Projects & Observations
We are focused on the social trends that could shape the future and the tech tools that may drive it. Our projects are informed and influenced by our engagement with experts across the research, tech and design spectrums. In this space, we share what we’re learning, what’s inspiring, and what’s next.
Blockchain
BY: Chris Helms & Chris McGahon | May 23, 2023
Solidity development has been a rapidly growing topic within the world of blockchains, specifically Ethereum. There have been many different tools & frameworks that support smart contract development and testing. With many different choices, what is the best way for developers to traverse the ever-growing options? Here we explore modern frameworks and their benefits when building smart contracts.
Article
05/23/2023
Sociocultural
BY: Matthew Ledoux | May 22, 2023
FCAT shares their thoughts on the geneartive AI chatbot, ChatGPT, that's taken the world by storm. Designers, developers, and specialists share their thoughts.
Article
05/11/2023
Research
BY: Jacob Kozhipatt | May 18, 2023
In the most forward-looking chapter of the FCAT Priorities Report 2023, our researchers took a broader look at advances in deep technologies that are designed to help solve our world’s most pressing problems. The five technologies explored in this report include: synthetic biology, decarbonization, advanced robotics, agriculture, and space exploration.
Article
05/11/2023
Sociocultural
BY: Jacob Kozhipatt | May 15, 2023
In his conversation with FCAT, Waze founder Uri Levine speaks on how the current macro-economic climate impacts the future of start-ups and why great entrepreneurs should focus on the problem they are attempting to solve, rather than the solution.
Article
05/05/2023
Blockchain
BY: Meenakshi Singh | May 10, 2023
To mitigate the risks of financial loss and fraud, smart contract developers must prioritize smart contract security best practices from the outset. While numerous tools are available in the space, promising to identify vulnerabilities and propose fixes, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It is crucial to select tools with broad coverage, easy integration, and generic applicability to reinforce security and reliability throughout the smart contract's development lifecycle.
Article
05/10/2023
Sociocultural
BY: Deanna Laufer | May 9, 2023
Writers and artists have donned pen names for hundreds of years. Now, the use of aliases has become commonplace across social media, gaming, and virtual worlds where anyone can explore facets of their identity and express their true selves using pseudonyms. With rapidly advancing avatar technology as well as a continued fear of public scrutiny, pseudonymity will likely further permeate into work, education, and finance where customers and associates will participate as their pseudonymous selves.
Article
05/09/2023
Sociocultural
BY: FCAT Design Team | May 5, 2023
A small team from FCAT Design (Kseniya Galper, Susan Fabry, and Will Reed) travelled to Austin, TX for the 2023 South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in March. SXSW bills itself as “the premier destination for dreamers, innovators, storytellers, and global thought leaders. Each March, this diverse group of creatives across the tech, film, and music industries converge for 10 days of collaboration.”
Article
05/05/2023
Blockchain
BY: Matt Ehlers | May 5, 2023
Parth Gargava, DeFi engineering lead and host of the FCAT Crypto Brief, readily admits that he’s not an expert on crypto regulations. And he’s not going to lose sleep if one country or another says they want to put a bunch of rules around digital currencies. He’s too busy tweaking and tinkering, fussing with the digital engines that make crypto systems hum.
Article
04/24/2023
Sociocultural
BY: JACOB KOZHIPATT| April 21, 2023
Everything that’s happened these past few months has caused legitimate questioning of how tech is tangibly making people’s lives better. Maybe it is here where reflecting on the venue city of Austin could be fruitful – a city that has risen to become a tech powerhouse, pushing many major Silicon Valley tech companies to uproot their Californian roots.
Article
04/21/2023
Blockchain
BY: Sarah Hoffman | April 20, 2023
In 2022, investors pumped $2.6 billion into generative AI startups—70% more than the previous year. The November 2022 release of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s powerful and much hyped new language model, further fanned interest. Like many, crypto enthusiasts have taken notice, turning to social media to share example after example of how ChatGPT might be applied to crypto and blockchain. Early use cases include coding trading bots and assisting with smart contracts.
Article
04/21/2023
sociocultural
BY: David Bracken | April 18, 2023
Over the past 60 years Americans’ social, political, and economic lives have been dominated by a strong emphasis on individualism. But there are signs this dynamic may be changing. Social activism and labor organizing are on the rise, fueled by digital media and networks. While Americans will always value individual freedom, changing online behaviors portend a shift in priorities that could have a profound impact on business.
Article
04/18/2023
Blockchain
BY: VANESSA KARGENIAN | April 11, 2023
Despite a rocky 2022 for the digital assets industry, blockchains remain a foundational technology poised to transform business operations and commerce. And while the big picture of how chains will communicate and interoperate with legacy technologies and other public chain networks is still forming, blockchain’s technology and ecosystem continue to rapidly evolve, finding applications across all industries and converging with AI and IoT to unleash new possibilities.
Article
04/11/2023
Blockchain
BY: KOSALA YAPA | April 6, 2023
Within the current EVM ecosystem, miners(validators) control block content building, a centralised process that leads to the MEV problem. The MEV problem directly impacts customers, and it has serious attention from regulators. Meta desc. The future of the Ethereum ecosystem and Defi highly depends on the resolutions to the problem problem of centralization in MEV.
Article
04/06/2023
sociocultural
BY: David Bracken | April 3, 2023
The pandemic. Inflation. Rising Interest rates. Over the past three years we’ve experienced a series of shocks that have altered how we perceive and value time. How we save, spend, manage, and invest our time are all now top of mind concerns. This is challenging many of our accepted notions about mental health and wellness, productivity, and future planning.
Article
04/04/2023
BLOCKCHAIN
BY: Will Baxter, Kevin Kelly | March 28, 2023
Staking is the process of supporting transaction verifications and new block creation for the Ethereum network. Validators, otherwise known as ‘stakers’ play a key role in performing key staking duties: storing data, processing transactions including confirming other validators’ actions, and appending new blocks full of transactions to the blockchain. In this article, we’ll explore the nuances behind staking.
Article
03/28/2023
Sociocultural
BY: Deanna Laufer | March 27, 2023
Families have been the basic unit of social and economic life across cultures, geographies, and nationalities for thousands of years. That started to change in the middle of the 20th century, when a growing number of people started living alone for sustained periods. These solo dwellers, or soloists, include people delaying partnership to later in life, those choosing to remain single and live alone without roommates or family, as well as divorced or widowed adults who reside independently.
Article
03/22/2023
Blockchain
BY: ALE VIGILANTE AND LAUREEN OUELLET | March 16, 2023
Fintech’s Third Wave—the use of tokenization and smart contracts to rebuild the infrastructure, processes, and business models underlying fiat money and traditional assets—is well underway. The transition to this blockchain-based infrastructure for our industry will likely follow a path of least resistance, with different products and processes charting their own paths.
Article
03/14/2023
Artificial Intelligence
BY: Sarah Hoffman | March 8, 2023
We’re in a new era of AI. “It feels like we’re going from spring to summer,” said Jack Clark, a co-chair of Stanford University’s annual A.I. Index Report. “In spring, you have these vague suggestions of progress, and little green shoots everywhere. Now, everything’s in bloom.” In less than three years, we’ve seen AIs become...
Article
03/07/2023
Quantum
BY: Elton Zhu | March 6, 2023
Monte Carlo methods are a broad class of computational algorithms that rely on repeated random sampling to predict outcomes of complex scenarios with multiple unknowns. They’re commonly used in the financial industry to evaluate risks, price derivatives, and create long-term strategies, as in the case of retirement planning.
Article
03/02/2023
Emerging Technology
BY: Jacob Kozhipatt | March 1, 2023
The report is the result of extensive analysis of societal trends and emerging technologies by the FCAT research team. Its eight chapters dive into key themes in technology and culture and will be made available over the coming weeks. Until then, here is a sneak preview into what to expect and how the findings could impact the future of finance and beyond.
Article
02/28/2023
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
BY: Jacob Kozhipatt | February 27, 2023
MIT’s XR Hackathon is one of the prestigious competitions in immersive tech. A majority of applicants come from the United States, China, and India. The background of the attendees reflected the demographic change that’s occurred in the broader XR space. What happens at the hackathon?
Article
02/27/2023
FCAT…IN PLAY
BY: John Dalton | February 14, 2023
Humanity-centered design is used to create solutions that benefit the good of humanity, which includes all people in the world, animals, plants, and the environment. We still must design for people, but we must also think about the secondary effects of those human-centered designs. We must look at the impact of what we're designing, not just on the profitability of the company, but instead the profitability of the world.
Article
02/13/2023
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
BY: Sarah Hoffman | February 14, 2023
OpenAI’s new text generator ChatGPT attracted over 1 million users just a few days after launch. The app’s performance made headlines with some even comparing the significance of the release to the debut of the iPhone. So, what's the big deal?
Article
02/14/2023
FCAT…IN PLAY
BY: Deanna Laufer | February 2, 2023
Gen X are in their peak earning and retirement savings years, yet this “forgotten generation” can be overlooked when it comes to the complexity of their financial needs. There is an opportunity to cut through this complexity with time-saving automation, digitization, and guidance to increase their confidence in achieving their long term goals.
Article
02/02/2023
BLOCKCHAIN
BY: Travis Beaulieu | January 27, 2023
Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a nascent but rapidly growing area in the crypto industry, and many protocols have seen steady usage despite a significant decline in token prices. Hacks from code vulnerabilities, scams, and centralized exchange malpractice have harmed the industry’s reputation, and looming regulation should not be overlooked. As DeFi matures, however, these challenges can be overcome through innovation to provide a more secure, user-friendly experience for the next wave of crypto users.
Article
01/27/2023
FCAT Crypto Brief™
BY: Matt Ehlers | January 17, 2023
Jason Ward didn’t need to take on the booms, busts, structural complexities, regulatory uncertainty, and energy-consumption concerns of the blockchain and its attendant technologies.
Article
01/17/2023
Blockchain
BY: Vanessa Kargenian | January 13, 2023
Why even use a private blockchain, wouldn’t a database suffice? It’s a question that’s colored most enterprise technology inquiries surrounding blockchain infrastructure adoption since Bitcoin launched in 2009. And it’s even more timely now as both layer 2 scaling solutions that enhance privacy and speed, as well as newer interoperable chains are making public chains more appropriate for enterprise use.
Article
01/13/2023
Artificial Intelligence
BY: Sarah Hoffman | November 22, 2022
New AI image-generation tools are emerging that allow anyone, regardless of technical proficiency, to become an artist, a graphic designer, or an illustrator. And the quality of the output is surprisingly good and will no doubt improve quickly.
Article
11/22/2022
Sociocultural
BY: JOHN DALTON | November 3, 2022
By many measures, Americans are more polarized than ever. Can we come together to solve our biggest social, economic and environmental challenges? After a recent Speaker Series event, legendary political scientist Robert D. Putnam shared some insights with FCAT's John Dalton on how America's past may hold the keys to its future. Robert D. Putnam is the Malkin Research Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University and a former Dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Article
11/03/2022
Blockchain
BY: Travis Beaulieu | October 10, 2022
Before its historic collapse, Terra became one of the highest valued crypto ecosystems with a strong community of developers. But with a relaunched chain and a damaged reputation, are these developers still committed? An analysis of GitHub code contributions indicates an ecosystem in decline.
Article
10/10/2022
ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE
BY: Elton Zhu | September 21, 2022
In collaboration with Czech Technical University, FCAT released a paper analyzing the effect of noise on variational quantum algorithms. Variational quantum algorithms are a family of algorithms where an optimization algorithm implemented on a classical computer evaluates a parametrized quantum circuit as an objective function. The researchers obtained the missing guarantees on the rate convergence in the presence of noise.
Article
09/23/2022
Blockchain
BY: Travis Beaulieu | September 16, 2022
Bitcoin’s revolutionary design offers a new approach for financial inclusion, distributed ownership, and enforced scarcity. As it has grown in value, however, new narratives surrounding bitcoin’s utility have also emerged. A rocky performance year-to-date and sensitivity to macroeconomic indicators suggest that bitcoin is still finding its footing.
Article
09/16/2022
ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE
BY: Sarah Hoffman | August 23, 2022
For non-technical folks, starting an online business used to mean finding (and hiring) a developer or chief technical officer. No more. Thanks to no-code development tools, anybody who can access a keyboard can build a business. Justin Welsh built a one-man online business that generated over $1M in revenue in 810 days without writing one line of code.[i] Hello Prenup, which helps couples write low-cost prenuptial agreements, was also built with no-code software.[ii] These successes aren’t accidents.
Article
08/23/2022
ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE
By: JOHN DALTON | August 18, 2022
The remarkable progress in algorithms for machine and deep learning have opened the doors to new opportunities, and some dark possibilities. However, a bright future awaits those who build on their working methods by including human-centered AI strategies of design and testing. As many technology companies and thought leaders have argued, the goal is not to replace people but to empower them by making design choices that give humans control over technology.
Article
08/16/2022
Blockchain
BY: VANESSA KARGENIAN | August 10, 2022
Built on public blockchains, Web3 aims to diminish single point of failure risk and afford users more opportunity to be fairly compensated for their contributions. It’s only beginning to emerge, but once fully operational, Web3 has the potential to unleash a new era of value creation and innovation.
Article
08/10/2022
Artificial Intelligence
BY: SARAH HOFFMAN| June 6, 2022
Gartner predicts that by 2024 80% of technology services will be built by non-technical professionals.1 Fueling this trend is the rise of no-code and low-code development, AI-enabled software that lets people with little to no programming experience generate their own apps. Is such a thing even possible?
Article
05/28/2022
Blockchain
BY: JOHN DALTON | May 10 2022
Synthetic biology is the promising and controversial technology platform that combines biology and artificial intelligence, opening up the potential to program biological systems much as we program computers.
FCAT recently hosted Amy Webb, founder of the Future Today Institute, and the author of “The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology,” where she discussed the science, and the ethical, moral, and religious issues surrounding synthetic biology
FCAT recently hosted Amy Webb, founder of the Future Today Institute, and the author of “The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology,” where she discussed the science, and the ethical, moral, and religious issues surrounding synthetic biology
Article
04/26/2022
Blockchain
BY: David Bracken | May 5, 2022
Over the past year Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) have emerged as a much hyped yet intriguing new way to organize communities online. Owned and run by their users, these digital-native collectives operate transparently via smart contracts on the blockchain. While still in an experimental phase, DAOs early use cases provide a glimpse of their potential.
Article
05/05/2022
Artificial Intelligence
BY: SARAH HOFFMAN | April 13, 2022
FCAT recently hosted a presentation by psychologist and author Jean-Francois (JF) Bonnefon on his latest book, “The Car That Knew Too Much”. The book discusses a groundbreaking experiment, the Moral Machine, that allowed millions of people from over 200 countries and territories to make choices about life-and-death dilemmas posed by driverless cars. Should they sacrifice passengers for pedestrians? Save children rather than adults? Kill one person so many can live?
Article
04/13/2022
Artificial Intelligence
BY: SARAH HOFFMAN | March 10, 2022
What will human and AI interactions look like? How will new AI tools change the way we work? To find out, we decided to see if GPT-3, OpenAI’s AI system that “speaks” human languages, could help write this article. Why this AI? Given any natural language text prompt, it can complete sentences, produce a summary of any copy it is given, and even try to simplify the grammar of a given piece of writing. Those are potentially useful tools when it comes to writing and editing documents.
Article
03/15/2022
Artificial Intelligence
BY: SARAH HOFFMAN | March 10, 2022
Can the design process be enhanced or improved by the power of AI? After a recent Artificial Intelligence Club event, Columbia University’s Lydia Chilton sat down with FCAT’s Sarah Hoffman to discuss the potential of AI as a creative tool. Chilton is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department and is an early pioneer in deconstructing complex problems so that crowds and computers can solve them together.
Article
03/09/2022
FCAT…IN PLAY
BY: JOHN DALTON | February 3, 2022
FCAT recently hosted a presentation by Gillian Tett, Chair of the Editorial board and Editor-at-Large, US, of the Financial Times. Her recent book, “Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life”, has just been published. Following her presentation, FCAT’s John Dalton caught up with Gillian to ask a few additional questions on how anthropology can be used effectively in navigating business and social trends.
Article
02/02/2022
Blockchain
BY: Kristin Kanders | February 1, 2022
I’d never heard of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – digital proof of ownership enabled by the blockchain – until 2021. Like many, I came to them through mass media, through the likes of Kevin Roose of the New York Times auctioning off his column as an NFT and the artist Beeple selling an NFT of his artwork for $69 million at Christie’s. What was this new phenomenon all about?
Article
01/25/2022
DESIGN
BY: KSENIYA GALPER & LUKE PAXTON | February 1, 2022
FCAT’s Luke Paxton and Kseniya Galper are responsible for the unique artwork accompanying this year’s Priorities Report, created using digital and physical techniques. The results of their collaboration will be included in a set of limited edition NFTs which will serve as prizes for the winners of a Play&Learn game based on the report. Visit the NFT Experiment to learn more!
Article
01/31/2022
The FCAT Files
BY: Nicole Dodes and Robert Hoffman | January 26, 2022
Crypto currency is drawing more attention than ever before. Amid this high interest, FCAT recently hosted its fourth annual Cryptoasset Portfolio Challenge in late 2021. The event provides an opportunity to create and manage a mock $1 million cryptoasset portfolio, educating associates on digital assets while also encouraging a healthy competition.
Article
01/26/2022
Blockchain
BY: Kevin Kelly | January 6, 2022
The following is excerpted from an interview with Whit Gibbs, the Founder & CEO of Compass Mining. Compass recently authored the North American Mining Index.
Article
12/21/2021
Design
BY: Una Mc Grath, Design Strategist, FCAT | December 14, 2021
Social distancing due to Covid19 has made us think more about social connection—where, how, and why we connect—in our lives and in our work. As organisations adopt hybrid working, building business resilience for future climate or health crises, how do we best design for social connection in this hybrid, phygital (physical/digital) world? And why does social connection matter so much?
Article
07/06/2021
Artificial Intelligence
BY: Sarah Hoffman | December 9, 2021
We've spent a lot of time discussing the unintended bias that can easily creep into AI algorithms. But the same technology, properly designed and trained, can also be used to confront biases. A new generation of automated tools seeks to proactively promote inclusion in:
Article
12/09/2021
Blockchain
BY: Parth Gargava | November 10, 2021
The following is excerpted from an interview with Jameson Lopp, a bitcoin engineer and the CTO of a crypto start-up, Casa. In this interview, Jameson discusses some of the trends seen in custodial and non-custodial wallets and talks about ways to manage coins without the aid of an intermediary. The interviewer is Parth Gargava, a senior software engineer in FCAT’s blockchain incubator.
Article
11/01/2021
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
BY: David Bracken | October 26, 2021
Blockchain-based video games promise to accelerate the adoption of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and greatly expand the digital asset ecosystem. By making in-game items NFTs that are embedded in the blockchain, players can take ownership of the digital assets they accumulate while gaming and then sell or trade them for real-world value. Such functionality could restructure the economics of the $175 billion gaming industry and turn legions of gamers into digital asset investors.
Article
10/26/2021
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
BY: Robert Hoffman | October 21, 2021
The Founderie is a grassroots program sponsored by FCAT that helps Fidelity associates think and work like start-up entrepreneurs – or, as these internal innovators are dubbed, “intrapreneurs” – as they create and develop new product and service ideas that may contribute to Fidelity’s future growth. We recently caught up with Anne-Marie Tattan, who leads the Founderie team, to get the inside story.
Article
10/06/2021
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
BY: Robert Hoffman | October 5, 2021
FCAT teams have been experimenting with Virtual Reality since 2014. Prompted by Zoom fatigue after 1.5 years of working remotely, several teams within Fidelity are exploring VR as a better way to work together. Some use the VR loaner program provided by FCAT, while others buy their own headsets and develop customized applications.
Article
09/01/2021
ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE
BY: ADAM SCHOUELA | September 17, 2021
National business publication Business Insider recently detailed 15 innovative tech projects at some of the nation’s leading financial services firms. FCAT Emerging Tech leader Adam Schouela and his team were cited for their exploratory collaboration with Amazon Web Services’ Braket building proofs of concepts around market index behavior. The article also featured links to FCAT videos of how quantum works, and how it might be used in retirement planning and wealth management. See more at Business Insider.
Article
09/15/2021
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
BY: ADAM SCHOUELA AND ELTON ZHU | September 15, 2021
This PoC showcases how quantum computing can be used to generate high-quality synthetic data, and thus help in backtesting financial models.
Article
09/01/2021
ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE
BY: Sarah Hoffman | September 2, 2021
As companies try to figure out how and when to bring employees back to the office, one often purported benefit of doing so is that the proximity to colleagues – and the chance for spontaneous meetings and conversations – spurs innovation.
Article
09/01/2021
ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE
BY: COLLEEN McCRETTON | August 18, 2021
Over the last several years one of the FCAT AI teams - code named “RoboReader” - has been working on processing documents and taking needed information from unstructured text and transforming it into structured data that can be used by the business. In the course of the work, we have noticed parallels in the way we are “teaching” the system and how we read as humans.
Article
08/18/2021
Blockchain
By: DAVID HILL | August 11, 2021
A new version of DAT, the Digital Asset Tracker, has been released, giving users the ability to connect to more exchanges than ever.
In the digital assets landscape, a few elements remain constant: new coins, new ERC20 tokens, and new smart contracts are all launched regularly, along with the attendant complexity required to manage the details. There is no perfect solution for the management problem yet and, depending on when you entered the crypto space, the process for monitoring and aggregating your crypto holdings can vary greatly.
In the digital assets landscape, a few elements remain constant: new coins, new ERC20 tokens, and new smart contracts are all launched regularly, along with the attendant complexity required to manage the details. There is no perfect solution for the management problem yet and, depending on when you entered the crypto space, the process for monitoring and aggregating your crypto holdings can vary greatly.
Article
08/09/2021
Design
By: Una McGrath | July 29, 2021
The Future of Work was brought into sharp focus during the Covid-19 pandemic, as workers worldwide found themselves suddenly in the greatest work-from-home experiment in modern times.
This crisis has shifted values, behaviours, and attitudes across all areas of work and life, in particular about where, when, and how we work.
This crisis has shifted values, behaviours, and attitudes across all areas of work and life, in particular about where, when, and how we work.
Article
07/06/2021
Design
By: ADAM SCHOUELA | July 26, 2021
Today’s financial professionals spend considerable time using computer models to predict potential investment outcomes over time. But we are nearing the day when a new type of computer – a quantum computer - will be applied to these optimization problems, tasked with identifying the best solutions out of the universe of possible solutions for minimizing risks, cost, time, resources and more. In a recent issue of Financial Planning, FCAT’s Adam Schouela, Head of Emerging Technology, discusses the varied applications for quantum computing and machine learning in the financial space and the potential for deeper analysis of complex scenarios than are possible right now. Read more at Financial Planning.
Article
07/06/2021
BLOCKCHAIN RESEARCH
By: SIMON BROWN | July 7, 2021
Scalability has always been an issue for public ledgers, this is old news. It’s a problem that engineers have been trying to solve for a number of years now. The issue has become more of a pressing need in the last 12 months with an increase of activity on public ledgers, and this has been reflected in transaction fees, sometimes seeing over $40 USD for common contract interactions on Ethereum.
The two main approaches to solving this issue have been a) scaling at the base layer, using techniques like sharding and novel consensus protocols, and b) layer 2 scaling techniques. Both approaches have been successful in different ways. Read more.
The two main approaches to solving this issue have been a) scaling at the base layer, using techniques like sharding and novel consensus protocols, and b) layer 2 scaling techniques. Both approaches have been successful in different ways. Read more.
Article
07/06/2021
FCAT Research
By: SARAH HOFFMAN | JUNE 23, 2021
We’ve all received email messages with misspellings, designed to outsmart AI-driven spam filters. Perhaps you’ve also heard about how a two-inch piece of tape tricked Tesla cars into speeding up 50 miles per hour.1 What these and hundreds of other anecdotes demonstrate is that it’s relatively easy to manipulate AI systems. Indeed, efforts to "fool" AI have already impacted our industry, where we find numerous examples of people trying to manipulate:
Article
06/23/2021
FCAT RESEARCH
By: DEANNA LAUFER | May 17, 2021
Automation is moving up the value chain, taking on more “human” tasks like financial planning, factory floor management, and home health care. In response, companies need to reevaluate how to build trust in automated systems, considering both their reliability and the human-machine relationship.
Article
05/16/2021
BLOCKCHAIN
By: Sam Abbassi | May 5, 2021
The following is excerpted from an interview with Nik Bhatia, Adjunct Professor of Finance and Business Economics at USC Marshall. Nik recently authored Layered Money: From Gold and Dollars to Central Bank Digital Currencies. In this interview, Nik discusses trends that affect Bitcoin’s role globally, the role of incumbents as it relates to Bitcoin, and the impact of the Lightning Network.
Article
05/03/2021
BLOCKCHAIN INCUBATOR
By: ADAM SCHOUELA AND KEVIN VORA | April 30, 2021
Digital assets continue to display tremendous growth, as investment banks, private equity groups, financial advisors and commercial banks grow more comfortable considering crypto as a potential investment opportunity and eventually a more widely accepted medium of exchange.
Article
04/29/2021
BLOCKCHAIN RESEARCH
By: SIMON BROWN | April 13, 2021
I’m attempting to learn the Rust programming language, and for me, the only way to learn something is by trying to solve a problem. I’ve decided to try to implement my own digital signature library for educational purposes, and hopefully share a little knowledge along the way. Read more here.
Article
04/13/2021
FCAT Research
By: SOPHIA MOWLANDEJAD | April 6, 2021
Part One of a series about Inclusive Financial Services
Financial exclusion is a reality for millions of Americans who don't have access to useful and affordable financial products and services delivered in a responsible and sustainable way. The FDIC noted that the surge in joblessness caused by COVID exacerbated financial exclusion – there’s a direct correlation, for example, between being unemployed and being unbanked. But financial exclusion is about more than just being unbanked.
Financial exclusion is a reality for millions of Americans who don't have access to useful and affordable financial products and services delivered in a responsible and sustainable way. The FDIC noted that the surge in joblessness caused by COVID exacerbated financial exclusion – there’s a direct correlation, for example, between being unemployed and being unbanked. But financial exclusion is about more than just being unbanked.
Article
04/05/2021
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
By: EMERGING TECH TEAM | MARCH 31, 2021
Ever wanted to look under the hood of a quantum computer? Or see how quantum computing might dramatically improve investment simulations? The Emerging Tech team has just published two new explorations of quantum computing, with insights into how it works and how it may impact financial services.
Article
03/31/2021
Emerging Tech Project
BY: Jamie Barras | March 31, 2021
“What’s a Qubit?” is a virtual reality experience designed to teach fundamental building blocks of quantum computing through a virtual reality immersive experience.
The experience allows you to fly through a quantum computer at the size of a single molecule and witness the truly strange world of quantum mechanics up close.
The experience allows you to fly through a quantum computer at the size of a single molecule and witness the truly strange world of quantum mechanics up close.
Article
03/30/2021
EMERGING TECH PERSPECTIVE
BY: ADAM SCHOUELA | March 31, 2021
There has been a lot of news about how quantum computers will change computing as we know it. That said, a general-purpose quantum computer that will have the capability of replacing the classical computers we use every day may perpetually be out of reach. At Fidelity, we do not need to wait for a general-purpose quantum computer. There are a few specific types of problems that quantum computers will likely be able to tackle in the near term and optimization problems just so happen to be one of those types of problems. FCAT is positioning Fidelity to be able to leverage this new technology the moment it becomes viable by exploring the optimization algorithms and implementations that have the most potential to deliver value to Fidelity and our customers.
Article
03/30/2021
FCAT Research
By: MEGAN KELLEY | MARCH 24, 2021
Over the past twelve months, we have collectively experienced a massive disruption triggered by a tiny pathogen. And in the face of virus-prompted changes, we’ve each had to adapt—as parents of new online-learners to leaders of teams, businesses, and nations. As the pandemic plays out, we see three areas where meaningful adaptations have taken hold.
Article
03/23/2021
FCAT Research
By: SARAH HOFFMAN | MARCH 17, 2021
Now that so many of us are doing almost everything online at home -- shopping, work, doctor appointments, school, financial check-ins, parent-teacher conferences --- you may have noticed some not so subtle behavior changes among those around you. Maybe a colleague has suddenly started blocking her video feed during Zoom calls. Perhaps a customer has started speaking slower, making a lot of spelling errors, or is typing at a different pace. Maybe you’ve noticed a change in the tones of a colleague’s MS Teams or Yammer posts or changes in a customer’s chatbot message style. All of this could be indicative of something important, and AI is an ideal tool to pick up on these changes.
Article
03/16/2021
BLOCKCHAIN PROJECT
BY:SAM ABBASSI | FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Lightning is not a silver bullet, but it will significantly aid in the utility of Bitcoin and the expansion of its monetary regime.
Money invention is something that necessitates first principles. Much like our founding fathers -who found it more suitable to create a new system of government from scratch rather than monkey-patch the existing agreement called the Articles of Confederation - Bitcoiners find it more suitable to create money from scratch rather than mangle our minds and hands through the legacy infrastructure that stilts today’s existing financial system. Or even worst yet, somehow reengineer the dollar back to a hard money standard.
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Money invention is something that necessitates first principles. Much like our founding fathers -who found it more suitable to create a new system of government from scratch rather than monkey-patch the existing agreement called the Articles of Confederation - Bitcoiners find it more suitable to create money from scratch rather than mangle our minds and hands through the legacy infrastructure that stilts today’s existing financial system. Or even worst yet, somehow reengineer the dollar back to a hard money standard.
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Article
02/23/2021
Blockchain
BY: BRIAN WRIGHT | February 11, 2021
The following is excerpted from an interview with Apolline Blandin, Research Affiliate of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF). The findings from Apolline’s research on the Bitcoin mining industry were published in the 3rd Global Cryptoasset Benchmarking Study in 2020. In this interview Apolline discusses some of the most important trends in Bitcoin mining including cost structure and hashrate dispersion across geographies, use of renewable energy sources, and treasury management strategies. The interviewer is FCAT’s Brian Wright, senior manager of Bitcoin mining.
Article
02/10/2021
FCAT BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
BY: LAURA BOWDEN & BEN KERTMAN | February 9, 2021
It goes without saying that 2020 has been an unusual and disruptive year. The global COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty, and imbalanced sector performance have wreaked havoc on investor activity. Despite the concept of “buy low and sell high,” the industry continued to see record outflows even as the market approached its lowest levels in over a decade. As the market began a rebound, we saw increased investment activity and speculation. Some investors panicked and abandoned their financial plans.
Article
02/09/2021
FCAT RESEARCH
BY: JOHN DALTON | February 4, 2021
FCAT Research is a bet on the value of outside-in thinking, a rigorous analysis of external trends that we believe will have a dramatic impact on our business, our industry, and on the lives of our customers and associates. Our goal is to help Fidelity associates reimagine the future of our business. So where do we look for the most promising trends?
Article
02/04/2021
ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE
BY: COLLEEN MCCRETTON | January 28, 2021
Bias in data used by AI algorithms is drawing increasing attention. The internet is full of examples of AI systems bias: recruiting algorithms trained on data that favored male candidates, facial recognition software unable to appropriately identify people of color, medical systems trained with data that is not sufficiently diverse, and many other examples. However, there is another aspect to bias that impacts AI systems and bears some scrutiny as well - the cognitive biases that users bring to the table.
Article
01/28/2021
FCAT RESEARCH
BY: SOPHIA MOWLANEJAD | January 14, 2021
FCAT hosts an ongoing Speaker Series as part of its mission to “bring the outside in” and share diverse perspectives with Fidelity associates to provoke conversation and action. A few weeks ago, as part of that series, the FCAT Research team hosted a presentation by Lynda Gratton and Andrew J Scott, authors of “The New Long Life.” Their book suggests that we live in an age where technology has not been matched by the necessary innovation to social structures. After the presentation, FCAT socio-cultural researcher Sophia Mowlanejad caught up with Andrew, a Professor of Economics at London Business School and consulting scholar at Stanford University's Center on Longevity, on steps we can take to improve our financial planning.
Article
01/14/2021
FCAT RESEARCH
BY: SARAH HOFFMAN | January 12, 2021
Before the novel coronavirus swept through the world, things were looking bright for women in the US workplace. For the first time in almost a decade, women made up the majority of the workforce; 42% of businesses were women-owned; women with patents went from 4% in 1976 to almost 22% in 2019; at each level in the pipeline, the number of women was increasing.1 And then the pandemic hit.
Article
01/13/2021
BLOCKCHAIN INCUBATOR
BY: RACHEL J RYBARCZYK | December 9, 2020
The composition of the block header is an intricate and highly consequential process. If Bitcoin is a living, breathing organism, then the block header is the heart of the entire machine. The “block” in the Bitcoin blockchain is what moves and settles millions of dollars of value every 10 minutes and in the block. The block header is what notarizes the funds in a block, votes on consensus decisions and ultimately directs and defines the movement and legitimacy of Bitcoin transactions.
Article
12/09/2020
FCAT RESEARCH
BY: Alessandro Vigilante & Caroline Federal | December 3, 2020
Until recently, the cognitive load of almost all financial decisions has remained with individual users. But now, the ability to source and collect reams of data, combined with rapid progress in artificial intelligence, lays the groundwork for autonomous finance – freeing individuals from routine decisions, so they can focus on living the life they want.
Article
12/03/2020
FCAT RESEARCH
BY: ALESSANDRO VIGILANTE | November 20, 2020
As the as-a-Service business model keeps expanding from infrastructure to applications, financial services capabilities and products are being re-built to benefit from, and participate in, the platform economy.
Article
11/19/2020
FCAT RESEARCH
BY: FCAT RESEARCH | November 13, 2020
FCAT hosts an ongoing Speaker Series as part of its mission to “bring the outside in” and share diverse perspectives with Fidelity associates that provoke conversation. A few weeks ago, as part of that series, the FCAT Research team hosted a presentation by Dr. Nicolas Christakis, author of Apollo’s Arrow – The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on The Way We Live. Dr. Christakis is a physician and sociologist who explores the ancient origins and modern implications of human nature.
Article
11/12/2020
FCAT Research
BY: DEANNA LAUFER | November 10, 2020
Just as COVID-19 has inspired a wave of invention across industries, a new breed of green fintechs are tackling climate change via financial innovation in payment, lending, trading, investment, and insurance.
Article
11/10/2020
BLOCKCHAIN INCUBATOR
BY: SIMON BROWN | November 5, 2020
The following is excerpted from an interview with Carmit Hazay and Muthu Venkitasubramaniam. The two are experts in the fields of lightweight scalable protocols for secure multiparty computation (MPC) and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP), as well as co-founders of Ligero. The moderator is FCAT’s Simon Brown, principal blockchain software engineer in the blockchain incubator.
Article
11/04/2020
FCAT Research
BY: Sarah Hoffman | October 30, 2020
Technologies have been getting smaller, and smarter, for a long time. But recent developments in miniaturization have changed the game. In medicine, nanotherapies – where nanoparticles (larger than an atom or a molecule, but smaller than a bulk solid) deliver a drug to a given location in the body – are within reach. Researchers at Stanford School of Medicine found that drug-coated nanoparticles reduce the buildup of plaque in mouse arteries without causing negative side effects.1 Drones also are shrinking, some as small as a quarter. And advances in materials design mean that sensors and networking capabilities can be baked right into walls and desks for stronger, more energy efficient buildings. Even space exploration is getting small; CubeSat’s mini satellite is a mere 10 x 10 x 10 cm.
Article
10/30/2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
BY: SETH BROOKS | October 22, 2020
Humans have enjoyed an intimate and physical relationship with technology and how they have interacted with tools throughout time. Throughout history the tools created by people have the same two basic characteristics: tools require that a user manipulate them through some physical input, and the tool or some connected object will respond accordingly and provide user feedback via an externally observable output. For example, at the dawn of time a person might hit a sharp stone tool against a branch (the input) and then see the tool’s effect from the cuts created in the bark (the externally observable output).
Article
10/21/2020
FCAT Research
BY: SARAH HOFFMAN | October 16, 2020
FCAT’s Sarah Hoffman, VP AI and Machine Learning Research, sits down for a far-ranging interview with Haptik’s Burka Gurgenidze-Seinau, discussing the AI field, how AI influences our daily lives, and how it may reshape the future.
Article
10/16/2020
Blockchain Incubator
BY: PARTH GARGAVA | OCTOBER 14, 2020
As the world inches closer towards realizing the true importance of privacy, we are witnessing a paradigm shift in ways data is collected. In our pursuit of reimagining financial systems with cryptocurrencies and blockchain, an open forum for discussion of upcoming ideas and trends around Privacy and Crypto was hosted by Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (FCAT).
Article
10/14/2020
FCAT Research
October 7, 2020
Mike Durbin, Head of Fidelity Institutional, discusses new Fidelity research on the implications of COVID-19 with Judy Marlinski, Head of FI Product and Advisory Solutions, and Megan Kelley, Head of Research at FCAT.
Article
10/07/2020
FCAT Research
BY: ALE VIGILANTE & CAROLINE FEDERAL | October 1, 2020
In just five years the fintech landscape has shifted from a focus on solving vertical narrow problems, to being driven by broader horizontal trends. We have identified seven of what we believe are the most important trends shaping the future of fintech.
Article
10/01/2020
BLOCKCHAIN INCUBATOR
BY: SAM ABBASSI | September 29, 2020
In this article, we describe Bitcoin transactions, restricted transactions called Covenants, and our own research into secure Bitcoin custody using a type of Covenant called Vaults.
Article
09/29/2020
FCAT Design
BY: WILL REED | September 21, 2020
I was struggling to facilitate my first Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) session when it hit me — this was "another growth opportunity." Specifically, it was an opportunity to rethink what it means to be a leader in our hyper-connected, ambiguous, and shape-shifting environment. And it started with 3 simple questions.
Article
09/25/2020
FCAT Research
BY: SOPHIA MOWLANEJAD | September 10, 2020
Sadly, it’s too easy to tally up the losses from COVID-19 – as of the end of August, more than 700,000 lives, millions of jobs, more than 100,000 small businesses in the U.S., and seven to ten months of learning for students. COVID-19 has also disrupted innovation because of how isolated knowledge workers, immigration restrictions, and broken global value chains have impeded knowledge sharing. But crises also present opportunities, and this one is no exception. In fact, COVID-19 has unleashed innovation beyond traditional hotbeds like Silicon Valley, big pharma, and research labs, in unexpected areas like:
Article
09/01/2020
Blockchain Incubator
BY: THE BLOCKCHAIN INCUBATOR TEAM | September 8, 2020
FCAT launched its blockchain incubator in 2015. Since then it has been our mission to fully understand Bitcoin and blockchain technologies and their impact on money and the modern financial system.
Article
08/26/2020
EMERGING TECH
BY: JAMIE BARRAS | SEPTEMBER 1, 2020
Facing a global pandemic and a continuing need to bring on new team members, Fidelity recently turned to FCAT for help in creating an immersive, interactive onboarding experience for employees. The test program was initiated to explore an alternative to face-to-face orientation.
Article
06/08/2020
FCAT Research
By: Sarah Hoffman | Aug 27, 2020
Bias in AI is a known problem. Cases involving medical care, parole, recruiting, and loans have all been tainted by flawed data sampling or training data that includes biased human decisions.1 The good news: large organizations are waking up. Even the Vatican has chimed in with a charter on AI ethics.2 Even better news: there are practical methods for combatting AI bias.
Article
05/08/2020
EMERGING TECH
BY: ADAM SCHOUELA | AUGUST 13, 2020
Today, FCAT is sharing its recent experimentation with quantum computing using Amazon Braket.
Article
03/01/2020
Research
By: Sarah Hoffman | Aug 4, 2020
Three simultaneous crises – a deadly pandemic, record-setting unemployment, and a global protest movement – have led to huge challenges at the workplace. Several trends have now come to the forefront: flexibility, emerging technology experimentation, and corporate social responsibility.
Article
08/04/2020
FCAT Research
BY: SOPHIA MOWLANEJAD | August 1, 2020
Gen Z currently accounts for 40% of all U.S. consumers, and by 2030 they are expected to make up 30% of the labor force.
Article
01/01/0001
Blockchain & Digital Assets
July 9, 2020
For philanthropic institutions, the emergence of Bitcoin has presented a unique set of issues. Donors enjoy the efficiency and tax savings of being able to donate non-cash assets directly to organizations such as Fidelity Charitable®, a public charity.
Article
01/03/2020
