Episode 70

A Conversation About Rebuilding Trust in Digital Assets | Natalya Thakur and Kevin Hoang

In this episode, I speak with Natalya Thakur, Founder of Knox, and Kevin Hoang Founder of EQ Exchange (EQX), two innovative founders who are tackling the fundamental issue of trust in the digital assets space

🔑 Key Highlights:

  • How EQX aims to become the first company in the world to disclose financial statements in real-time
  • The critical difference between "compiled" vs "generated" financial statements for transparency
  • How technology can play a central role in creating new trust frameworks for financial services

👉 Follow Natalya and Kevin

Natalya: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nthakur9/

Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinh5/

https://www.eq.exchange/

Press release of their partnership: https://www.eq.exchange/blog/building-a-new-era-of-trust-in-digital-assets-with-knox-network

👉Follow Monica:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares


We cover:

[00:00:00] Introduction and defining trust in financial services

[00:04:00] Exploring the components of trust: what is transacted and who is transacting

[00:06:00] Knox's purpose: creating a multi-asset ledger as a unified source of truth

[00:08:50] Natalya's background in traditional finance and digital assets

[00:12:30] EQX's purpose: rewriting the script on crypto exchanges

[00:15:00] How Knox's and EQX collaborate to solve trust problems

[00:18:30] Kevin's background and entrepreneurial journey

[00:21:30] EQX's innovative approach to real-time financial statements

[00:24:00] Product thinking behind building a trust-based moat

[00:28:45] Translating radical transparency into user-facing features

[00:32:00] How companies can help customers trust the crypto space

[00:36:00] Challenges of applying design thinking with institutional users

[00:39:00] Obstacles financial institutions face with crypto adoption

[00:42:00] Why crypto remains too complex for mainstream adoption


SEARCH QUESTIONS

What is the definition of trust in financial services?

How did FTX collapse affect crypto exchange trust?

What does transparent financial reporting in crypto look like?

How to build trust in cryptocurrency exchanges?

Why do we trust traditional banks over crypto platforms?

What are real-time financial statements for crypto exchanges?

How can crypto exchanges improve user experience?

What is a multi-asset ledger in cryptocurrency?

How to manage both traditional and digital assets together?

What challenges do financial institutions face with crypto adoption?

Why is crypto still too complex for mainstream users?

How can design thinking improve crypto user experience?

What's the difference between compiled and generated financial statements?

How can technology build trust in financial services?

What is radical transparency in financial services?

How do you establish trust as a new financial services company?

What are best practices for crypto custody and security?

How to simplify cryptocurrency for everyday users?

What is the purpose of Knox's in the crypto ecosystem?

What trust problems is EQX trying to solve?


Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

All Episodes Previous Episode

About the Podcast

Show artwork for Purpose Driven FinTech
Purpose Driven FinTech
Building & Growing FinTech Products With Customer & Commercial Impact

Listen for free

About your host

Profile picture for Monica Millares

Monica Millares

Monica advocates for financial safety for all. She is the Product Principal at BigPay, where she leads Product and Design. As part of the founding team, Monica led building BigPay’s product from zero to one, to multi product line, and international expansion. Her leadership shaped the culture and ways of working to grow from startup to scaleup. BigPay has over 1.4 million customers, and has presence in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Monica has almost 20 years’ experience in Financial Services. Prior to BigPay, she was one of the first joiners in UK’s challenger Tandem Bank, where she focused on building credit cards from scratch. Previously she worked in leading Financial Services brands like Visa, Barclays, and a Mexican Development Bank.

She sits on the Board of PayEd, and is recognised as Singapore’s #Fintech65 Product Leaders and Women in FinTech. She’s been multiple times speaker at the prestigious conference Money2020 and shared stage with JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, Konsentus, and Money2020’s Rise Up. Her commitment to innovation and financial inclusion resonates in her podcast “Purpose Driven FinTech” where she explores how FinTech’s can have 10x more impact.

Monica has a background in Engineering and a Master’s Degree on Analysis, Design, and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics.