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We’re asking blockchain and cryptocurrency buidlers for their thoughts on the industry … and we’re adding a few random zingers to keep them on their toes!
This week, our 6 questions are for Harumi Urata-Thompson, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Celsius
Harumi Urata-Thompson is the CFO and Chief Investment Officer of Celsius. Additionally, she is the founder of Hut Consulting and the former COO of CFA Society New York, where she successfully turned around during her tenure. Urata-Thompson has held several executive positions at Thomson Reuters and worked at Morgan Stanley and CitiGroup in investment banking. His expertise is to lead and advise organizations on innovative paths to achieve strategic, operational and marketing success. Amidst her busy work schedule, Harumi manages to find a voice on various topics of interest including blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, big data, outer space. , among others.
1 – When you tell people that you are in the blockchain industry, how do they react?
I get contrasting responses from two different groups of people. If they are already involved in blockchain in some way and especially if they already know the company I work for, I get “this is so cool!” Everytime. From the other group, and unfortunately more people are in this group, I either get a blank stare or a question of “what is Bitcoin for?” or worse yet, “oh, and you support the criminals.” Regarding the first group, I agree with them – I still wake up excited every day. For the second group, this can be resolved through education. Financial literacy, which includes cryptocurrency, is a big part of me; I am a career financial services professional and a CFA charter holder. I like to share my knowledge and my experience, so wherever I am, I am asked to come and present. I always like to do that.
2 – What do you think will be the biggest blockchain trend over the next 12 months?
I’m not sure if I can call this the ‘biggest trend’ or even the ‘trend’ for that matter, and it certainly won’t be limited to the next 12 months, but challenges the use case of blockchain, because we are past the beginning of the “what is blockchain” excitement. That or billions of dollars raised by ICOs come and go is definitely something we absolutely need to take a close look at as we move forward.
I’ve been involved in the world of startups and product management for a while now, and there’s always a question I need to ask myself: Who am I (you) solving the problem to? The applicability of blockchain technology is endless. It is only a facilitator, and it has been developed into different needs of several industries. I don’t think we’ve heard the statement “it’s definitely adopted by the masses” yet. So, to whom do we have to solve the problem that provides us with the path to mass adoption? I like to approach this question from the perspective of whether I should invest in a blockchain-based business in the next 12 months, which I might be looking for in the solution. First, let’s think about some of the issues that keep us from making these technological solutions mainstream. Regulatory uncertainty. It is really one thing and without any bias, if I invest in a company I will try to see if I can come up with a solution that does not have to face so many regulations or from the side of being able to influence or work with regulators to avoid this problem. Performance. It’s not yet what it can be, and it will probably take some time, so I’m probably avoiding solutions that require extremely fast transactions or requirements to settle millions of transactions at once. Blockchain is not the face of the solution. Unless we can find a way to use the ‘Intel Inside’ blockchain, I will not choose a solution whose marketing point # 1 is ‘we are a blockchain company’. When I combine these ideas together, and again, if I invest in just one company at the moment, I would choose a solution that solves a government problem – i.e. on the regulatory side – where we have it. in fact a known problem that can be solved by taking advantage of the nature of blockchain, such as immutability, transparency, and security. How about solving the problem where the government has to send massive checks like stimulus checks, benefits, tax credits, etc.? I would study this kind of solution provider business. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’ve started focusing on central bank digital currency recently, and a lot of talk in blockchain fintech. [industries] is around this topic.
3 – What’s the most unlikely thing on your to-do list?
“500 places to see before you die” has become one thing. For me, the more I go, the more I add to the list, and I think my list might be 5,000 or even 50,000. Can I take a vacation or two a year maybe? I try to “delete” multiple places every time I go, but my ever-expanding list makes it a bit of a challenge to make the “visit every place I want to go” bucket list very difficult. But I still accept the challenge, and my glass is still half full, so I’m sure I haven’t given up on the idea yet!
4 – What is the most innovative blockchain use case you’ve ever seen? It may not be the one with the best chance of success!
Diamond supply chain. For expensive products like diamonds (or it can be mined in other gems, vintage wines, or works of art by famous artists from centuries ago), it is extremely difficult to define the origin and the authenticity, and the diamond in particular, which even gemstone enthusiasts like me think of where the ‘blood diamond’ might circulate in the economy, although I personally have no way of figuring it out for myself. This opaque supply chain, among others, has of course prohibited diamonds from becoming a major commodity in the financial services industry or from having more derivatives than becoming someone’s necklace or ring. For the industry whose latest innovation has been to claim “a diamond is forever” (and therefore your love should be too if you commit to it), I think it was an amazing innovation to embrace this technology. to connect the entire supply chain. mining all the way to retail by creating a diamond fingerprint and disk and putting them on the blockchain. While I’m not convinced as to why the commodities market has developed the way it has, there is no reason why there is a market for palladium, weather, or, but not for the diamond. Are gems hard to get a solid price? None of these do. Regulators and financial professionals didn’t want to create a product out of conflicting products? Blockchain can now solve this problem. Although the use may be limited to jewelry, there is considerable demand for this jewelry. While the massive adoption of this technology remains to be seen, it is an interesting development that I would like to address as we move forward.
5 – What are your parents / significant other / friends / children telling you? Do not hesitate to offer more than one answer.
I love to work and I love to get things done. This means that there are times when I might “ignore” some of life’s needs, and probably my significant other has the worst of it. He’s the most patient on the planet, but at one point he starts to come over and try to pack my laptop and stuff – as I write this I’ve put down some food for dinner. on the table and I’m still writing this!
6 – What’s the dumbest conspiracy theory out there … and which one makes you stop for a moment?
The earth is flat! If science isn’t on my side to tell me otherwise, it looks flat, it looks flat, it smells flat, so why not ??? What makes me think is things like Area 51. Do we really have something completely hidden in this society?
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