FW: Could you provide an overview of how digital technologies have reshaped the economy in recent years?
Ragha: Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), the blockchain and other digital technologies are having an increasingly profound effect on the financial markets, particularly for payments, lending and wealth management. In the payments sector, consumers are shifting away from cash payments toward electronic wallets, QR codes, peer-to-peer payments and buy now, pay later (BNPL) products. This trend is projected to increase, with the value of the global e-commerce market forecast to hit over $8 trillion in transaction value by 2025, according to FIS. Institutional investors have increased their adoption of cryptocurrencies, decentralised finance and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), meaning these technologies are more interconnected with traditional financial markets and can impact the wider economy. Nowhere is this more evident than the crypto space, where the volatility of a leading stablecoin, TerraUSA, created ripples across a range of crypto businesses. Regulators across the globe are grappling with how to manage the risks associated with these new innovations and any effect on traditional markets.
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