Five Takeaways from Money 20/20

I attended Money 20/20 in Las Vegas last week and spoke directly with the people trying to push innovation through the financial world. Whether it’s payment processing, cryptocurrency, cyber security, data entry software, credit card issuing, or lending processes, millennials with impressive resumes are looking to trim the fat from the financial world with their beloved software. 

Below are five takeaways I got from attending Money 20/20.

Crypto is Legit- If you’re still thinking crypto has no value, you’re being naive. The crypto space at Money 20/20 was dominated by international transaction companies, crypto conversion companies, crypto investment companies, and even some doing business lending with crypto. These booths had the most energy around them, and there seems to be general excitement from all the groups about the industry. The crypto community is no longer young kids with big ideas, but legitimate investors and money-people that have an unprecedented amount of interest in investing outside of the US dollar. 

The Payments Pool is Overflowing- There are hundreds of companies that are competing to carry your dollars from your wallet to a merchant while taking micro-transactions off the top. These companies are competing heavily, and at Money 20/20, there was no end in sight to them. After a while it got exhausting trying to figure out how one differentiated from another. Is there really any room for MORE innovation or have all the bases been covered already?

Innovation is Blind- A massive amount of innovation is being pitched at these events for types of tasks regarding data collection and entry. The thing is, some software writers themselves have no idea how the industries they are innovating currently work. Software developers from major companies told me they had never heard of a loan broker, as they were pitching software that allows merchants to go directly to the lender for an approval on a business loan. How can something be innovated without the innovator knowing what they’re innovating?

Cybersecurity Seems Light- Cybersecurity had a smaller presence than some of the other major categories. One would think that every fintech company would also need strong cybersecurity. Either cybersecurity is going to be dominated by a small group of players or there is a huge opportunity here that is still untapped.

Networking’s Value is Priceless- After doing virtual business for almost two years, the value of a face-to-face meeting with a potential business partner is well worth the price of admission for the attendees. The people I spoke with said that just to have the ability to get thirty minutes at a table with someone was why they were attending. The connections lounge was the most populated place at the event all three days, as companies from across the globe were finally able to converse without a video camera. Believe it or not, people across the financial world have really gotten sick of Zoom.