We ask the builders in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector for their thoughts on the industry … and we’ll throw in some random rings to keep them on their toes!
This week we are going to ask 6 questions to Harumi Urata-Thompson, CFO and Chief Investment Officer of Celsius
Harumi Urata-Thompson is the CFO and chief investment officer of Celsius. Furthermore, she is the founder of Hut Consulting and the former chief operating officer of the CFA Society New York, for which she completed a successful turnaround during her tenure. Urata-Thompson holds several senior-level positions at Thomson Reuters and works at Morgan Stanley and CitiGroup in investment banking. Her expertise guides organizations on advising on innovative ways to achieve strategic, operational and marketing success. Under her busy work schedule, Harumi manages to talk about various topics of interest, including blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, cyber security, artificial intelligence, Big Data, outer space, among others.
1 – How do they react when you tell people you’re in the blockchain industry?
I get contrasting answers from two different groups of people. If they’re already involved in blockchain in any way and especially if they already know the company I work for, I get ‘it’s so cool!’ every time. From the other group, and unfortunately there are more people in this group, I get a blank stare, I get the question “what is Bitcoin good for?” or worse, “oh, and you support the criminals.” As for the first group, I agree with them – I still get excited every day. For the second group, it can be addressed with education. Financial literacy, which includes cryptocurrency, is a big part of me; I am a professional in financial services and a CFA charter. I like to share my knowledge and experience, so I am asked to come present regardless of the place. I always enjoy doing it.
2 – What do you think will be the biggest trend in blockchain for the next 12 months?
“I’m not sure if I can call it the ‘biggest trend’ or even ‘trend’, and it certainly will not be limited to the next 12 months, but question the use case of blockchain as we get past the initial excitement of” what is blockchain. ” That or billions of dollars raised by ICOs coming and going is definitely something we absolutely must look at as we move forward.
I’ve been involved in the startup and product management world for a while now, and there’s always one question I need to ask myself: Whose problem am I (you) solving?? The applicability of blockchain technology is endless. It is just an enabler, and it has been developed in different needs of various industries. I do not believe we have heard the statement “it is definitely accepted by the masses”. Whose problem do we then have to solve that offers us the great path of adoption? I want to address this question from the angle of whether I would invest in a blockchain-based business in the next 12 months, which I could look for in the solution. Let us first think through the problems that prevent us from making these technology-based solutions mainstream. Regulations uncertainty. This is really something and if I invest in one business, I will try to see if I can find a solution that does not have to deal with so many regulations, or to be able to influence or work with the regulators to avoid this problem . Performance. This is not yet what it can be, and it will probably take a while, so I probably avoid solutions that require very fast transactions or to complete millions of transactions at once. Blockchain is not the face of the solution. Unless we can find a way to use the blockchain “Intel Inside” way, I will not choose a solution whose marketing point # 1 is “we are a blockchain enterprise.” If I put these thoughts together, and again, if I currently only invest in one company, I choose a solution that solves the government problem, that is, the regulator, where we actually solved a known problem using the blockchain nature, such as immutability, transparency and security. How about solving the problem where the government has to send out massive checks, such as incentive checks, social benefits, tax credit, and so on? I will investigate this type of solution provider business. I do not believe that it is a coincidence that we recently started focusing on the central bank’s digital currency, and a lot of talk in blockchain fintech. [industries] is around this topic.
3 – What’s the most amazing thing to happen on your bucket list?
‘500 places to see before you die’ has become a thing. For me, the more places I go, the more places I add to the list, and I think my list could be 5,000, if not 50,000. Maybe I can take one or two vacations a year? I try to “knock out” several places every time I go away, but my ever-expanding list makes it a bit of a challenge to make the bucket list of “visit every place I want to go” very challenging. But I always accept the challenge, and my glass is always half full, so I’m sure I have not given up on the idea yet!
4- What’s the most innovative use case for blockchain you’ve ever seen? This may not be the one that is best to pass!
Diamond supply chain. For expensive goods like diamonds (or it can be used in other jewels, vintage wines or works of art by famous artists of centuries ago), the origin and authenticity are very difficult, and especially diamonds, which even amateurs like me think of where the ‘blood diamond’ in the economy can spread, although I personally have no way of figuring it out myself. This opaque supply chain has, of course, prohibited, among other things, diamonds from becoming an important commodity in the financial services industry or having more derivative instruments than becoming someone’s necklace or ring. For the industry whose latest innovation was to claim ” a diamond is forever ” (and so should your love be if you’re involved in it), I think it’s a great innovation to apply this technology to the entire supply chain from mining to retail by creating a thumbprint of diamonds and a record and placing it in the blockchain. Although I do not have a good opinion as to why the commodity market has developed as it is, there is no reason for a market for palladium, again or not for diamond. Jewelry is hard to get a fixed price? None of these things do. The regulators and financial professionals did not want to create a product out of conflicting products? Blockchain can solve it now. Although the use may be limited to jewelry, there is a huge demand for this gem. Although the mass adoption of this technology has yet to be seen, it is an interesting development that I would like to undertake as we progress.
5 —What do you tell parents / others / friends / children about? Feel free to offer more than one answer.
I like work and like to get things done. This means that sometimes there are times when I “disregard” some of the needs in life, and probably my most important others will get the worst end of it. He’s the most patient on the planet, but at some point he’s starting to get around to taking my laptop and stuff away – as I write this, I’ve put dinner on the table and still write!
6 —What is the most foolish conspiracy theory there is … and which one makes you pause for a moment?
The earth is flat! If science does not tell me otherwise, it feels flat, it looks flat, it smells flat, so why not ??? The one that makes me stop is things like Area 51. Do we really have something that is completely covered in this society?