So I just sat through the highlights of another tech visionary’s keynote. This time it’s a guy named Dr. Ozan Ozerk, a former ER doctor turned fintech mogul, telling a room full of suits in Lithuania that the future of finance is a high-speed race, and if you’re not flooring it, you’re already losing.
"Do nothing, and you donate advantage to your fastest competitor," he says.
It’s a great line. Punchy. Urgent. Makes you feel like a dinosaur if you’re not already piloting a consent-based, AI-driven, instant-payment jetpack. It’s also the oldest trick in the tech playbook: create a crisis, then sell the solution. And Ozerk, with a portfolio of companies that just so happen to offer those solutions, is a master of the craft.
Let’s be real. The whole "innovate or die" speech is a genre at this point. You can practically hear the dramatic synth music swell as the speaker points to a slide filled with buzzwords: AI, blockchain, stablecoins, open data. It’s a meticulously crafted sales pitch. No, "sales pitch" isn't strong enough—it's a form of high-tech evangelism, designed to make executives so terrified of being left behind that they'll sign anything.
The Gospel of Speed
Ozerk’s sermon is all about acceleration. Europe is making instant payments mandatory. The US is finally catching up with FedNow. Stablecoins are getting a "federal framework" (whatever that actually means for the average person). AI is a "structural revolution," backed by hundreds of billions in investment. It’s all happening now, and you, the humble business owner, are already late.
This is the part that always gets me. The pressure is immense. You’re told to "switch on instant pay," "adopt national digital identity systems," and "industrialise compliance." It's like being told to assemble a spaceship engine while the ship is already taking off. The advice is technically correct, but it ignores the reality for 99% of businesses who are just trying to make payroll without their accounting software crashing.
And who is this mysterious "fastest competitor" we're supposed to be terrified of? Is it another venture-backed startup burning through cash to acquire users it can't monetize? Or is it the same old megabanks, just with a slicker app and a new logo? The whole thing feels like a setup, and if you don't play along...
I’m not saying the technology isn’t real. It is. But the narrative is pure, uncut hype. Ozerk compares finance to medicine, talking about "systemic thinking" and "diagnostics." It’s a clever analogy from a guy who used to be a doctor, who has spoken on Dr Ozan Ozerk on Lessons from Medicine That Can Reshape Modern Finance. It makes him sound responsible, ethical even. But is finance a patient that needs saving? Or is it a casino that just needs a flashier set of slot machines to keep people pulling the lever? I know which one my money's on.
Building for a Tomorrow You Won't Own
Then there’s the AI angle. Ozerk cites over $250 billion in private investment as proof that this is a "structural revolution." Offcourse it is. But a revolution for whom? Is it a revolution for us, the end-users, or for the handful of companies that will own the AI models that run everything from credit scores to corporate compliance?
He warns everyone to "build for tomorrow, but not at the expense of today." It sounds profound, like something you’d read on a motivational poster. But what it really means is: "Please buy our current products while you wait for the next, even more expensive products we’re about to sell you."
This isn’t just about Ozerk, by the way. He's just the latest frontman for a movement that treats technology as an unstoppable force of nature instead of what it is: a series of choices made by people with specific agendas. People who stand to make an obscene amount of money from the "disruption" they’re preaching. I once had to deal with a "fintech solution" for a simple payment, and it took three days and four customer service chats to resolve an issue that my old bank would have fixed in a five-minute phone call. That's the "future" they're so excited about.
The guy went from being a Norwegian Armed Forces Ranger and an ER doctor—professions built on discipline and saving actual human lives—to founding a constellation of fintech companies. You have to respect the hustle. But it also makes you wonder. At what point did "fixing money" become the mission? And does he ever look back and think that maybe, just maybe, patching up a person in an emergency room was a more straightforward way to help the world?
Then again, maybe I'm just a cynic. Maybe he really is a visionary trying to build a better, faster, more inclusive financial system for everyone.
Yeah, and maybe I’m Santa Claus.
So, Who's Getting Played Here?
Look, all this talk of "tectonic shifts" and "structural revolutions" is just noise. It's the sound of money moving from old pockets to new ones. Ozan Ozerk is clearly a brilliant guy who has built an empire. But don't mistake his keynote for a public service announcement. It's a roadmap for his own success, and if your business happens to align with it, great. If not, you're just another dinosaur destined for the tar pits. The house always wins, and he’s building one hell of a house.
