Bitfinex and Tether have been banned from operating in New York and must pay a fine of $18.5 million as part of a settlement with the New York Attorney General’s (NYAG’s) office over a case dating back to 2019.
Canada approves world’s first bitcoin ETF for retail investors
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Blockchain, Crypto, Digital Assets Regulations
Bitfinex and Tether Fined $18.5M and Banned from Operating in New York
Bitcoin.com | Jeffrey Gogo | Feb 23, 2021
Bitfinex and Tether have been banned from operating in New York and must pay a fine of $18.5 million as part of a settlement with the New York Attorney General’s (NYAG’s) office over a case dating back to 2019.
In a statement on Tuesday, NY Attorney General Letitia James accused the two entities of hiding severe losses from investors. “Bitfinex and Tether recklessly and unlawfully covered-up massive financial losses to keep their scheme going and protect their bottom lines,” said James.
See: Are Stablecoins Better Than Bitcoin?
She continued: “Tether’s claims that its virtual currency was fully backed by U.S. dollars at all times was a lie. These companies obscured the true risk investors faced and were operated by unlicensed and unregulated individuals and entities dealing in the darkest corners of the financial system.”
Per the statement, an NY Attorney General’s investigation found that the companies made false statements about the backing of tether, with Bitfinex using Tether’s funds to clandestinely cover an $850 million financial hole at its bank Crypto Capital in Panama.
Tether published a statement on Tuesday “admitting to no wrongdoing.” It argued:
The Attorney General’s Office concluded, in essence, that we could have done better in publicly disclosing these events. Contrary to online speculation, after two and half years there was no finding that Tether ever issued tethers without backing, or to manipulate crypto prices.
According to the investigation, from 2017, Tether had no access to the banking system and did not have reserves to back the tether (USDT) in circulation at the time. Bitfinex stresses that it did not lose any money, claiming Crypto Capital’s funds were confiscated by governments in Portugal, Poland and the U.S.
Read: Price Discovery in Digital Currencies is Maturing
Bitfinex and Tether have now been barred from having any trading activity with the citizens of New York, as a result. The NYAG requested that the two companies submit regular reports on core business functions. Tether must also offer public disclosures, by category, of the assets backing tether, including disclosure of any loans or receivables to or from affiliated entities.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Want to launch an ecosystem? Consider Tokenization
2tokens Blog | Jan 14, 2020
Tokens have been around for 1000s of years, but only recently have we seen the rise of digital tokens. Now, cryptographic tokens offer us an opportunity to redesign value streams and hence existing ecosystems. A well-designed token ecosystem unlocks value by bringing parties together in new ways and stimulates the target behaviour by having cryptographic tokens as built-in incentives. Tokens matter and offer a chance to redesign existing and new ecosystems.
On January 14, 2020, we had the second round table session organised by the 2Tokens initiative. The 2Tokens project aims to clarify the path to realising value from tokenisation. During the first round table session, we discussed why we need tokenisation, what is required to achieve value from tokenisation, and how we should move ahead with it.
Shared Understanding
Tokenisation, tokenomics and token engineering are new concepts and, for many, difficult to understand. Especially since often, these terms are used differently in different contexts. A shared understanding is not only relevant for building tokenised ecosystems, but it will also enable regulators and policymakers to address regulatory concerns in the right way. As such, it will foster a healthy public debate around tokenisation.
See: Tokenizing Assets and Unlocking Value on the Blockchain
A shared understanding consists of precise terminology and taxonomy, international standards, useful metaphors to share with wider audiences and clear legal and regulatory frameworks. Since the field of tokenisation is very much alive, on-going coordination, education and engagement among all stakeholders is essential. A Token Coalition can manage this, or organisation such as the 2Tokens project, to ensure all stakeholders' requirements are met. We define the terminology as follows:
- Tokens: the digital representation of value (e.g. asset) on a blockchain.
- Tokenisation: the process of changing value (e.g. asset) into its digital representative
- Tokenomics: the study of the emerging field of the design of crypto tokens and related digital assets using economic incentives, game theory, cryptography and computer science.
- Token engineering: the practice of using tokens as the foundation for designing value flows and ultimately economic systems
- Purpose-driven tokenisation: leveraging the exchange of value to drive behaviours of an ecosystem towards a particular goal
Innovative Funding
For any ecosystem, funding is important. Tokenisation, however, changes how this funding can be achieved, going beyond traditional financing from venture capitalists or financial institutions. When an ecosystem plans to use tokens for funding, it can benefit from easy access to capital, anywhere in the world. Compared to traditional financing such as an IPO, the costs of financing are lower, and it is easier to scale as more people have access to the investment opportunity. After all, tokens do not know borders.
See: BIGG Digital Assets Inc. to Reinvest Free Cash Flows From Operations into Bitcoin
Tokens offer multiple, technical, advantages over traditional funding. First of all, they are programmable. This means that governance and rules can be embedded within the token. For example, the longer you hold a token, the more dividend you will receive. This allows you to drive the behaviour of your investors while raising funds. In addition, tokens are transparent, secure and traceable, giving regulators more control to ensure correct behaviour.
With tokenised funding becoming the norm in the coming years, we can expect a shift from ownership to temporary ownership, as exchanging assets will become easy. As a result, previously illiquid assets will become liquid, thereby drastically changing economies. Anything can be tokenised and made liquid, including real estate (fractional ownership), CO2 rights, mobility, futures, art or even entire clubs and sport contracts to increase fan engagement.
Key to tokenised funding is the right infrastructure. This includes secondary markets to easily exchange security tokens, clear regulations so companies know what they have to comply with, and an intuitive user interface to facilitate ease of investment. When the right tools are available, tokens will revolutionise funding opportunities.
Change Management
Developing an ecosystem is one thing; getting people to use it is a different challenge. Although tokens can drive behaviour, people will need to change their behaviour to participate in tokenised ecosystems. It can be expected that there is a resistance to change because people don’t understand the new ways of interacting.
See: For Digital Assets, Private Markets Offer the Greatest Opportunities
To tackle this resistance, it is crucial for ecosystem owners to create awareness and understanding the change implied when using tokenisation; what is it, why is it important, how will it change the ecosystem and what are the benefits? In addition, it is important to take into account to define and communicate the scale of change and eliminate certain (wrong) assumptions. Starting with a minimum viable ecosystem to build engagement and showing why a tokenised approach is important can help in market adoption.
When talking about tokenisation of an ecosystem, or multiple ecosystems for that matter, we should also take into account the following subjects:
- Responsibility: define responsibility, who is responsible, what creates what and who might be responsible for possible negative consequences of the tokenisation of the ecosystem?
- Weaker parties: Weaker parties might need a helping hand to participate in the tokenisation of ecosystems.
- Ethics: is the tokenised ecosystem designed with ethics in mind?
- Skin in the game: who are the parties at risk when tokenising an ecosystem? Who can quickly adapt and who might need more help? It is important to try to keep everyone on board. Diversity within and between ecosystems could add a lot of value.
With the above components in place, it becomes easier to design and grow a tokenised ecosystem.
Tokenisation and the Law
When designing tokenised ecosystems, legal compliance is essential to stand apart from unethical and fraudulent counterparts. Therefore, legal design thinking is relevant at the core of every project.
See: Privacy laws might prove to be a blessing in disguise for crypto
It is important to have a clear view of the legal aspects of new developments to obtain regulatory cooperation and closely collaborate (for example, using sandboxes) with regulators and policymakers when designing the tokenised ecosystem. While the community should welcome regulation, regulators and policymakers need to develop regulations that do not stifle innovation. This requires more cooperation and open dialogue between those innovators and the regulators.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Grant Vingoe’s 1 year term ends April 15, what’s next for the OSC?
Investment Executive | Rudy Mezzetta | Feb 16, 2021
Observers aren’t surprised that the Ministry of Finance has yet to name a permanent leader for the OSC
The Ontario government has yet to indicate who it will select to lead the Ontario Securities Commission on a permanent basis, even as the end of the acting chair and CEO’s term approaches.
Grant Vingoe has led the provincial regulator since April, stepping in for Maureen Jensen, who announced her resignation as chair and CEO in January of last year. The government named Vingoe, a vice-chair at the OSC, as chair for a one-year term that expires April 15.
In a statement, the Ontario Ministry of Finance referred Investment Executive to the selection process but didn’t comment on when the government would appoint a permanent chair.
Securities industry observers said they aren’t surprised that the Ministry of Finance has yet to name a permanent chair and CEO for the OSC, considering the many issues confronting the government — chief among them the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The appointment of a new minister of finance may have also contributed to the delay. Peter Bethlenfalvy, who is also president of the Treasury Board of Ontario, replaced Rod Phillips on Dec. 31.
See:
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Big Changes In Financial Regulation: Dialogue With The OSC 2020
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The OSC’s New Innovation Charter: Is this really a ‘new model’?
Over the short term, operating without a permanent leader for the OSC is likely not an issue, Yalden said: “Grant Vingoe is a very credible and steady hand on the tiller.”
In the longer term, however, “I don’t think it’s great to have a situation where the person who is leading the charge and deciding what the regulatory priorities are [for the OSC] isn’t sure whether they’re going to be there in a year, or even in a few months,” Yalden said.
It also remains unclear how Bethlenfalvy intends to proceed with the recommendations made in the recently submitted Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce report, a review of the provincial Securities Act launched by Phillips last year.
The task force report included some 70 wide-ranging recommendations, including expanding the mandate of the OSC; separating the OSC into an adjudicative and regulatory body; and splitting the job of the chair and CEO into two roles.
How the government proceeds on the task force report recommendations is “interrelated” with the question of OSC leadership, Yalden said.
“If they select someone and appoint them as chair and CEO, the inevitable questions will be, ‘What are you doing with the task force report? Do you think that person’s role is going to get split? Do you see that person in the long-term staying on as CEO and then you appoint a chair? Who do you have in mind?’ You can see all those various questions being thrown at the government,” Yalden said.
See:
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OSC unveils charter for office to promote innovation and reduce regulatory burden
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Keynote speech OSC Dialogue Conference
Vingoe himself has not commented publicly regarding his intentions, but the OSC provided a written statement from him in response to questions from Investment Executive.
“My primary focus is responding to the pandemic and the challenges it has created,” Vingoe said. “Since April, the OSC has provided a source of stability for Ontario investors and businesses, and I am proud of our contributions to the province’s financial health. I look forward to continuing engagement with the Minister and Ministry staff as we work together on the province’s path to economic recovery.”
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Public and Private Money Can Coexist in the Digital Age
IMF Blog | Tobias Adrian and Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli | Feb 18, 2021
We value innovation and diversity—including in money. In the same day, we might pay by swiping a card, waving a phone, or clicking a mouse. Or we might hand over notes and coins, though in many countries increasingly less often.
Today’s world is characterized by a dual monetary system, involving privately-issued money—by banks of all types, telecom companies, or specialized payment providers—built upon a foundation of publicly-issued money—by central banks. While not perfect, this system offers significant advantages, including: innovation and product diversity, mostly provided by the private sector, and stability and efficiency, ensured by the public sector.
See: Is Digital Money (Legally) Really Money?
These objectives—innovation and diversity on the one hand, and stability and efficiency on the other—are related. More of one usually means less of the other. A tradeoff exists, and countries—central banks especially—have to navigate it. How much of the private sector to rely upon, versus how much to innovate themselves? Much depends on preferences, available technology, and the efficiency of regulation.
So it is natural, when a new technology emerges, to ask how today’s dual monetary system will evolve. If digitalized cash—called central bank digital currency—does emerge, will it displace privately-issued money, or allow it to flourish? The first is always possible, by way of more stringent regulation. We argue that the second remains possible, by extending the logic of today’s dual monetary system. Importantly, central banks should not face a choice between either offering central bank digital currency, or encouraging the private sector to provide its own digital variant. The two can coincide and complement each other, for example, to the extent central banks make certain design choices and refresh their regulatory frameworks.
Public-private coexistence
It may be puzzling to consider that privately- and publicly-issued monies have coexisted throughout history. Why hasn’t the more innovative, convenient, user-friendly, and adaptable private money taken over entirely?
See: Right to anonymous payments
The answer lies in a fundamental symbiotic relationship: the option to redeem private money into perfectly safe and liquid public money, be it notes and coins, or central bank reserves held by selected banks.
The private monies that can be redeemed at a fixed face value into central bank currency become a stable store of value. Ten dollars in a bank account can be exchanged into a ten-dollar bill accepted as legal tender to settle debts. The example may seem obvious, but it hides complex underpinnings: sound regulation and supervision, government backstops such as deposit insurance and lender last resort, as well as partial or full backing in central bank reserves.
Moreover, privately-issued money becomes an efficient means of payment to the extent it can be redeemed into central bank currency. Anne’s 10 dollars in Bank A can be transferred to Bob’s Bank B because they are redeemed into central bank currency in between—an asset both banks trust, hold, and can exchange. As a result, this privately-issued money becomes interoperable. And so it spurs competition—since Anne and Bob can hold money in different banks and still pay each other—and thus innovation and diversity of actual forms of money.
See: COVID-19: Making the case for robust digital financial infrastructure
In short, the option of redemption into central bank currency is essential for stability, interoperability, innovation, and diversity of privately-issued money, be it a bank account or other. A system with just private money would be far too risky. And one with just central bank currency could miss out on important innovations. Each form of money builds on the other to deliver today’s dual money system—a balance that has served us well.
Central bank currency in the digital age will face pressures
And tomorrow, as we step squarely into the digital age, what will become of this system? Will the digital currencies issued by central banks be so enticing that they overshadow privately-issued money? Or will they still allow for private sector innovation? Much depends on each central bank’s ability and willingness to consistently and significantly innovate. Keeping pace with technological change, rapidly evolving user needs, and private sector innovation is no easy feat.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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SEC Empowers Enforcement Staff To Take Immediate Actions To Combat Emerging Potential Problems | Hester Pierce Calls For Clear Regulations
ComplianceX | Jack Kelly | Feb 15, 2021
Hester Peirce, a commissioner at The Securities and Exchange Commission, called for a “clear cryptocurrency regulatory regime,” as it is “urgently needed as major companies like Tesla Inc, BNY Mellon Corp, and Mastercard Inc embrace the alternative asset class,” reported Reuters
Pierce, affectionately known as “Crypto Mom” by Bitcoin enthusiasts, has been a big proponent for regulators to enact rules that would make it clear what actions could be taken in regards to the marketing, purchasing, selling, and trading of the array of different crypto currencies.
Crypto Mom Peirce views the new Biden Administration as a change agent for regulations saying
“a new administration brings the chance to take a fresh look, but it also is a moment where it seems others in the marketplace are also taking a fresh look.”
Recently Tesla’s Elon Musk tweeted about a little-known crypto and the value skyrocketed. Musk also said his company, Tesla, invested roughly $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency. Other big-name corporations shared their interest in this space. The well-established BNY Mellon announced that it would allow clients to hold, transfer, and issue digital assets. Mastercard said it would open up its network to certain cryptocurrencies.
See: Hester Peirce Says SEC Enforcement is Not the Way to Provide Crypto Clarity
Pointing to the recent battle royale between Reddit-driven day traders and short-selling hedge funds, along with Robin Hood’s ceasing trading in stocks popular with the social media trading crowd, has brought renewed attention to Wall Street’s questionable activities. Some people claim that regulators have not been empowered during the last four years under former Donald Trump and there could be a myriad of other issues bubbling up from beneath the muck. This would call for enhanced investigations and examinations. The SEC recently reported that it will empower supervisors to take swift actions based on their own decision-making process if they believe there is foul play in the marketplace.
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The SEC Is Empowering Enforcement Staff To Take Immediate Actions To Combat Emerging Potential Problems
ComplianceX | | Feb 15, 2021
Former President Trump isn’t a fan of regulations.* During his campaign for the Presidency in 2016, Trump was clear in promising a clampdown on regulations, saying for every one newly proposed rule two regulations would have to be ripped-up.
He believed that rules stood in the way of businesses succeeding. According to The Wall Street Journal, the data shows that his administration wasn’t too concerned about The Securities and Exchange Commission vigorously investigating matters writing “The number of new investigations fell every year during the Trump administration, from 1,063 in 2016 to 827 in 2019,” and the number of completed enforcement actions by the SEC “fell from 548 in 2016 to 405 in 2020.”
President Joe Biden seems to have a more robust regulatory plan in mind. The WSJ reported that the SEC “will give more power to its enforcement staff to launch investigations,” which indicates “an early sign that it plans to become more assertive under the Biden administration.”
The SEC will permit “enforcement supervisors to authorize investigations, permitting about 36 senior officials at the agency to subpoena companies and individuals for records or testimony.”
SEC acting Chair Allison Herren Lee said Tuesday “Returning this authority to the division’s experienced senior officers, who have a proven track record of executing it prudently, helps to ensure that investigative staff can work effectively to protect investors.”
This new measure will enable the regulatory agency to move more quickly when they notice possible violations of rules, regulations, and laws. It’s also believed that the new SEC chair, Gary Gensler, will be “more active in looking for misconduct and fraud at big financial institutions.”
This will be good news for compliance, legal, risk, audit, anti-money laundering, and related regulatory-oriented professionals. The anticipated renewed vigor and regulatory activism will likely spur an increase in the hiring of professionals in this sector. Prior to Trump’s administration, under President Obama, Compliance was a blazing hot area for jobs. It cooled off under Trump and now is positioned to become great again.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Canadian Regulators Green Light World’s First Bitcoin ETF for Retail Investors
Bloomberg Canada | Olivia Raimonde and Claire Ballentine | Feb 12, 2021
Purpose Investments Inc. said Canadian securities regulators have cleared the launch of the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, making it the first to gain regulatory approval in North America.
The fund is designed to provide investors with exposure to the world’s largest cryptocurrency by investing directly in physically settled Bitcoin, the company said in a statement. While this is set to be the first investment vehicle for Bitcoin that’s officially labeled an exchange-traded fund, Europe boasts several “physically backed” Bitcoin exchange-traded products that effectively function just like an ETF.
See: ‘Shark Tank’ investor Kevin O’Leary says bitcoin is too volatile for his portfolio — but says he would own a crypto ETF
This isn’t the first time Canada has beat the U.S. in regulatory approval for ETFs. Canadians launched the first ETF ever and also released marijuana-related funds prior to their southern neighbors. Industry participants say this is a positive sign for firms hoping to offer their own ETFs on a U.S. exchange. You can learn more about ETFs by simply clicking "buy homework " at one of the sites that are ready to do research for you.
“Canada has a long history of approving new types of ETFs before the U.S. And the U.S. has a history of following. Thus, we think this is net net good news for Bitcoin hopes in the U.S.,” said Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
There are currently at least four active filings for a Bitcoin ETF in Canada yet to be approved, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The companies that have filed since the start of the year are Evolve Funds, Horizons ETFs, Accelerate Financial and Arxnovum Investments.
“We are excited by this development for the entire industry, but more importantly for investors who would like regulated and transparent exposure to this new asset class,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Management.
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Global and Mail | Clare O’Hara | Feb 12, 2021
Canada approves world’s first bitcoin ETF for retail investors
Purpose Investments Inc. has been cleared by regulators to launch the world’s first bitcoin exchange traded fund, opening the door for retail investors to more easily access a cryptocurrency that had been stalled by regulators for years. This will be a big step forward for ecommerce software development.
On Thursday, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) gave the green light for Purpose Investments, the asset management arm of Purpose Financial LP, to launch the Purpose Bitcoin ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Under the ticker BTCC, the fund will begin to trade on Feb. 18 and invest directly in bitcoin, allowing retail investors to access the cryptocurrency without the need for a digital wallet.
See: Fintech Fridays EP50: Compliance to the Moon
Purpose Financial chief executive officer Som Seif, an ETF veteran, says he and his team had private discussions with the OSC over the past eight months to finalize the launch of the ETF. He said that, since 2017, regulators have become more comfortable with the asset class as institutional investors have adopted cryptocurrencies more widely and there is more infrastructure to support the asset.
“There is a greater recognition that this is an asset class that investors are drawn to whether the regulators like it or not,“ Mr. Seif said. “I think the regulators now recognize that creating an efficient, regulated structure is a much better outcome for investors’ protection than some of the things we have seen in recent years that went unregulated, were either outright fraudulent or left investors paying egregious fees.”
In recent weeks, several ETF providers filed a preliminary prospectus with the OSC in hopes of being the first to market. Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc., Evolve Funds, Accelerate Financial Technologies Inc. and newcomer Arxnovum Investments Inc. have all publicly applied with regulators to list a bitcoin ETF that would also trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
See: Are Stablecoins Better Than Bitcoin?
In the United States, more than 10 investment companies have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for similar products. Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden appointed a new SEC chair, prompting hopes that a bitcoin ETF could be approved in 2021.
The OSC’s approval of BTCC could nudge other markets to see similar products come to light.
“The SEC will definitely feel the pressure to allow such a product to come to the marketplace because there are already products in the market that are taking advantage of the exposure of bitcoin that are not efficient for investors and are not being done in a regulated format like the SEC would want,” Mr. Seif said.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Fintech Fridays EP50: Compliance to the Moon
NCFA Canada | Feb 12, 2021
JOIN US ON A STORYTELLING JOURNEY EVERY FRIDAY.
EP50: Compliance to the Moon
Featured Guest:
MARK BINNS, Chief Executive Officer, BIGG Digital Assets Inc. (LinkedIn);
BIGG CEO, Mark Binns Quote: “BIGG is a compliance-first crypto company that believes Bitcoin offers the best store of value for its free cash flows. This has led us to adopt an initiative of reinvestment into the underlying asset of our industry. Of late, we are seeing a surge in the number of corporations buying Bitcoin to hold as a treasury reserve asset. We have held Bitcoin on our balance sheet since 2017, and foresee the next evolution being the investment of fiat profits into crypto. BIGG aims to be at the forefront of this movement. Profits from Netcoins’ trading and Blockchain Intelligence Group’s software sales earned in fiat will be converted into and held in Bitcoin, until such time as required by operational demands. The decision to roll forward our profits into Bitcoin, where we anticipate returns to outpace fiat values, is easy and highly strategic.”
About BIGG Digital Assets Inc.
BIGG Digital Assets Inc. (BIGG) believes the future of crypto is a safe, compliant, and regulated environment. BIGG invests in products and companies to support this vision. BIGG owns two operating companies: Netcoins (netcoins.ca) and Blockchain Intelligence Group (blockchaingroup.io).
Netcoins develops brokerage and exchange software to make the purchase and sale of cryptocurrency easily accessible to the mass consumer and investor with a focus on compliance and safety. Netcoins utilizes BitRank Verified® software at the heart of its platform and facilitates crypto trading via a self-serve crypto brokerage portal at Netcoins.app.
Blockchain Intelligence Group (BIG) has developed a Blockchain-agnostic search and analytics engine, QLUETM, enabling Law Enforcement, RegTech, Regulators and Government Agencies to visually track, trace and monitor cryptocurrency transactions at a forensic level. Our commercial product, BitRank Verified®, offers a “risk score” for cryptocurrencies, enabling RegTech, banks, ATMs, exchanges, and retailers to meet traditional regulatory/compliance requirements.
For more information and to register to BIGG’s mailing list, please visit our website at https://www.biggdigitalassets.com.
Trade Symbols: CSE: BIGG | OTC: BBKCF | WKN: A2PS9W
About this episode:
On this milestone episode, our host Manseeb Khan sits down with Mark Binns CEO of BIGG Digital Assets. They cover the rally behind bitcoin, big tech investing in crypto, and giving your kids crypto instead of fiat for allowance money. Enjoy!
Subscribe and tune in each Friday to check out the latest movers and shakers in fintech. Listen to more podcasts here:
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Fintech Friday Transcript of Episode 50: Mark Binns of BIGG Digital Assets Inc.
Intro: Welcome to fintech Friday's a weekly podcast brought to you by the National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada and partners. Covering all things fintech, blockchain, AI and alternative finance.
Manseeb Khan : [00:00:00] For Episode 50, I got Mark Binns. Mark, thank you so much for sitting down with me today.
Mark Binns: [00:00:34] Yeah, great to be here. I'm excited to talk with you today.
Manseeb Khan : [00:00:37] Awesome. So, Mark, could you just for, I guess, the five or six people that may not know who you are and what BIGG Digital Assets is could just give us a rundown of what big is and a little bit of background of who you are.
Mark Binns: [00:00:52] Yeah, absolutely. So BIGG Digital Assets, publicly-traded company on the CSC in Canada under the ticker BIGG. We're a compliance first crypto company. And what that means is BIGG is a company that has found a way to make money in the compliance and regulatory space around cryptocurrency. We own two operating businesses. One is called Blockchain Intelligence Group, and it's a crypto forensics software company. We make products that help track crypto through the blockchain and the other companies called Netcoins. And that coins is a crypto exchange in Canada, mainly focused in the Canadian market. And both of those companies together make up BIGG Digital Assets. My background and how I got involved is I actually did an undergrad in computer science. I'm a tech guy first and foremost. I used to write code for a living and then I got interested in the business side of technology. So I got my MBA from Western and started a consulting company and built and grew a couple of different consulting companies doing marketing and growth advisory to tech companies. And around twenty thirteen, the world's first Bitcoin ATM was launched in Vancouver, where I'm where I live. And it was a big, exciting event in the tech scene. And everybody was going to see this first-ever Bitcoin ATM. And I went down, had a look and said, wow, that's pretty cool technology. And there was a guy there named Mitch Demeter who was actually launching that machine. And funny enough, it got me interested in crypto started paying attention. I got into the space in about twenty seventeen with Netcoins and one of the very first hires I made was Mitche Demeter, the guy who opened that Bitcoin A.T.M, and he's now the president of the Netcoins division of big digital assets. So, you know, it's it's an exciting place to be. And I couldn't be happier that I ended up here in the crypto world.
Manseeb Khan : [00:02:48] Yeah, it's it's kind of crazy how things worked out in that unheard of. Like, who would have thought that you'd meet the guy that first launched Bitcoin ATMs and then later down the line you're like, hey, you know what? Let's make something. Let's make something together.
Mark Binns: [00:03:02] I think he was so successful. He put those ATMs all over the world and he started an early crypto exchange called Bitcoiniacs and sold those and retired. And I had to convince him in twenty seventeen. I said, come on, give out a retirement, get back in the game. Crypto is getting exciting again. Like you're right. Let's do it.
Manseeb Khan : [00:03:20] No, it's honestly it's a very it's an amazing move on your end. So when you talk about compliance first crypto. Right. Why is compliance so important in crypto now that now that crypto is getting more attention, as it seems like by hour?
Mark Binns: [00:03:37] Yeah, absolutely. Compliance is important to protect the retail investor, the institutional investor. But the little guy, that's sort of why there is rules in financial services all over the world and it's for protection. So if you're buying Bitcoin on an exchange, you're spending two hundred dollars as an individual, that might be a really important two hundred dollars to you. You don't want to find out that that exchange was actually a pyramid scheme or something and fraudulent in your your two hundred dollars of the bitcoin disappears. So compliance isn't there to try to de-anonymize the blockchain or anything of the sort. It's there to protect the endpoints, which are usually the exchanges and the investors in the ecosystem, and make sure that the companies that are taking their money are are legit. And it also helps law enforcement. So we make products at Blockchain Intelligence Group that help law enforcement investigate crypto crime. And if you have these tools that will reduce the likelihood people will commit crimes and they know there is law enforcement, there's rule of law. So all of it really ties together for protection of people in the ecosystem. And, you know, there's a great market opportunity for us in that space by being leaders in the regulated and the compliance side of crypto.
Manseeb Khan : [00:05:01] Yeah, it's actually very amazing to see we're going on three years of having Fintech Fridays, and like if honestly, if I had you on two years ago and we talk about regulation and like all government getting involved, like honestly, like it was really a joke because like it was these are conversations just now starting to happen. But really there was no headway. There was no direction. But now, you know, with Blockchain intelligence, what you guys are doing with law enforcement, even with Secret Service in and of itself, we've come so far and it's only the beginning. And that that to me is just incredible and also wild at the same time.
Mark Binns: [00:05:37] Yeah, absolutely.
Manseeb Khan : [00:05:38] So Bitcoin is back in the news. I mean, people people thought I was going to crash, you know, people I've had my group chats have been blowing up my friends are like what's going on, like what are we doing? you told us to put money in this? So can you just walk us through what's going on with Bitcoin right now and like, what's your take on it?
Mark Binns: [00:06:01] The big thing happening in Bitcoin and crypto overall overall right now is institutional buy in. This is what's changing the fall of twenty seventeen crypto on its last run before the current one, when Bitcoin went up to nineteen thousand USD, and then it turned around and went all the way back down to something like thirty five hundred. That was a total retail rally. So that was small investors buying small amounts of bitcoin. The rally that happens is happening now since about mid last year and particularly the early stages of twenty twenty one is because of institutional involvement. It started with PayPal saying that they were going to get involved in crypto and let the individual person spend crypto on purchases day to day and then big buy-in on Treasury. That's the other big one. So company called MicroStrategy Nasdaq listed company said we're going to buy four to five hundred million dollars with a Bitcoin and keep our reserve cash in Bitcoin instead of US dollars. And part of that is because of the money printing going on in the US dollar, the Canadian dollar, the pound tied to the pandemic and covid. There's a huge lack of store of value in fiat currency right now. So they said we can do better, we're going to put this money into Bitcoin and we believe that will give us better returns. And then people started wake it up because it was half a billion dollars in a Nasdaq listed public company. And then Square went out and bought fifty million dollars. And That's Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter, a lot of attention on it. And then it started a bit of an institutional rally where companies realized, oh, yeah, that might be a good store value. And just last week, Tesla bought one point five billion dollars worth of crypto to just a store on their balance sheet instead of holding it in US dollars. The current rumor is that Apple might actually step in and start buying Bitcoin on its balance sheet. And this is the difference is now an institutional investment rally, institutional involvement on spending, institutional involvement on saving. And it's bringing real credibility to Bitcoin in particular. But crypto overall as a store of value.
Manseeb Khan : [00:08:12] Mm hmm. So, yeah, no, this is this is actually incredible, right. Because, you know, majority of cryptocurrency is the people that have been kind of rallying behind it, like you said, were many retail investors. Right. People just, you know, seeing what's going on with fiat currency, if you will be able to understand the market a little bit and seeing that, hey, you know, having money in just traditional assets like cash, it doesn't make any sense. Right. Especially now with the pandemic, everything is kind of a lack of a better word is going to shit. You know, they need to have more control of their money. Right. So cryptocurrency is a great place to do it. So what's BIGG Digital's play in this right now?
Mark Binns: [00:08:52] It's a two-pronged approach. So first of all, yeah, we have Netcoins. Right. Which is our exchange. And people need to get into crypto. You need an onramp. So Netcoins is an on-ramp. You can email money, wire money, bill pay money into the platform, traditional fiat currency. And with that, you can buy crypto, you can buy your bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, whatever you're looking for. So as adoption is rising, values are rising. Investors looking to access the space can use Netcoin's platform to onramp into the space. And with blocks intelligence group, it's the law enforcement side. So the more involvement the everyday consumer has in crypto, the unfortunately, the more crime will tend to rise, the more use of crypto through the ecosystem. There will be just like the crime. There will be crime involving crypto and our tools are extremely valuable. Some of the only tools in the world that you can use to properly track the movement of crypto through the blockchain so you can do law enforcement. So our customers are everyone from the US Secret Service down to Singapore Police Department, Hong Kong police department. Canadian law enforcement and we're helping market participants stay safe.
Manseeb Khan : [00:10:06] Yeah, and that's one of the biggest, I guess, knock on crypto is the fact that, you know, criminals use it, terrorist organizations use it like you can you know, you can put money in today, and then tomorrow it's gone. Right. That's the fact that you guys are spending a lot of time and energy to work with law enforcement of some countries to make sure that's not the case and to make sure that it is accessible for everybody because we're having new investors come in by the hour and to make sure that the money just doesn't disappear. That in and of itself is very incredible.
Mark Binns: [00:10:39] Yeah, thanks. I mean, it's a fast-moving ecosystem, it's growing quickly, it's changing every day. And again, we want to be part of the future and the growth and the prosperity of the industry. So we're doing our part.
Manseeb Khan : [00:10:54] Yeah, that's awesome. So, you know, you mentioned what with one of your pronged approach is you have you know, you're having more and more people invest in crypto. What is your take on these Meme coins, such as dogecoin? Right. You see it, Elon Musk's tweet out the wazoo about, you know, like going to the moon. I'm getting my friends literally just moon emojis and rocketships emojis every morning when I wake up, like, what's your take on that? You see, I guess organizations like yourself later on having like meme coins on your sheets for people to buy?
Mark Binns: [00:11:32] Well, we it's an it's exciting, I guess, is what you would say. I mean, the meme coins bring a little bit of excitement to the industry. They certainly create interest. They get people talking. They get dogs. Images of dogs flying on rockets to the moon sent around. Elon is waking up and I'm tweeting about it. It's creating PR and awareness for space. And that's the part I like about it. It's getting more people going. What is this thing about? Oh, it's crypto or what is crypto. Right. And getting more people involved in the ecosystem and paying attention, whether there's a real future for these coins or not, it's very up to debate. I mean, buying Dogecoin right now is a lot like going to the casino, right? It could triple tomorrow. It could also easily get cut in the third tomorrow. Right. It's based on nothing but speculation. And there isn't a traditional custody for a lot of these meme coins and coins. What I mean by that is a proper institutional grade, cold storage, insurance, etc. So because of that, they won't be adopted the same way as a Bitcoin Litecoin, Ethereum will be most likely. So the jury's out on where they go. I think they're interesting for the excitement of the space, but I certainly do not believe they're a safe bet for a store of value. They're much more like a lottery ticket.
Manseeb Khan : [00:12:57] Yeah, of course. Yeah. I think you got a really good point. They do bring an amazing amount of attention to it. Is it the right kind of attention? I mean, the jury's still out on that, right? Because it's still a very ever-expanding and rapidly growing space. But the fact but like all attention is good attention at this point, especially in a space where the more people, the more eyeballs that we can get on the space, the better, because that we can show. Yeah, you know, like there's dogecoin, there's everything else. But there are so many other amazing, like companies out there that that are just using that using crypto for the greater good. Right. Be it through loans, be it through buying a house, just like the tech aspect of what you can kind of build on top of these cryptocurrencies. That in and of itself is very amazing. So kind of tying back to what I previously I was like. So we have companies like Tesla with Tesla-like you said, square of rumors of Apple, you having all these big names, you know, take some of the cash reserves and put into cryptocurrency. Right? Do you see more big brands doing the same thing and do and I guess and secondarily the fact that they would be doing the same thing? Do you think having these big companies? Own cryptocurrency, you think that's going to push the government or speed up the government regulation when it comes to cryptocurrency?
Mark Binns: [00:14:24] Yeah, absolutely. So first and foremost, I think there's going to be continued adoption of large corporations, public companies, private companies, insurance companies, you name it, buying crypto. I think Tesla's the start. There is the rumor Apple will buy crypto for the balance sheet. If Apple does buy every publicly traded company, the United States will have free reign to do the same, just sort of like no one gets fired for buying. IBM was the same back in the day. Now it's like if you say, Hey, Apple, Apple bought Bitcoin and you're the CFO of a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq, you can do it, too. Now, you can say, look, Apple did it and they're one of the most reputable companies in the world. So it's not a fly by night type of decision. They truly believe in the store value. They wouldn't do it. So I think you will see a continued adoption. You're going to see more and more insurance companies doing it. MassMutual about one hundred million dollars. And someone said, why so much? And the CEO is quoted as saying, well, that's a tiny amount. We manage billions. One hundred million. It's just a test. So you're going to see a lot more adoption of crypto on balance sheets. I truly believe that there's even discussion that the bond market might move towards crypto underlying assets of the trillion-dollar bond market, which is supposed to be sort of the longer-term stable store of value for Fiat, could start taking positions in crypto or crypto, could supplant the bond market or supplement the bond market. So I think that is all coming. I really do believe that. And that's why you're going to see a continued increase in the value of their currencies, namely Bitcoin because when you have that kind of adoption is only ever going to be twenty-one million Bitcoin. So you'll expect to see a continued rise in the valuation as demand goes up. The supply is not changing.
Manseeb Khan : [00:16:19] That's. Yeah, I agree with you. There's always I always forget that the sort of finite amount of bitcoin because the prices have skyrocketed. Oh yeah. There's only so much bitcoin that you can purchase. So why would a company want to put the cash reserves in crypto? I mean, aside from big names buying into it, I guess like from a company perspective, like, you know, you being a CEO of a company, you having balance sheets you have in cash reserves, why why would companies put their money in cryptocurrency then cash?
Mark Binns: [00:16:51] I think there are two reasons. No. One is truly a store of value. It's like putting your money in an interest account except for an interest account might make you a percent or half a percent a year. Whereas you look at Bitcoin, it's been the best performing asset over the past one to five and 10-year time horizons. If you put it in to keep it and feel it. All you're seeing right now is a continued printing of money by world governments, US government, the Canadian government, the Canadian US governments have printed more money this year than they did in the last hundred years combined. And that is going to be incredibly. Bad situation for the value of those dollars, right, long term. So as a corporation, it's just a smart, safe place to keep your financial reserves. So they're buying power, stays where it is or grows as opposed to shrinking. So that's I think that's a big part of the secondary part is there are some companies using it as a way to make their company more valuable in the eyes of investors. So MicroStrategy for sure, but crypto, so people would buy MicroStrategy stock as a proxy for owning crypto or owning a bitcoin and crypto miners valuations, are generally based on how much Bitcoin they're holding on their balance sheet, or hodling, as they say, and other regular companies can do the same thing. You can buy Bitcoin, have it on the balance sheet. And if you're a publicly traded, people will buy into your company because they know it'll be worth more in the future for them today because it has Bitcoin on the balance sheet,
Manseeb Khan : [00:18:28] Of course. Yeah, that makes sense. You know. You know, it reminds me of talking to like we had we've had VCs on the on previous episodes. And of one of the things that they've mentioned was like how you have companies now they'll put like cryptocurrency and like AI got their pitch just to name just to see more value. Like even though the company has nothing to do with AI, there's no AI involvement whatsoever. There's no cryptocurrency involvement. There's no blockchain involvement whatsoever. But the fact that they have these buzzwords in their pitch like it's it just increases their value.
Mark Binns: [00:19:05] You know, there was a big twenty seventeen thing. I remember the juice company Iced Tea Bottling Company of New York, USA became the blockchain ice tea company or something. They literally just put it in their name and they got all this attention to this like value. But yeah, just a PR stunt that one.
Manseeb Khan : [00:19:24] So how do you see I mean, now we have big companies coming into the market? All of us are getting more retail investors day to day. How does this accelerate innovation in the space? And I guess what innovation do you see happening in the space?
Manseeb Khan : [00:19:41] Well, innovation comes from corporate involvement, right? So most innovation has to do with a company that's looking to create a financial opportunity for themselves through some new technology. And then you get more and more corporations involved in whatever way with crypto and aware of it, the more likely they're going to drive forward and create innovations and put investment into the space. You look at companies doing things like helping build the Lightning Network for faster transaction processing and payments on top of Bitcoin. That's coming because more and more corporations are involved. So I really believe that corporate involvement in the institutional involvement we see now will put more money into innovation and searching for more ways to exploit the opportunity around crypto, which will just naturally move the market forward.
Manseeb Khan : [00:20:30] Mm hmm. Yeah, no, I mean, that makes total sense. Or you need these big movers and shakers in the space to move and shake anything at all. Right. Like, you know, the Lightning Network is something I've been hearing about for like two years now, and it's still going. There hasn't been any any any system in place yet. So it definitely makes it makes a lot of sense, I guess. Where do you see just crypto as a general heading in the future? Do you see I mean, Do you see like your kids or any of these Tik Toc kids using cryptocurrency. Like where do you where you see cryptocurrency heading?
Mark Binns: [00:21:11] And I see a general adoption both in payments and also in-store value. So a cross between gold or people own it just to have it as is value that will increase in the future. And Fiat which people are using to buy goods and services. I hear about lots of parents now that pay their kids allowance and crypto because they believe that I mean, you could give them twenty dollars and in three years it'll still be worth twenty dollars, or you can give them twenty dollars worth of Bitcoin that in three years will probably be worth one hundred dollars. That's theory. So you see a movement of all sorts of. Yeah. Investment, payment, daily use. I think it really is going to infiltrate our lives. As you see PayPal making it available to twenty million Americans to buy goods and services. That's pretty exciting. And you see merchant adoption and acceptance. Now there are all sorts of merchants that will accept payment. Tesla just announced as part of their acquisition of Bitcoin, also that accept payment in Bitcoin for cars. Big corporations are starting to do it. I know Dell does it. Overstock.com does it. I believe Microsoft does it. I think Amazon is. Or talking about it, so as soon as people can spend it and in the meantime when they're not spending, I believe they'll get a bigger return on their investment than sitting in a fiat currency. It'll just be a self-perpetuating situation. So I really do see crypto over the coming years becoming part of your daily life financially.
Manseeb Khan : [00:22:51] Yeah, no, I mean, paying me the allowance and crypto, that's a very wild, wild, a very amazing idea. And it makes sense. I like living in like, you know, living in a post covid world. It makes sense that you'd want to invest in something digital. Right. You want to make sure you have at least as many touchpoints as you possibly can. Cash is one of them. Right. Not like the ATM, taking it out, touching. It just so many light touchpoints, like, I don't want it. I don't want my change back.
Mark Binns: [00:23:18] Like, take it. Look, I don't want I have friends who gave their kids crypto as Christmas presents on ledgers. And I have there are all sorts of examples now of the use of crypto in the store, crypto becoming part of everyday lives like two and three-year-olds. I have crypto in my kids. RESP's is now the new financial instruments where you can buy it in RSPs and TFSA and RESPs and yeah, like basically savings accounts that are tied to crypto with underlying derivative assets. It's pretty exciting.
Manseeb Khan : [00:23:53] Yeah. I mean especially like tiebacks where you sort of like if the bond market summerlike has a little bit of crypto into it and oh my goodness, I know my grandmother would be super happy with all the bonds that she was buying me if I could change them over to crypto.
Mark Binns: [00:24:09] There you go. Yeah. Awesome. So, Mark, is there, you know, aside from everything, what else is aside from Bitcoin and what's going on in big tech? what likes what are the things that you find interesting in the market? What what are the things that are like keeping you up at night or things that you're very excited to buy in the next coming years?
Mark Binns: [00:24:35] Yeah, I think it's an I'm excited about the things we don't know anything. Right. So we know what we know. But there's the old saying. You don't know what you don't know. There's there are innovations happening in every corner of blockchain. And I haven't, of course, seen them all. But every day I wake up and see some new novel way to use crypto or new novel technology to crypto. And I don't know where it's going to go. And that's sort of what's exciting. Nothing's changing, really, in the fiat world. Crypto, you're getting things like exchange-traded funds starting in futures trading. And like I talk about people giving it to their kids with allowance, but the technology around payments and processing transactions like the Lightning Network on top of Bitcoin, it's all just moving so quickly that it's as I have friends say, it's hard to sleep at night. You want to wake up every day and see what's changed and what's moving in the news tied to crypto. You're going to see governments get involved. I think there's this move towards central bank digital currencies, which is really just the digitization of their existing currencies, not true crypto occurrences that are decentralized. But I do think you will see governments start to get involved in true crypto decentralized currencies. There's an example of a small town in Ontario that you can now pay your property tax and get to it. Yeah, Innisville, all they do is take the crypto and sell it immediately and put the cash in the bank. But it does open up more cool uses for the technology. And you're going to see more and more governments getting involved one way or another. And that's just going to help accelerate the adoption.
Manseeb Khan : [00:26:16] Yeah, no, I mean, I'm excited to have more. Yeah, I'm excited to. You know, when we open back up and so I can travel around Canada, I got to just pull up in like a small town in Alberta and just pay for my Tim Hortons coffee in the of Bitcoin that I think that they'll be amazing.
Mark Binns: [00:26:33] You're going to tap your Visa card and it's going to withdraw instead of fiat it from an account. It's going to basically convert some crypto into payment instantly and give it to the guy at Tim Hortons.
Manseeb Khan : [00:26:45] Yeah, so that'll be amazing. Mark, thank you so much for sitting down today. What would be the best way to either get in touch with you or even get in touch with BIGG?
Mark Binns: [00:26:57] Yeah, you can check out our website, Bigg Digital Assets dot com, and be more than happy to hear from anyone mark@biggdigitalassets.com is my email address. Happy to talk about crypto. Happy to talk about BIGG and reach out any time.
Manseeb Khan : [00:27:11] Awesome. Thanks so much, Mark.
Mark Binns: [00:27:12] My pleasure.
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