Paxos cofounder explains why Wall Street's plumbing hasn't been ready for the coronavirus crisis

Episode 12 of Season 2 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with Frank Chaparro, Ryan Todd and Charles Cascarilla, CEO of Paxos. 

Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on AppleSpotifyGoogle PlayStitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to [email protected]

A financial crisis triggered by a global pandemic has exposed underlying problems on Wall Street and the market as a whole.

That's according to Paxos chief executive officer Charles Cascarilla, who made an appearance on the latest episode of The Scoop podcast with host Frank Chaparro. 

Cascarilla – who spent the most formative years of his career as a hedge fund investor at Cedar Hill Capital during the 2008-2009 financial crisis – talked about unexpected liquidity issues across assets, such as Treasury securities and CAT bonds, and the problematic plumbing at the heart of it all.

Cascarilla said that uncertainty of the pipes and plumbing added to the risk associated with volatility and the inability to price assets during an economic and health crisis. He said less risk can be created by knowing where one's assets are on a blockchain.

RELATED INDICES

In this episode of The Scoop, Cascarilla walked us through how Paxos is trying to usurp the current plumbing of Wall Street alongside power hitters like Credit Suisse and Instinet with a new blockchain-based settlement platform. The episode also dug into conditions that could result in widespread bank failures and nationalization of the industry.

And of course, the discussion touched on bitcoin's role in a global crisis and whether the premier cryptocurrency emerges from this crisis period as digital gold. 


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].