Nov 5, 2026 · 26 min
Crypto challenges finance to redesign its plumbing
Beyond Bitcoin: how crypto is changing finance with Adam Judd | FinFest 2026
The conversation examines whether digital assets can reduce longstanding financial frictions without outrunning regulation and investor understanding.
- 1Crypto’s strongest case is redesigning inefficient financial infrastructure rather than simply creating another asset class.
- 2Financial innovation has repeatedly reshaped markets, but digital assets introduce new regulatory and investor-awareness challenges.
- 3ETFs and tokenization could help connect crypto with traditional finance while changing how assets are issued and accessed.
Don't miss
Adam Judd reframes the crypto conversation around redesigning the financial system with today’s technology, rather than merely expanding the asset menu.
The brief
FinFest 2026 opens with a question broader than Bitcoin: can crypto and traditional finance converge to create a more efficient, accessible financial system?
Adam Judd, COO of Coinbase Australia, frames the discussion around financial frictions and asks what the system might look like if designed with today’s technology.
The conversation places crypto in the longer history of financial innovation, separating its potential to improve infrastructure from the excitement surrounding a new asset class.
ETFs and tokenization emerge as important bridges between digital assets and established markets, while regulation and investor awareness remain essential constraints.
The episode’s central takeaway is deliberately conditional: crypto may help redesign finance, but efficiency alone does not make a financial system trustworthy or accessible.
What was said on this episode
21 statements · 12 positive · 3 negative · 3 mixed · 3 neutral
Bitcoin is digitally scarce and recorded on a shared ledger without one ownership authority.
“Bitcoin is a digitally scarce asset. where transactions are recorded on a shared ledger, so there is no one single source of ownership.”
Listen at 5:14
- Adam Juddon Digital assetsPositive5:56
Digital assets are changing financial-product design, access, distribution, and use.
“Digital assets are actively changing how products are designed, accessed, distributed and used.”
Listen at 5:56
- Adam Juddon Cross-border paymentsPositive7:07
Technology can solve frictions in cross-border payments.
“which technology can solve and has solved.”
Listen at 7:07
- Adam Juddon Coinbase stablecoin exchangePositive7:46
Coinbase can exchange Australian dollars for US-dollar stablecoins for five basis points.
“for five basis points”
Listen at 7:46
- Adam Juddon US dollar stablecoinsPositive7:50
Stablecoins can enable nearly instant, free transfers between Coinbase wallets and dollars.
“i could almost instantly transfer from my wallet to my family member's coinbase wallet and they could transfer from a us dollar stable coin into us dollars for free almost instantly”
Listen at 7:50
- Adam Juddon Tokenized equitiesPositive9:14
Tokenized equities can make trade and settlement nearly instantaneous.
“By tokenizing equities, you bring the opportunity for payment and asset to live on the same ecosystem. the point of trade and the point of settlement become almost instantaneous.”
Listen at 9:14
- Adam Juddon Equity tokenizationPositive9:24
Equity tokenization can make trade and settlement almost instantaneous.
“the point of trade and the point of settlement become almost instantaneous.”
Listen at 9:24
- Adam Juddon Digital assets in financial servicesPositive9:52
Digital assets can make financial services cheaper, faster, and simpler.
“improving it, making it cheaper, faster, simpler.”
Listen at 9:52
Bitcoin exposure is available directly through platforms or indirectly through traditional ETFs.
“They've got the opportunity to sign on to a digital asset platform and buy it directly. Or they can go buy an ETF through their traditional share trading account. Same price exposure, same asset, different mechanism to access.”
Listen at 11:33
- Adam Juddon Payment-service-provider stablecoin integrationPositive14:08
Major payment providers are integrating stablecoin services.
“major payment service providers are already announcing integration into stablecoin services”
Listen at 14:08
- Adam Juddon Traditional finance and digital assetsPositive14:44
Traditional finance and digital assets are converging.
“there is a convergence of traditional finance and digital assets.”
Listen at 14:44
Staking Ethereum can provide rewards in Ethereum.
“And if you stake your asset, you will get some reward. You'll get some Ethereum for doing that function.”
Listen at 19:18
- Adam Juddon Crypto lendingMixed19:55
Crypto lending can generate returns but carries lending risk.
“They're paying you a return or you're receiving a reward for that lending. It comes with risk.”
Listen at 19:55
- Adam Juddon Digital-asset lendingNegative20:01
Digital-asset lending carries risk.
“It comes with risk.”
Listen at 20:01
Stablecoins offer speed and transparency but involve issuer and custody risks.
“The trade-off for using a stablecoin is speed, transparency, but who is issuing that stablecoin? What is the issuance risk of that? Who's holding it?”
Listen at 20:44
- Adam Juddon Australian bank customer feesNegative21:31
Australian banks collect slightly more than $3 billion in customer fees.
“I think at last count, it was a bit over $3 billion in fees that Australian banks make off their customers.”
Listen at 21:31
- Adam Juddon Leveraged productsNegative22:31
Leveraged products are risky assets.
“leveraged is a risky asset”
Listen at 22:31
- Adam Juddon Leveraged productsMixed22:31
Leveraged products are risky and can serve hedging or speculative purposes.
“leveraged is a risky asset and it can be used to hedge it can be used to speculate”
Listen at 22:31
- Adam Juddon Tokenized assetsNeutral23:43
Legal ownership of tokenized assets depends on their issuance structure.
“The actual... legal ownership, the structure that sits behind that token asset will change for everyone.”
Listen at 23:43
- Adam Juddon TokenizationPositive23:59
Tokenization reduces investment friction and broadens the accessible asset pool.
“But what tokenization does is it removes a whole bunch of frictions in the process. It creates an opportunity to invest in a much broader, wider asset pool.”
Listen at 23:59
- Adam Juddon Asset tokenizationPositive24:00
Tokenization removes many frictions from investment processes.
“What tokenization does is it removes a whole bunch of frictions in the process.”
Listen at 24:00
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
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