151: Katrina Donaghy | Civic Ledger

Fintech Chatter Podcast

Katrina Donaghy, co-founder of Civic Ledger, joins Dexter Cousins for ep151 of Fintech Chatter. Katrina shares the journey of her company and the role of blockchain technology in solving efficiency problems in government.
Katrina emphasises the importance of focusing on the "why" rather than the "what" of blockchain and highlights the potential of tokenisation as the killer app for this technology. Katrina also shares her insights on the challenges and opportunities in the fintech industry and the need for a contextual relationship between technology and society.
Overview

In this episode the conversation centers around the need for trust and governance in water distribution. Civic Ledger help citizens, industries and governments bring transparency, accountability and auditability to transactions and data in real time enabled by blockchain technology.
The conversation also touches on the challenges and opportunities of bringing blockchain to the attention of the government, the importance of having a coordinated voice, and the need to focus on solutions rather than problems.

Key Takeaways:

• Blockchain technology can improve transparency and accountability in government by providing a trustless method of transaction verification.
• Tokenization is the killer app for blockchain technology, as it allows for the digital representation of valuable assets.
• The adoption of blockchain technology requires a contextual relationship with governance and principles such as access, equity, and democracy.
• Australia can learn from countries like Vietnam, India, and China, which are embracing blockchain technology and investing in its development.

Quotes:
"We have to reinvent ourselves all the time, stay on our mission, but really keep on questioning what's our purpose." - Katrina Donaghy
"We knew way back then that highly regulated asset classes would be really useful with this tokenisation technology." - Katrina Donaghy
"We haven't asked for permission to do this. It's 15 years since Satoshi's White paper. And in 15 years, we've built this entire global economy." - Katrina Donaghy
About Katrina

Through Katrina's early years as a sociologist through to her interest in entrepreneurialism, she has extensive experience in public policy and early stage commercialisation. For more than 20 years, Katrina has worked in both public and not for profit sectors with a specific focus on business development, project delivery and revenue diversification with the view to building resilient and sustainable organisations.
In Australia, she organises Women in Blockchain events and regularly speaks on the topic of why cities and governments should be exploring blockchain technologies. Katrina's interest in blockchain technologies is driven by her curiousity of its potential for governments to create and facilitate new citizen-at-the-centre markets, organisations and economies of the future.
Connect with Katrina - https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-donaghy/
https://www.civicledger.com/

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Chapters

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. About Civic Ledger and its mission to improve transparency and accountability in government (00:01:46)

3. The evolution and challenges of blockchain technology (00:05:22)

4. How to keep going through cycles and challenges (00:09:08)

5. Importance of having a coordinated voice in the fintech industry (00:14:19)

6. The need to focus on solving big problems and creating value (00:18:54)

7. Countries to look to for inspiration in blockchain adoption (00:25:00)

8. Tips for navigating funding cycles and building a valuable company (00:30:38)

9. The importance of focusing on customers and building a strong team (00:35:10)

10. Expectations for Civic Ledger in the next twelve months (00:36:41)