Obsidian Memo] I've Been Thinking…On the Future of Capitalism - AI, Digital Currency, Geopolitics & Impact, ft. BLK Larry Fink's Letter

Executive Summary

Since the pandemic, the architecture of capitalism has begun to shift in tangible ways. This isn’t collapse or revolution — it’s evolution. The scaffolding of the last 40 years is quietly being dismantled and rebuilt. Three forces are driving the redesign:

• AI is rewriting the physics of markets – From quant funds using satellite imagery to predict harvests before humans see the data, to machine‑learning systems executing trades with timing precision no human could replicate.
• Tokenization is reshaping ownership – Fractional stakes in real estate, infrastructure, and even energy projects are no longer theoretical — they’re already here, changing how capital and opportunity meet.
• Digital currency is re‑coding money itself – CBDCs and stablecoins are enabling real‑time settlement, programmable transactions, and potentially shifting the balance of power between central authorities and private actors.

The next phase of capitalism will be defined not just by better technology, but by better architecture — governance, access, and intentional design. The question is no longer if capitalism will evolve, but who will shape its blueprint, and for whose benefit.

I. Introduction

Since the pandemic, we've witnessed concrete shifts in how capitalism operates: central banks deploying unprecedented monetary policy, supply chains restructuring around resilience rather than pure efficiency, and trillion‑dollar infrastructure bills becoming politically feasible. This isn't collapse or revolution — it's evolution. The scaffolding of the last 40 years is being disassembled and rebuilt.

Capitalism, like democracy, communism, or socialism, is not divine law. It's a human experiment — a framework we designed to organize economic life. We sometimes forget that it's not eternal, nor inevitable. It is a system, and systems evolve.

II. The Moment That Changed My Life

In undergrad, I was a pre‑law and international relations + finance major at NYU. My dream was to work for the United Nations as a human rights lawyer. I wanted to fight for the vulnerable, to negotiate treaties, to redistribute resources around the world for a more equitable society.

One afternoon, in my investment banking class, professor Murphy — a man I'd already sparred with in a two‑hour debate about the very concept of interest rates (I had questioned the premise of interest rates, arguing that they were essentially rent on unused resources. Why should my neighbor in need have to pay for borrowing those resources if they would be returned in the same condition, in good faith and trust? In other words, why should my idle lambs generate income simply by being lent out?)—welcomed an old friend as a guest speaker. His friend was Larry Fink. They used to work together at First Boston.

I didn't know then that this was the defining moment of my career.

Larry spoke not only about markets, but about capitalism’s potential to be a force for good — lifting people out of poverty, financing solutions that uphold human dignity, and building infrastructure such as bridges, hospitals, and broadband networks to enhance social well‑being.

Something shifted. I realized that the same global architecture I had been preparing to work around — through diplomacy and policy — could also be reshaped from within. The very capital flows that move across borders every day are among the most powerful forces in our world. And if harnessed responsibly, they could serve the same mission I cared about: human flourishing.

That's when I decided to join finance. Eventually, that choice led me to BlackRock for a decade — and away from the UN. I traded one global platform for another. Eight years ago, I moved from New York City to London, the birthplace of modern capitalism, to be part of its next evolution 'Capitalism 2.0' — learning from within and contributing to its future design. This is my latest thinking on where we stand.

III. Larry Fink's 2025 Letter: A Candid Diagnosis

This year, in his annual letter, Larry Fink said:

“Capitalism did work — just for too few people. Today, many countries have twin, inverted economies: one where wealth builds on wealth; another where hardship builds on hardship… The solution isn’t to abandon markets; it’s to expand them.”
— Larry Fink, 2025 Annual Chairman’s Letter (source)

In other words: globalization and capital markets lifted billions out of absolute poverty — but also deepened inequality within developed nations.

His solution is not to abandon markets, but to expand them — what he calls finishing the democratization of investing that began over 400 years ago. His vision of Capitalism 2.0 centers on:

1. Democratizing Access – Opening private markets, infrastructure, and alternative investments to more individuals, not just institutions, through tools like tokenization and fractional ownership.
2. Massive Infrastructure Renewal – Meeting the $68 trillion global infrastructure need by 2040, spanning AI data centers, green energy, ports, and digital networks — and enabling private capital to fund it.
3. Modernizing Financial Plumbing – Moving beyond outdated systems like SWIFT toward blockchain-enabled settlement that clears trades in seconds, reducing friction and unlocking capital.
4. Evolving the Portfolio Model – Shifting from the traditional 60/40 stock-bond mix to portfolios that integrate greater private market exposure (50/30/20).

Fink warns that execution will be critical. Tokenization could either open doors or entrench complexity; infrastructure investment could either spark growth or fall prey to rent-seeking and inefficiency. The challenge — and opportunity — lies in designing systems that genuinely broaden participation, turning market growth into shared prosperity.

IV. Capitalism in the Age of AI and Digital Currency

Obsidian Odyssey Commentary:

I share Larry Fink’s conviction: capitalism is not over. But the operating system we’ve run since the 1980s is nearing a point of re‑architecture — not through ideology, but through technology. The change is structural, systemic, and already underway.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a back‑office efficiency tool; it is re‑writing the physics of markets. Quant firms like Two Sigma and Renaissance Technologies deploy models that parse satellite imagery to forecast crop yields — and trade the outcome — before most human analysts have even seen the data. JPMorgan’s LOXM executes equity trades with timing precision that would take a human decades to intuit. These are not marginal gains. They represent a shift from markets organized around human judgment and relationships toward markets governed by speed, computational capacity, and data asymmetry.

Blockchain and tokenization are quietly fracturing traditional ownership models. We’ve had REITs for decades — but now, platforms like RealT can sell $50 slices of a specific rental property to a retail investor in another country. The same mechanics could apply to tokenized infrastructure bonds, enabling individuals to own fractional stakes in wind farms, fiber‑optic networks, even municipal water systems. The friction between capital and opportunity is shrinking.

And then there is money itself. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and decentralized stablecoins carry the potential to recode the very mechanics of capital mobility. China’s digital yuan pilots show what programmable money can do — from instant settlement to policy‑driven stimulus embedded directly into transactions. This is no longer a thought experiment.

The convergence of AI, blockchain, and digital currency could, in theory, decentralize economic power — granting broader access to investment and participation in growth. But history warns us: technology often amplifies existing structures before it dismantles them. Without intentional design, governance, and access, these tools could as easily deepen concentration as they could disperse it.

Capitalism is not ending. It is being re‑written. The question is by whom, and for whose benefit.

V. The Real Question: Who Gets to Participate?

If the next phase of capitalism is going to be more inclusive, it can't just be about better technology. It must be about better architecture:

• Who sets the rules for AI in markets? Currently, a handful of tech giants and quantitative hedge funds are writing the playbook.
• Who gets to own tokenized assets? If regulatory complexity makes these investments accessible only through expensive wealth‑management platforms, we've simply created digital exclusivity.
• Who benefits from the $68 trillion infrastructure build‑out? History suggests that without intentional design, the lion's share of returns will flow to existing capital holders.

If these answers skew toward the same players who dominate today, then Capitalism 2.0 will be just Capitalism 1.0 with shinier tools.

VI. Questions for the Obsidian Odyssey Community

I want this to be a conversation, not a monologue. I'm genuinely curious how others see the transition we're living through:

• Can capitalism be redesigned to be more inclusive — or will it inevitably consolidate power?
• Will AI and blockchain level the playing field, or create new, more complex hierarchies?
• If you could rewrite one rule of capitalism, what would it be?
• How should markets balance values and returns in the decades ahead?

VII. Closing Thought...

The future of capitalism is not predetermined. It is, as it has always been, a design project. And every design choice — from interest‑rate policy to AI market governance — shapes the world we wake up in.

I left my dream of the UN to work in finance because I believed that shaping capital flows was one of the most powerful ways to influence the human story. I still believe that. But I also believe it will take more than capital to make capitalism a force for good in the next era. It will take intention, inclusion, and imagination.

The blueprint isn't finished. And maybe that's the best news we have.

VIII. Resources for further exploration

Foundational Reports & Letters

• Larry Fink’s Annual Chairman’s Letters (BlackRock)
  Candid assessments of capitalism’s challenges and direction from the world’s largest asset manager. A must-read for anyone tracking how global finance leaders envision the system’s future.

• TechDispatch - European Data A privacy-focused analysis of CBDCs and digital euro design from a regulatory perspective.

Academic Analyses & Books

• “The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations” by Daniel Yergin
  A deep look at how infrastructure, energy, and geopolitics are shifting in the wake of new technologies and policy priorities.
• “Capitalism, Alone” by Branko Milanović
  An exploration of how global capitalism both promotes prosperity and generates inequality.
• Journal of Economic Perspectives – Symposium Issues
  Accessible, peer-reviewed overviews on market design, financial innovation, and institutional change.

On AI, Blockchain, and Digital Finance

• MIT Digital Currency Initiative
  Research on blockchain, digital currencies, and programmable money influencing global markets.
• Two Sigma Research & Insights
  White papers and technical deep-dives into AI, machine learning, and quantitative investment strategy.
• RealT Tokenized Real Estate Platform
  A live case study in fractionalizing real estate assets for investors and policymakers.

Policy & Governance Analysis

• OECD: The Future of Infrastructure
  Analyses and resources on public-private partnerships and infrastructure finance in a rapidly digitizing world.
• Peterson Institute: Working Papers on Capital Flows and Inclusion
  Research on financial regulation, cross-border capital, and ensuring inclusivity in global markets.

Platforms for Dialogue & Debate

• Project Syndicate: Capitalism Redefined Series
  Op-eds and essays from Nobel laureates, policymakers, and business leaders on the future of capitalism.
• Brookings Institution: Future of the Global Economy
  Policy briefs, events, and reports on the next phase of capitalism, AI governance, and inclusive growth.