How one of the largest finance companies you've never heard of is doubling down on crypto

Episode 3 of Season 5 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro and Nabil Manji, Worldpay head of crypto and web3 .

Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on AppleSpotifyGoogle PodcastsStitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests can be sent to [email protected].


Nabil Manji, Worldpay's head of crypto and web3, describes his firm as "one of the largest companies that most people have never heard of," since Worldpay plays a relatively behind-the-scenes role facilitating the "plumbing" of different aspects of the global financial system.

In this episode of The Scoop, Manji discusses how Worldpay is positioning itself to expand its digital asset infrastructure and the ways that traditional financial institutions have adjusted their digital asset strategies in the wake of last year's crypto meltdown. Worldpay was acquired by payment services giant Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), a Jacksonville, Florida based firm in 2019 for $35bn.

According to Manji, many firms from traditional finance are continuing to build out infrastructure for digital assets while also reducing speculative exposure to the asset class:

"If you look at some of the larger financial services technology providers, and in some cases a lot of the larger banks, they're continuing to invest on that technology adoption side even while simultaneously pulling back on the more speculative investment side."

Although many institutions are still following through on plans to provide services for digital assets, Manji also says the problems in the industry exposed over the past year need to be addressed:

THE SCOOP

Keep up with the latest news, trends, charts and views on crypto and DeFi with a new biweekly newsletter from The Block's Frank Chaparro

By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

"The challenges presented over the past nine months and some of the problems that those of uncovered are very material, and until some or all of those are meaningfully addressed, I do think it's going to delay or postpone the pace at which institutions and enterprises in financial services might have leveraged digital assets or the underlying technology."

During this episode, Chaparro and Manji also discuss:

  • How CBDC's could be beneficial.
  • The tokenization of real-world assets.
  • The future of stablecoins.

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Circle, Railgun, Flare Network, NordVPN

About Circle
Circle is a global financial technology company helping money move at internet speed. Our mission is to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value. Visit Circle.com to learn more.

About Railgun
RAILGUN is a private DeFi solution on Ethereum, BSC, Arbitrum, and Polygon. Shield any ERC-20 token and any NFT into a Private Balance and let RAILGUN’s Zero-Knowledge cryptography encrypt your address, balance, and transaction history. You can also bring privacy to your project with RAILGUN SDK and be sure to check out RAILGUN with partner project Railway Wallet, also available on iOS and Android. Visit Railgun.org to find out more.

About Flare
Flare is an EVM-based Layer 1 blockchain designed to allow developers to build applications that can use data from other blockchains and the internet. By providing decentralized access to a wide variety of high integrity data from other blockchains and the internet, Flare enables new use cases and monetisation models. Build better and connect everything at Flare.Network

About NordVPN
NordVPN is essential for keeping crypto transactions secure, hiding your IP address and protecting your devices from hackers and data theft. Get premium cyber-security on up to 6 devices for the price of a cup of coffee a month. Get your exclusive NordVPN Deal and try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee: Visit https://nordvpn.com/thescoop


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Authors

Davis Quinton is the Director of Podcasts at The Block and runs our flagship podcast called The Scoop, hosted by Frank Chaparro. Since joining The Block as an 'intern' in early 2022, he has worked closely with leaders across departments to translate The Block's written content into engaging multimedia formats. He holds a degree in Social Research & Public Policy from New York University in Abu Dhabi and is based in Sydney, Australia.
Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].