The Big Question: Is Investing in Crypto Worth the Risk?

The Big Question: Is Investing in Crypto Worth the Risk?

This is one of a series of interviews by Bloomberg Opinion columnists on how to solve the world's most pressing policy challenges. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Anjani Trivedi: You've been a long-time investor in traditional banks and have followed the journey of global financial services firms and the financial system. As the chief executive officer for Asia for the hedge fund Marshall Wace, you're now focused on cryptocurrencies, blockchain and fintech. When did the switch happen and what's driven it?

Amit Rajpal, chief executive officer, Marshall Wace Asia Ltd.: About a year back, I came to the conclusion that we're moving from a process that's been about redesigning financial services by leveraging technology to one that's about actually redefining financial services, by changing the architecture that underlies our financial system.

There have been a lot of great fintech entities, but they've operated more or less at the fringes of the conventional system. I now see a move where fintechs will become the mainstream. Unless the mainstream adapts, it will be forced to shrink and operate only in boundaries where the current technology architecture allows for traditional firms to be competitive. From a public investment standpoint, we've continued to allocate