2022 for the digital assets industry, blockchains remain a foundational technology poised to transform business operations and commerce. And while the big picture of how chains will communicate and interoperate with legacy technologies and other public chain networks is still forming, blockchain’s technology and ecosystem continue to rapidly evolve, finding applications across all industries and converging with AI and IoT to unleash new possibilities.
MEV and Its Impact on the Future of DeFi
April 6, 2023
Although the blockchain architecture is decentralised, block content creation is a centralised process performed by miners. Therefore, miners have complete control over transaction ordering and inclusion, leading to the Miner (or Maximal) Extractable Value (MEV) problem. MEV, sometimes called Block Extractable Value, is the profit made by including, excluding, or reordering the transactions in a block. This profit is considered separate from block rewards or transaction fees the miner would otherwise receive.1
Rethinking Time and How We Invest It
April 3, 2023
The pandemic. Inflation. Rising Interest rates. Over the past three years we’ve experienced a series of shocks that have altered how we perceive and value time. How we save, spend, manage, and invest our time are all now top of mind concerns. This is challenging many of our accepted notions about mental health and wellness, productivity, and financial planning.If anything’s changed since the pandemic began it’s our shared sense of the value of time.