Using the lens of history, A History of Financial Technology and Regulation illuminates recent changes to the world of finance. With lucid prose and the help of concrete examples, Seth Oranburg helps readers understand the role of technology in finance today, including complex phenomena such as mutual funds, cryptocurrencies, and the stock market itself. Chapters begin with basic principles and historical analogy before describing complex digital-investment strategies and instruments. Readers will also gain an introduction to key concepts in financial regulation, learning how law and regulations prevented some financial crises while perpetuating others. Oranburg concludes with ideas about what's next for finance and how the law should respond. This book will appeal to specialists and nonspecialists alike who are interesting in learning more about business, economics, finance, law, and regulation.

‘A History of Financial Technology is not just mandatory reading for anyone who wants to understand the ongoing relationship between the private world of investment and the government's insistence on regulation, it is also a page-turner for newcomers as well as seasoned observers of the world of business. It helps the reader to see why the world of cryptocurrencies and Shark Tank has much in common with earlier developments in business history. The market innovates in the shadow of legal rules, and then more regulation arises, whether the market has hiccupped or is simply perceived as too powerful. Read it from beginning to end and you will have insights as well as the best topic for dinner conversations.'

Saul Levmore - William B. Graham Distinguished Service Professor of Law and former Dean, University of Chicago Law School

‘In A History of Financial Technology, law professor Seth Oranburg offers us important, accessible background and context relevant to the current and future use and regulation of what is commonly known as fintech. Read the whole book to get the entire picture – but many of the individual chapters also stand alone or in logical groupings as discrete, informative pieces of the fintech puzzle.'

Joan MacLeod Heminway - Rick Rose Distinguished Professor of Law, The University of Tennessee

'Seth Oranburg's A History of Financial Technology offers a broad, lucid, and informative account of financial regulation from its late seventeenth-century origins to the present, which should appeal to beginners and professionals alike. His call for competitive systems of regulations could well improve both consumer protection and market flexibility. It is a super read.'

Richard Epstein - James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Law, Senior Lecturer, University of Chicago Law School

‘The book should appeal to both specialists and generalists who are interested in learning more about regulation, finance and economics, business, and law.’

Mark K. Bhasin Source: Enterprising Investor