Money20/20 Europe

Sandboxes are being created across every country, but who is really benefitting? Does having a profusion of companies who wish to sandbox indicate that your policies are not working, and if so, what should be done about it? Sandboxes are the easiest and more visible way for regulators to get involved – real involvement or marketing involvement, yet to be defined – in the startup adventure. As FinTechs deal often with regulated processes, the government-driven sandbox is a great way to test the new solutions without jeopardizing the day-to-day business-as-usual. The risk is moving to a third dimension where everything is tested in the sandbox, good buzz is made about it as “a very progressive regulator allowing “almost” everything to be tested” but nothing or little is really brought to the real world, implemented and industrialize with the risk of changing the modus-operandi. The real opportunity is to use the sandbox for what is stands “a place to test fast and move out fast” to the real world where real problems, friction, hackers, and real regulations will make or break quickly any initiative tested in the safe environment of a sandbox.  What is the right approach to sandboxes: industry, international, or none of the above?