WealthTech on Deck Using AI and Blockchain to Build Custom FinTech Solutions with John Sweeney
John Sweeney is a seasoned financial services leader with a career spanning senior roles at Fidelity Investments to entrepreneurial ventures at the forefront of innovation. Over nearly two decades at Fidelity, he drove product and technology development across mutual funds, ETFs, managed accounts, and retirement solutions. After leaving Fidelity, he immersed himself in startups exploring blockchain, alternative investments, and AI. Today, as head of Praxis Solutions, he blends strategic insight with advanced technology execution, helping wealth and asset management firms harness AI and blockchain to improve efficiency, decision-making, and client outcomes.
This week, Jack talks with John about how Praxis Solutions uses AI and blockchain in concert to solve complex challenges in financial services. From dramatically reducing investment review times to enhancing compliance processes, John explains how his team builds custom, scalable tools that integrate into existing workflows. They explore blockchain as a “source of truth” and AI as a visible decision-making engine—technologies that together improve efficiency, reduce costs, and democratize access to institutional-grade advice while maintaining accuracy, transparency, and regulatory compliance.
In this episode:
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(00:00) - Intro
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(01:21) – John’s career journey: from Fidelity leadership to fintech innovation
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(03:44) – Moving into the blockchain space and its early applications
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(05:58) – Where smaller companies should begin their AI journey
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(07:23) – How AI and blockchain work together
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(09:18) – Inside Praxis Solutions: strategy, execution, and innovation
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(12:07) – The types of clients Praxis serves best
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(15:20) – AI as a powerful tool for building new solutions
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(16:44) – Breaking down the Praxis business model
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(18:34) – Front, middle, and back-office AI use cases in financial services
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(21:41) – Streamlining compliance, policies, and procedures with AI
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(24:15) – The future of AI in financial services
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(26:19) – How AI is reshaping the cost of custom solutions
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(28:02) – John’s top takeaways for financial leaders exploring AI
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(29:41) - John's interests outside of work
Quotes
"AI, in general, is great at taking large, complex data sets that are today analyzed by expensive humans." ~ John Sweeney
"When we think about our aspirations as a firm and why we think AI is going to be a useful tool for financial advisors and their ecosystem that serves end investors, we think it democratizes a lot of access to institutional-grade theses." ~ John Sweeney
"The cost of custom software used to be very expensive, and AI development has changed that." ~ John Sweeney
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