Bryant, who founded decentralised finance tool startup Vektor last year, believes that decentralised finance will unleash finance in the same way as the internet unleashed free publishing. However, this won’t happen immediately.

“De-fi won’t knock out banks. They’ll continue to work in parallel for quite a long time, banks integrating de-fi opportunities into their products and de-fi startups operating whacky ideas not even tied to the banking system.”

Bryant is sceptical of banks’ ability to truly innovate. “Yes, a bank will layer a so-called fintech app onto existing infrastructure--but is that innovation?” He argues that if the underlying infrastructure stays the same, then no. Bryant, nonetheless, acknowledges that traditional banks have branding and credibility that fintechs lack.

The current bear market of the past few months will drive more rationalised investments in fintech. “The days of big, headline-grabbing fintech exits might be numbered--for now. I think we’ll have fewer investments but better-quality investments.”