Public archive
Browse public talks, interviews, papers, posts and projects, with links to the original work.
71 entries
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In Conversation: Vitalik Buterin & Siddharth Shetty
At ETHIndia during Devcon 8, I discussed what digital public infrastructure teaches us about coordination. I described how agents could act across open networks and invoke tools such as escrow, and how portable credentials help a counterparty establish what it can trust.
AI agents · Open networks · Digital public infrastructure · Trust and identity · Programmable finance
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C:\>DIR Global Agentic Regulator Hackathon
Regulators and builders tested agentic tools for oversight, verification and consumer protection using synthetic data and sandboxes. C:\>DIR published the winners and finalist demos after the September programme.
AI agents · Governance · Trust and identity
Prototype showcase -
The Future of Giving
A collective proposal for more connected giving. It examines how independent systems could help people discover support, establish eligibility and receive value through shared standards, verification and agent assistance.
AI agents · Open networks · Programmable finance · Digital public infrastructure
Research proposal -
Tokenization and AI agents that transact across organizations
Ahead of the committee’s annual meeting, Siddharth connects tokenization to control over assets and asks what infrastructure, use cases and regulation are needed for agents to transact across organizational boundaries.
AI agents · Governance · Tokenisation · Financial agency
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Trust and purpose-bound value in the Agentic Regulator Hackathon
In a statement for the C:\>DIR hackathon launch, Siddharth argues for transaction rules that can be encoded, verified and enforced. He gives purpose-bound value as an example and describes the Vouch sandbox for prototyping identity-linked access, issuance rules and redemption controls.
AI agents · Governance · Vouch · Trust and identity · Public institutions
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Could shared rails make advanced financial infrastructure easier to build?
Siddharth argues that countries could reuse open financial infrastructure and focus on serving users without first building every component of a capital market or payment system.
Finternet · Open networks · Tokenisation
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Building systems for humanity scale
Sujith Nair and I discuss building shared digital infrastructure that many applications can use. I describe coordination as the work that helps an invention reach more people, and the conversation explores what shared infrastructure might look like when agents can participate in it.
Open networks · AI agents · Digital public infrastructure · Programmable finance
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Reimagining Financial Infrastructure: From Tokenization to Agentic AI
A panel on how programmable assets could support agentic payments. I discussed the confidence people need in the technology, the legal treatment of tokenized assets, and the protections that make automated transactions trustworthy.
AI agents · Programmable finance · Trust and identity
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Tokenize assets. Democratize finance
A conversation about whether digital representations of land, gold and securities can give people more ways to use the assets they already hold.
Programmable finance · Digital public infrastructure
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Benchmarking India's FinTech Trajectory: AI, Tokenisation and Quantum
A panel about how AI, tokenisation and quantum computing might change financial services in India.
AI agents · Programmable finance
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The Finternet: GenAI, Tokenization, and the Future of Public Infrastructure
A conversation about agency over identity, credentials and assets, and how payment agents could search for liquidity and execute within limits. I also explain why an asset's programmable representation matters when a person wants to borrow against it across providers.
AI agents · Programmable finance · Digital public infrastructure · Trust and identity
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Finternet joins the Mojaloop partner programme
A conversation with Mojaloop about using programmable logic on existing domestic payments infrastructure and exploring how it could connect to cross-border settlement.
Programmable finance · Open networks · Digital public infrastructure
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Building a digital regulatory commons
After the C:\>DIR launch, Siddharth describes a regulatory commons for supervisors, technologists and policymakers to collaborate and experiment with adaptive supervision as markets become more programmable.
AI agents · Governance · Public institutions
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Launch of the Cambridge Digital Innovation and Regulation Initiative
At the launch of C:\>DIR, we discussed how policymakers and supervisors could keep pace with digital innovation. In my public recap I outlined a shared space for regulatory experimentation and collaboration.
Governance · Digital public infrastructure · AI agents
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Cambridge Digital Innovation and Regulation Initiative (C:\>DIR)
A forum for regulators, policymakers, researchers and builders to work through questions raised by emerging digital markets. Its programme brings policy dialogue together with practical experimentation such as the Agentic Regulator Hackathon.
AI agents · Governance · Digital public infrastructure
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Finternet picks capital markets for first rollout in 2026
I described how portable credentials and tokenised assets could let a small business take an invoice to multiple lenders through shared infrastructure, including with an agent's help.
AI agents · Programmable finance · Open networks
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Governance at the speed of digital markets
In announcing C:\>DIR, Siddharth argues that governance and supervision need to evolve alongside AI, tokenised value, programmable payments and open networks. He connects Bryan Zhang’s innovation delta to cross-border cooperation and regulatory capability.
AI agents · Governance · Open networks · Digital public infrastructure
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Finternet in Action: Agents and Tokenised Assets
Shetty demonstrates how a wallet, verifiable credentials, AI-assisted discovery and tokenised assets might work in the same journey. He explains why the discovery layer and the ability to execute a transaction need to fit together.
Finternet · AI agents · Tokenisation · Programmable finance · Digital credentials
Proof of concept -
Digital Public Infrastructure: Setting Standards with the Hourglass Model
Using Aadhaar, UPI, Pix and M-Pesa, the paper examines how a small core of common standards can support many services and underlying technologies. It studies the institutional work needed to make standards adoptable.
Digital public infrastructure · Open networks · Governance
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What’s Happening at Finternet Labs?
Shetty describes setting up a network of labs for public authorities, financial institutions and developers to work on the Finternet together.
Finternet · Public institutions · Open networks
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How Finternet Labs Is Building the Internet Layer for Finance
A conversation about fragmented financial infrastructure, user control of identity and assets, and the role of the Finternet alongside payment systems, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies.
Finternet · Interoperability · Programmable finance · AI
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Toward Technology-Aware, Neutral Regulation
An essay on how oversight could keep pace with programmable finance through adaptable rules, continuous test environments and interoperable reporting, with legal accountability and recourse.
Governance · Programmable finance · Digital public infrastructure
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Digital Public Infrastructure: Setting Standards with the Hourglass Model
A seminar on standards and interoperability in digital public infrastructure. Shetty describes how work on specific systems, including consented data sharing, led to a more universal design for controlling identity, credentials and assets.
Digital public infrastructure · Open standards · Interoperability · Finternet · Data governance
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Finternet Keynote at the Stablecoin Adoption Panel
The organizer lists an opening keynote by Shetty before a panel on stablecoin adoption.
Finternet · Stablecoins · Tokenisation
Programme listing -
Reflections on Building with the Finternet
Avail co-founder Anurag Arjun reflects on a conversation with Shetty. In the excerpts attributed to Shetty, he compares building isolated rails to constructing a road for each car, and uses physical deeds and paper shares to explain a form of value whose proof travels with it.
Finternet · Interoperability · Programmable finance · Tokenisation
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The Story Behind the Finternet
A conversation with Santosh Sirur about the journey behind the Finternet, confirmed in Shetty’s public post about the episode.
Finternet · Digital public infrastructure
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Land Tokenisation and the Finternet
Shetty explains how disconnected land registries complicate transactions and discusses a proposed representation of ownership, restrictions and other property rights as verifiable tokens.
Finternet · Tokenisation · Programmable finance · Interoperability
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Finternet Keynote at Investing in RWA Tokenization
The organizer lists a Finternet keynote before a panel on investment in tokenised real-world assets.
Finternet · Tokenisation
Programme listing -
Laying the Foundation: Digital Infrastructure for AI-driven Decarbonisation in Global Value Chains
The organiser describes a panel on data governance and interoperability as companies look at more granular product-level carbon information and machine-level data flows.
AI · Digital public infrastructure · Climate · Interoperability
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Lightning Talk: Finternet
A Finternet lightning talk at Solana Accelerate. Finternet’s recap highlights user control of assets and credentials, shared infrastructure and interoperability.
Finternet · Tokenisation · Interoperability
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UNITS
Finternet's documented token infrastructure is designed to represent and transfer programmable units of value. Its account model includes scoped permissions for software acting for a user.
Programmable finance · AI agents · Tokenisation · Trust and identity
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Unlocking India’s $3.3 Trillion Land Opportunity: How Finternet can Transform Property Investment
The authors examine how fragmented records constrain the use of property in India and propose verifiable digital representations of rights. The essay connects that proposal to legal enforceability and coordination across registries and lenders.
Programmable finance · Tokenisation · Digital public infrastructure
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Foreword contribution to Pathway 2035 for Financial Innovation
A short signed contribution to the Swiss Financial Innovation Desk's report on the Finternet vision, responsible use of technology and autonomy in financial interactions.
Programmable finance · Governance · Open networks
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Digital Democracy in Action: Insights from India’s Digital Public Infrastructure
A public discussion of lessons from India Stack, Beckn and the Finternet for digital public infrastructure in other countries.
Digital public infrastructure · Open networks · Finternet
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Digital Financial Infrastructure for the Future
Layer One Summit panel on open financial infrastructure for cross-border transactions and tokenised assets.
Interoperability · Tokenisation · Programmable finance · Finternet
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Sahamati’s Vision for Data Empowerment
A talk on Sahamati’s direction for data empowerment at the opening of its 2024 Account Aggregator hackathon.
Account Aggregator · Data governance
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Digital Public Infrastructure and Finternet
A presentation at the 10th Annual Public Policy Conference on India’s digital public infrastructure and the Finternet architecture. Slides relate consented data sharing to user control of a wider range of assets.
Finternet · Digital public infrastructure · Data governance · Tokenisation
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Finternet Demonstration at Global Fintech Fest
An early Finternet demonstration with Nandan Nilekani. The Solana Foundation’s contemporaneous recap describes a sample settlement on Solana.
Finternet · Tokenisation · Programmable finance
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Exploring the Account Aggregator Ecosystem
A Finsire learning-series conversation on how Account Aggregator began, developed and differs from earlier ways of accessing financial data.
Account Aggregator · Data governance · Privacy
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Finternet: The Financial System for the Future
BIS Innovation Summit fireside on a proposed network of interconnected financial ecosystems intended to expand what individuals and firms can do with their assets.
Finternet · Interoperability · Programmable finance
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Finternet: Technology Vision and Architecture
The technical companion paper proposes interoperable financial ecosystems that put individuals and businesses at the centre. It describes token management, ledgers, shared protocols and how safeguards fit into the architecture.
Programmable finance · Open networks · Tokenisation · Digital public infrastructure
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Digital Strategy for Public Infrastructure: India’s Experience
Presentation slides describe India Stack through verifiable identity, native value transfer and individual control of data.
Digital public infrastructure · Trust and identity · Payments · Data governance
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Sahamati: Consent Managers and Account Aggregators
The DTOPS 2023 programme lists Shetty for a session on consent managers and Account Aggregators, alongside separate presentations on open commerce networks.
Consent · Account Aggregator · Open standards
Programme listing -
Identity and Financial Services: Can Technology Mitigate the Trade-offs Between KYC and Privacy?
A panel on customer identification, onboarding and privacy. Sahamati’s recap identifies Shetty's remarks on decentralisation across digital identity, payments and data sharing.
Privacy · Trust and identity · Digital public infrastructure
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The Design of a Data Governance System (SUERF Policy Note)
The shorter policy note presents the consent and fiduciary architecture from BIS Paper No. 124 for a policy audience.
Data rights · Governance · Digital public infrastructure
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Insights from India’s Data Empowerment & Protection Architecture
A detailed account of sharing financial data through interoperable consent managers. Shetty walks through a customer's decision to approve a lender's request for data from selected accounts and a defined period.
Consent · Privacy · Account Aggregator · Data governance
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The Design of a Data Governance System
The authors propose a system in which people grant specific, revocable and auditable consent to share data. It uses India's DEPA and Account Aggregator implementation to examine whether such a system can operate at scale.
Data rights · Governance · Digital public infrastructure
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Account Aggregator Ecosystem Go-Live: Workflow Demonstration
Shetty demonstrated a consented financial data sharing workflow at the Account Aggregator ecosystem launch, following Nandan Nilekani's presentation.
Account Aggregator · Data governance · Consent
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Can Digital Currencies and Crypto Investors Help Close India’s SME Financing Gap?
The co-authors propose using consented, verifiable business records such as GST invoices as evidence for lending to firms with little physical collateral. The essay explores a controlled route for international crypto capital.
Programmable finance · Data rights · Digital public infrastructure
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Designing the New Normal: India Stack
MyData's plenary programme describes a presentation on how India Stack and DEPA give people ways to exercise control over personal data.
Data governance · Digital public infrastructure · Consent
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Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture: Draft for Discussion
The consultation draft proposes a consent-based approach to data sharing that can help people access financial services. NITI Aayog credits the iSPIRT team and singles out Siddharth Shetty and Kamya Chandra.
Data rights · Digital public infrastructure · Governance
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Account Aggregator Technical Architecture
A technical masterclass on the entities, APIs and consent flows that let financial information move between providers and users at a customer's direction.
Account Aggregator · Data governance · Consent · Open standards
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iSPIRT Open House Discussion on National Health Stack
An introductory note describes the National Health Stack as shared digital building blocks for public and private actors and invites participation in an open discussion.
Digital public infrastructure · Open networks
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Consent Artefacts, Privacy Centric Architectures and Account Aggregators
Workshop discussion on the design of consent artefacts, privacy and Account Aggregators in the context of India's proposed data protection law.
Consent · Privacy · Account Aggregator
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Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture Explained
A practitioner primer on the technology, governance and market structure behind consented data sharing in India.
Data governance · Consent · Digital public infrastructure
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Digital Playgrounds That Are Changing the World
An early TEDx talk on how shared digital infrastructure creates opportunities for public services and businesses. The programme connects the talk to India Stack and the DEPA effort.
Digital public infrastructure · Data governance
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iSPIRT Final Comments on India’s Personal Data Protection Bill
Collective comments on India's 2018 draft privacy bill propose consent dashboards and ways for people to inspect requests, correct data and seek recourse.
Data rights · Governance · Digital public infrastructure
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Cash Flow Lending and the DEPA Launch
iSPIRT’s chronology lists Shetty and Nilekani as presenters at a Carnegie India event on cash-flow lending and the early DEPA work.
Data governance · Account Aggregator · Consent · Digital public infrastructure
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An early conversation about Fundlined
A profile with Shetty’s comments on building Fundlined and helping creators design crowdfunding campaigns.
Crowdfunding
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Undated
Governance for Data Empowerment: Welcome Note
Opening remarks at a convening on governance for the Account Aggregator ecosystem.
Account Aggregator · Data governance · Governance
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Undated
Networks for Humanity
A network of labs building open infrastructure for people, organisations and agents to exchange value. Finternet and Beckn are its two flagship missions, supported by work on identity, delegation and trust.
Open networks · AI agents · Digital public infrastructure
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Undated
Finternet and Finternet Labs
Finternet proposes interoperable financial infrastructure in which assets can carry rules for how they are held and transferred. Finternet Labs develops protocols, reference implementations and pilots as part of Networks for Humanity.
Programmable finance · Tokenisation · Digital public infrastructure · Open networks
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Undated
Beckn Protocol
Open specifications let buyer and provider applications discover one another and carry out transactions across platform boundaries. NFH stewards Beckn, whose published design covers commerce, mobility and other domains.
Open networks · AI agents · Digital public infrastructure
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Undated
NFH fabric
NFH documents shared services for participant identity, cataloguing, discovery and audit alongside peer-to-peer transactions on Beckn. A public devkit provides a starting point for working with the test environment.
AI agents · Open networks · Trust and identity
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Undated
DeDi: Decentralized Directory
DeDi gives counterparties a way to check signed public registry information, including whether a licence remains valid. At Devcon, Siddharth described making changes to public attestations verifiable with hashes committed to Ethereum. He treated private identity data as a separate design problem.
Open networks · Trust and identity · AI agents · Consent
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Undated
Finternet protocol specifications
The public repository contains API contracts and semantic schemas for accounts, credentials, tokens and delegated permissions. It provides documentation for how applications are meant to interact with the platform.
Programmable finance · Tokenisation · Open networks
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Undated
Finternet account demo
A public application simulates wallet balances, credentials, vouchers, QR payments and holdings such as warehouse receipts. The repository explicitly calls it a demo.
Programmable finance · Tokenisation
Prototype -
Undated
Vouch
Vouch lets programme issuers define rules about who can receive and redeem value and in what circumstances. C:\>DIR gave hackathon teams sandbox access to prototype with these controls.
Programmable finance · AI agents · Trust and identity
Sandbox use -
Undated
Sahamati and Account Aggregator
Sahamati is the industry alliance supporting India's Account Aggregator ecosystem. The system lets people direct consented sharing of financial data between providers and users of that data.
Consent · Digital public infrastructure · Open networks
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Undated
iSPIRT and India Stack
At iSPIRT, Siddharth worked on India Stack, with a documented focus on making consent-based data sharing available to people and small businesses.
Digital public infrastructure · Consent · Open networks
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Undated
Fundlined
An early crowdfunding venture launched in 2013. Fundlined developed from a platform for campaigns into software for organisations to run their own crowdfunding pages.
Programmable finance · Entrepreneurship