Building the Future of Capital Markets with Blockchain
Building the Future of Capital Markets with Blockchain  
Podcast: Wharton FinTech Podcast
Published On: Fri Aug 28 2026
Description: In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, Mili Tomar sits down with Michael Tannenbaum, CEO of Figure. Michael shares his experience leading Figure and how the company is building a blockchain-native capital marketplace that seamlessly connects origination, funding, and secondary market activity.. We discuss: structural inefficiencies in today's lending markets; blockchain and AI's impact in financial services; what tokenization means in practice for real-world assets; the shape of the industry as a whole as these emerging technologies continue to influence it; Michael's career journey and Figure's path to becoming a publicly traded company