Story By Julie Khanna | Photos By Abner Pedraza
Jake Seltzer might be the person who changes the way the entire world banks.
Born and raised in Wellington, the 26-year-old entrepreneur first realized how his extensive futuristic knowledge of blockchain, cryptocurrency and web3 could change the world during a visit to India in 2019.
While there attending his best friend’s wedding, Seltzer took notice of the disparity in banking services offered abroad. He ended up extending his trip by a month to further survey the banking process, to better understand systems in low and middle-income countries and assess financial literacy.
The day he returned, Seltzer got right to work on his blockchain financial technology startup company, Finance Blocks, and now the Wellington native finds himself at the forefront of worldwide impact.
Seltzer and his family have longevity in the Village of Wellington. His late father, Jerry Seltzer, served as president of the Palms West Chamber of Commerce and the American Heart Association, while his mother, Lisa Seltzer, spent her time working with the PTA and Temple Beth Torah. During his own time volunteering at soup kitchens and with the Special Olympics and watching his parents serve the community, Seltzer believes that’s where he learned the importance of helping others and realized that his purpose was bigger than himself, and Wellington.
Self-described as an empathetic and driven person who believes in karma, Seltzer enjoys finding ways to connect with people from all walks and places of life. He feels these traits and his experiences growing up play a key role in his business.
“My greatest memories in life happened here,” he said. “Like during my senior year as runner up in Mr. Wellington, or playing roller hockey at Village Park with the lifelong friends I made. Wellington shaped who I am and how I think. No matter how far I travel, it will forever be my home.”
The Wellington High School graduate always wanted to study politics or government. But perhaps it was his experience in DECA, a club that prepares emerging leaders in marketing, finance, hospitality and management, combined with his parents’ example for helping others, that best prepared him for his role today. Having won districts and representing Wellington in state competitions three times, Seltzer began to imagine his future as the CEO of a company that would make a global impact.
He co-founded Finance Blocks to digitize rural financial institutions, known as RFIs, in emerging markets and promote accessibility, transparent banking services and financial inclusion, especially for the 25 percent of the world’s total population that does not have access to basic financial services, known as the “unbanked.” The unbanked face exploitative repayment terms from informal moneylenders and lack credit scores, identity documents and awareness about financial products. Historically, the sophistication of blockchain-powered digital products has not reached RFIs and the unbanked.
In its simplest form, Seltzer’s company is a platform that helps RFIs, or banks, switch from paper-based legacy systems to a secure, easy-to-use and efficient digital system for all their processes. It creates unique digital identities, computes credit scores, manages financial data, loans, savings accounts and more on a single platform.
Users, or the formally unbanked or underserved, have an app that helps them stay instantaneously updated about their financial activity, like withdrawals, deposits, transactions, loans and interest. Based on the age of their account and financial activity, users are given smart credit scores computed by blockchain-powered smart contracts.
Blockchain technology is an integral component of the solution Finance Blocks presents. “Blockchain technology plays a crucial role in lifting people out of poverty and providing better services to the populations of low and middle-income countries,” Seltzer explained. “It is a system of recording information that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack or cheat the system. Think of blockchain as an incorruptible digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain. This process can be transformative for low and middle-income countries, as corruption is the single largest issue affecting the unbanked.”
Seltzer believes this technology will directly impact the global economy by way of the youth. Referring to them as “innovators of tomorrow,” Seltzer thinks financial and investing literacy will encourage higher education and break generational debt while creating new generations of the middle class all over the world.
The future of Seltzer’s company is also soaring.
Finance Blocks recently got the attention of GEM Digital Limited, a Bahamas-based digital asset investment firm that actively sources, structures and invests in utility tokens globally. They committed a capital investment of $25 million to help propel Seltzer’s company into even the most rural corners of the globe, such as India, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Kenya and Ghana.
“These funds will allow us to continue developing our technology, expand our development team, onboard over three million users, raise awareness about financial products and services, and allow charitable contributions of water and power to the areas in which we operate,” Seltzer said.
The path in getting Finance Blocks to the forefront of the global banking landscape wasn’t without its challenges. Seltzer faced institutional red tape, a lack of identity documents, insufficient resources, corruption, illiteracy and geographical barriers.
However, everything paled to the sudden death of his father, Jerry, who was his mentor and best friend. Still, in his father’s name, Seltzer found strength during his grief to build and innovate, and it is paying off.
Seltzer predicts that Finance Blocks will become the world’s largest rural financial banking platform and enable financial inclusion for up to five million users within the next 36 months.
“I see us becoming a top 200 crypto project. But, more importantly, I see us changing the landscape of rural finance and creating change around the world,” Seltzer said.
Learn more about Seltzer’s company Finance Blocks at www.financeblocks.io.
