Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
May 26, 2026 | NCFA Resource | Artificial Intelligence And Data, Risk Compliance And Regtech, Payments And Market Infrastructure

On May 15, 2026, the Bank of Canada published Integrating Non-traditional Data and AI into Central Banking. The staff paper examines how central banks use artificial intelligence and non traditional data in research, operations, payments monitoring, forecasting, and policy support.
The paper stays close to real operating problems. It focuses on data quality, model governance, human oversight, vendor risk, cybersecurity, and moving AI pilots into production.
The paper shows how central banks use non traditional data from payment transactions, earnings call transcripts, satellite images, job postings, social media, scanner data, and real time business activity. It also explains how AI supports inflation tracking, nowcasting, anomaly detection, payments monitoring, internal automation, and policy work.
One Bank of Canada automation project improved filing accuracy to 99.5% and saved about 1.25 person years of staff capacity. The paper also cites a BIS survey showing more than 90% of responding central banks are moderately or extensively discussing AI internally.
The most useful section sets out six accelerators for responsible AI adoption in central banking. They include sandbox environments, technology readiness checks, high quality data, reusable development patterns, scale planning, and risk governance. The framework also applies to regulated financial institutions that need to transition AI from experiments into controlled production, similar to broader work underway around customer due diligence controls for fintechs.
This resource is useful for fintech founders, AI governance teams, regtech providers, financial institutions, payment companies, policy teams, investors, and compliance leaders.
It is especially relevant for teams building explainable AI, payment intelligence, anomaly detection, compliance automation, model governance, and trusted workflow tools.
The strength is its operating detail and the fact that the paper doesn't treat AI as a generic productivity story. It shows why regulated financial institutions need explainability, auditability, strong data controls, and clear ownership before AI can support high stakes decisions.
The paper also points to a real market gap. Central banks may need specialized AI tools and deeper in house expertise because many commercial systems are not designed for monetary policy analysis, payments oversight, or central bank operations.
The limit is scope. This is a central banking paper, not a commercialization guide. It does not estimate vendor spending, market size, adoption timelines, or private sector demand. Its value is the framework and the operating discipline behind it.
Bank Of Canada AI And Non Traditional Data Paper (primary Bank of Canada resource)
AI Agents Enter Governed Financial Workflows (AI governance and controls)
Tokenization Starts Looking Like Financial Infrastructure (regulated financial infrastructure)
Deloitte And Stablecorp Bring QCAD To Banks (Canadian payment infrastructure)
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, artificial intelligence, 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
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
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, artificial intelligence, 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
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
May 19, 2026 | NCFA Insight | Capital Markets And Funding, Crowdfunding, Regulation And Policy

On May 16, 2026, U.S. Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) marked 10 years since eligible companies could start raising capital under the SEC’s final crowdfunding rules. Our colleagues at Crowdfund Insider posted New 10 year Reg CF data from Crowdfund Capital Advisors (CCA) providing the market with a full decade of evidence, certainly something rare in early stage finance.
For NCFA and its community, this milestone deserves attention, since the association has supported investment crowdfunding through advocacy, education, market intelligence, and ecosystem building for well over a decade. In 2022, Fintech Fridays hosted a special episode on 10 Years of Investment Crowdfunding, focused on the JOBS Act. This 2026 anniversary is different because it's been 10 years since Reg CF actually went live.
The data suggests that a meaningful portion of companies using Reg CF were not just raising money once and disappearing. CCA reviewed 10,771 offerings by 8,955 issuers, and 6,063 issuers completed 7,459 offerings. Those numbers show a market with repeat activity, not just one off campaigns.
The revenue data sends a stronger business signal. Among issuers with three or more revenue data points, CCA reports 27% median annualized revenue growth, with 70% growing revenue and a 1.81x median revenue multiple. This means many companies with enough reporting history showed measurable operating growth after raising capital through crowdfunding. That supports the case that Reg CF financed real businesses, not only speculative startups.
Among issuers that raised multiple rounds, CCA reports a 24% median valuation CAGR, a 1.54x median valuation step up, and valuation increases for 79% of multi round issuers. That suggests many repeat issuers returned to the market with stronger investor validation and higher implied company value.
The repeat raise numbers are important too. More than 7,400 successful offerings from about 6,000 issuers suggests a meaningful number of companies returned to the market more than once. That points to crowdfunding evolving beyond one time community fundraising into an ongoing capital formation channel for some businesses.
Sherwood Neiss, Principal, Crowdfund Capital Advisors:
“A decade of actual market data tells a completely different story.”
That sentence captures why this milestone matters. Reg CF didn't replace venture capital like many suggested. It didn't solve every funding gap, but it democratized and proved that regulated online capital formation can support real issuers, real investor participation, and measurable growth over time.
The strongest data point is not only the growth metrics. It's now also about discipline. CCA separates issuers that keep reporting and return to the market from those that disappear from the data. It's important because transparency creates trust. A crowdfunding market cannot mature if investors, platforms, regulators, and researchers cannot track performance after the raise.
CCA reports that there's a large compliance gap in reporting. Among 5,077 Reg CF issuers with active annual reporting obligations, only 301, or 5.9%, are fully current. Another 32.4% are partially current, while 61.7% are not current. It's a gap that needs to be fixed. It is a reason to modernize reporting, reduce unnecessary friction, and build better data infrastructure.
Canada should use the Reg CF 10 year milestone to modernize investment crowdfunding. The current $1.5 million 12 month issuer cap under National Instrument 45-110 now acts as a real constraint for stronger companies, especially when campaigns can approach the limit before meeting full market demand. NCFA has long argued that Canada risks falling behind international peers that raised their crowdfunding limits years ago, including the U.S., which increased the Reg CF cap to USD $5 million in 2021.
Canada should raise the issuer cap, index it to inflation, and create a higher fundraising tier for issuers that meet stronger disclosure, financial reporting, and portal due diligence standards. NCFA has also previously advocated for right sized disclosure rules, including director and officer certified financial statements for smaller raises, reviewed financial statements for mid sized raises, and audited financials only for larger raises where the added cost is proportionate.
Investor participation rules also need modernization. Canada should review the current retail investment limits, allow greater participation from experienced and repeat crowdfunding investors, and explore a knowledge based or self certified investor category with appropriate safeguards. A modern private capital market should not assume that all retail investors have the same risk profile, sophistication, or investing experience.
Structural incentives would help strengthen the market further. Canada should explore clearer pathways for TFSA and RRSP eligibility where appropriate, support secondary market liquidity after holding periods, and encourage co investment structures that allow funds, angels, and retail investors to participate together in compliant online financings.
Canada needs standardized campaign data, stronger post raise reporting, issuer education, and technology enabled compliance for KYC, background checks, risk warnings, issuer updates, and ongoing disclosure. NCFA previously covered why Reg CF data quality matters. If regulators and policymakers rely on incomplete reporting data, they risk misunderstanding how capital actually forms, performs, and scales through online private markets.
A stronger crowdfunding market doesn't require weaker oversight. It requires smarter rules, better data, and a funding framework that reflects how modern private capital forms online.
The 10 year Reg CF story is evidence that digital investment markets can widen participation, support early stage companies, and create a more transparent private capital market. The next phase should focus on quality, not just volume. Better issuer readiness, clearer post raise reporting, credible data, secondary liquidity experiments, and stronger investor education can help crowdfunding move from alternative finance into core capital formation infrastructure.
For NCFA, this is also a moment to recognize the builders, platforms, lawyers, advocates, educators, investors, and founders who kept pushing when the market was dismissed as too small or too risky. Reg CF at 10 shows that the model works when policy, platforms, and market discipline move together. Canada should not watch from the sidelines at a time when more capital needs to flow.
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, artificial intelligence, 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
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
May 18, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Artificial Intelligence And Data, Capital Markets And Funding

Image: Unsplash/ThisisEngineering
On May 18, 2026, Vancouver based public quantum technology company BTQ Technologies provided its Q1 2026 corporate update. BTQ now has more operating data behind QSSN, but the investment case still depends on paid commercial deployment. This announcement isn't a repeat of the May 6 South Korea stablecoin pilot item covered in NCFA’s Fintech Whisperer. That item flagged the QSSN selection. The May 18 update adds validation metrics, cash position, and the commercial path.
BTQ says QSSN reached commercial grade readiness in Q1 2026. The Finger pilot processed 1,477 cumulative production transactions with a 100% transaction success rate and 0% fallback rate, improving from a 93.6% baseline. BTQ also reports more than 753,000 MCCX settled, more than 200 post quantum wallets created, and six on chain transfer routes validated.
Olivier Roussy Newton, Chief Executive Officer, BTQ Technologies:
“Q1 2026 reflected continued execution across every major area of our business as we move from foundational architecture and research into commercialization and deployment,”
QSSN is the part of BTQ’s update investors should watch first. It has pilot metrics, named partners, and a regulated digital money use case. BTQ says its South Korean ecosystem includes Danal for payments infrastructure, Finger for banking distribution, iM Bank for commercial banking deployment, Daou Data for enterprise IT and payments, and Keypair for hardware and co developed IP.
The next step is turning that ecosystem into paid deployment. BTQ points to possible revenue paths through validator node licensing, per transaction validation fees, and deployment fees. The investor test is whether those paths turn into signed terms, transaction volume, and recurring revenue.
QCIM is BTQ’s post quantum hardware and secure element platform. It is being developed for systems where software only upgrades may not be enough, including payments infrastructure, telecom equipment, defense systems, digital assets, and critical infrastructure.
QPerfect, pending completion of the acquisition, would add neutral atom software, emulation, and control systems. BTQ says QPerfect is progressing across MIMIQ, Digital Twin, and Quantum Logic Unit workstreams. The acquisition and commercial economics remain future proof points.
BTQ’s Bitcoin Quantum initiative is a proposed quantum safe fork of Bitcoin. It tests whether Bitcoin style infrastructure can be rebuilt with post quantum cryptography if today’s cryptography becomes unsafe in a quantum computing world. As of March 31, 2026, BTQ says the testnet had more than 75 miners, more than 300,000 blocks mined, and more than 150 open source contributors. That shows testnet activity, not commercial proof. The next proof points are mainnet launch, liquidity, custody support, exchange access, and repeatable revenue.
BTQ ended Q1 2026 with C$12.1 million in cash and a base shelf prospectus in place. BTQ is advancing hardware, middleware, digital asset security, and a quantum safe Bitcoin fork at the same time.
The company hasn't disclosed QSSN revenue, signed commercial deployment terms, pricing, customer contracts, Bitcoin Quantum mainnet results, or completed QPerfect acquisition economics. The next validation points are live deployment, recurring revenue, partner expansion, and evidence that post quantum security can generate revenue in regulated digital money infrastructure.
Can BTQ turn post quantum validation into recurring revenue before the market treats quantum security as a procurement requirement rather than a future risk?
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, artificial intelligence, 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
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |