Informal Survey and Results
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Research
Venture Capitalists Dislike Women More Than They Like Profit
AltFi | Hannah Duncan | Aug 22, 2022
Image: Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio
It’s enough to make you want to hurl your skinny latte at the wall. Preferably a freshly painted white one. 40 per cent of all early-stage fintechs are led by women. Yet investors – blinded by prejudice - are only willing to part with 4 per cent of funds. It’s not a coincidence. It’s a disgrace.
Esteemed psychologist and fintech leader Elin Helander:
- A concrete example is that if a man comes in wearing a fancy, expensive coat, it’s seen as a sign of success. Whereas if a woman wears an expensive, fancy coat, [investors] think she’s not good at handling money – or she’s spending a lot. Along with other researchers, Helander has conducted extensive studies into gender-related bias in business.
- Our brain is designed to put everything into categories bBut these categories easily turn to prejudices. Just because you acknowledge them… it doesn’t mean they go away.
- Across investment rounds, women are frequently interrogated about their homelife too. A hurdle most men do not have to jump:
- “Quite often I was told that because I have four children, I’m uninvestable”, reveals Gemma Young, founder of the award-winning Women of Fintech community and Chief Growth Officer at TechPassport. “But there are just as many male parents as female parents”.
See:
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2021 Powerlist: Women in Fintech
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Companies flooded Twitter on International Women’s Day. Then Gender Pay Gap Bot exposed the truth
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Why is venture capital still ignoring women? The case for investing is clear.
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The Real Story of Access to Capital
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Black tech founders say venture capital needs to move past ‘diversity theater’
What’s more, the latest findings from Innovate Finance show that female-led fintechs receive just a microscopic 4 per cent of fintech investment in the UK. It’s SO wrong. It’s blatant sexism. It’s deeply unfair. And – stupidly - it’s also hurting the investors themselves.
Investors are missing out on a lot of money
Like smashing a cup of coffee against the wall, investors are wasting resources, destroying opportunities, and making one hell of a mess. For god’s sake. The solution is obvious. We urgently need investment in female-led fintech. It’s time to end the antiquated thinking and start opening the wallet… Your profit margins will thank you for it.
- Women led businesses are more profitable. Anne Boden is not an outlier. Far from it. 2018 research from BCG reveals that for every dollar received in funding, female founders bring back 78 cents, while male founders return just 31 cents. Less than half. Women-led companies are officially more profitable.
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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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C.D.Howe Report: Canada’s Weak Business Investment Threatens Prosperity
C.D.Howe | William Robson and Mawakina Bafale | Aug 16, 2022
Recent high inflation shows starkly that the Canadian economy’s ability to produce goods and services is not keeping up with surging nominal spending. One key suspect in the economy’s disappointing ability to produce is a declining stock of business capital per available worker – that is, member of the labour force. Business investment in Canada has been weak since 2015 – both in areas of traditional strength, such as non-residential and engineering structures, and in areas we look to for innovation and future productivity: machinery and equipment (M&E) and intellectual property products (IPP).
Comparing investment in Canada to that in the United States and other OECD countries reveals that, before 2015, Canadian businesses had been closing a long-standing gap between investment per available worker in Canada and abroad. Since 2015, however the gap has become a chasm. Business investment and productivity are closely related: productivity growth inspires investment by creating opportunities, and investment drives productivity growth by equipping workers with more and better tools. Having investment per worker much lower in Canada than abroad tells us that businesses see less opportunity in Canada, and prefigures weaker growth in Canadian earnings and living standards than in other OECD countries.
See: Canada’s Competition Consultation Continues (thanks Senator Colin Deacon)
Particularly concerning was the IP Investment per Available Worker, which is one quarter (25%) that of the United States. I have to underline this... US businesses are investing four times (4x) what Canadian businesses are investing (per worker) on the IP that will drive their global competitiveness.
The future income of every Canadian is being undermined by this problem. But more to the point, it also means that we are not even close harnessing the innovative capacity of Canadian entrepreneurs to address the multitude of massive challenges that we currently face -- and turning their solutions into Canadian opportunity, jobs and prosperity.
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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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10 Blockchain Startups to Watch in 2022
VentureBeat | Kolawole Samuel Adebayo | Aug 15, 2022
While many industries have seen a decline in venture capital investment, the blockchain space has continued to enjoy funding. Blockchain startups have found strength in the rise of NFT use cases alongside the convergence of blockchain and other emerging technologies like 5G, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI).
Gartner predicts the business value generated by blockchain will increase, reaching $176 billion by 2025 and $3.1 trillion by 2030. In addition, Grand View Research estimates the global blockchain technology market will grow at a rate of 85.9% between 2022 and 2030. With the blockchain market capitalization poised to skyrocket in the next few years, investors continue to pour billions of dollars into blockchain and crypto startups.
See: Overview of Some Popular Layer 1 Blockchains
A report by PwC on the outlook of the blockchain industry notes:
[Blockchain is a] technology enabler with an unrivaled capability to improve the business processes in the enterprise while simultaneously lowering the cost of trust. These advancements are touted to result in a greater return on investment (ROI) for first movers and the businesses they serve.
10 Blockchain Startups to Watch (no particular order)
1. FLUREE: Founded 2016 by Brian Platz, based in North Carolina, U.S.A., to date raised $6.5 million
Bringing data into the blockchain space, Fluree is an open-source graph database that guarantees data integrity, provides traceability into data provenance, facilitates secure data collaboration and powers connected data insights. Fluree is going after the general blockchain application market, focusing on becoming the data management infrastructure for Web3.
See: Crypto Bridges are Integral to Blockchain Adoption but Vulnerable to Attack
2. TABTRADER: Founded 2016 by Kirill Suslov, based in The Netherlands, to date raised $7 million
Cryptocurrency trading platform TabTrader is largely invested in decentralized finance (DeFi). Focused on connecting end-users to multiple exchanges and to enable them to execute trades in real-time with its app, TabTrader allows trading on about 40 exchanges and supports more than 12,000 digital instruments, giving users access to a variety of instruments to trade.
3. MEETKAI: Founded 2018 by Weili Dai and James Kaplan, based in Los Angeles, California, USA, raised to date: undisclosed
MeetKai believes the metaverse depends on maximized accessibility and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). The startup is about extending physical reality into the metaverse and has started mapping the entire world inside its virtual realm.
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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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X-Border Payments: European Central Bank Report says CBDCs Could Be ‘Holy Grail’
PYMNTS | Aug 2, 2022
A central bank digital currency (CBDC) could be the “holy grail” for cross-border payments, offering a solution that is “immediate, cheap, universal in terms of reach, and settled in a secure settlement medium,” the European Central Bank (ECB) said in a recent report on identifying the ultimate cross-border payment medium.
“... the interlinking of domestic payment systems and the future interoperability of CBDCs are the most promising avenues,” according to the report, which also concluded that “... Bitcoin is least credible.”
The report points to the greater compatibility CBDCs have with forex exchange (FX) conversions, the upholding of monetary sovereignty, and easy instant payments via intermediaries such as central banks, the report indicated.
See:
PBOC White Paper: e-CNY’s Path to Cross-Border Payments
Half of Multinational Firms Use Digital Currency for Cross-Border Payments (or Plan to)
Some central bankers from the G20, however, have hinted that digital currencies issued by the private sector may have more utility than those issued by central banks. Australian central bank Governor Philip Lowe said at a panel discussion that he’s in favor of a private sector solution over the central bank.
The promise of using CBDCs for cross-border payments depends on the progress made regarding anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing compliance measures to ensure straight-through-processing (STP) for the large majority of cross-border payments, according to the report.
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Download the 59 page PDF report --> 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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Process Flow Comparison: How VISA Works When Swiping a Credit Card at a Merchant’s Shop VS Digital Wallet
ByteByteGo | Alex Wu | Jul 16, 2022
What happens when you swipe your credit card at a merchant's shop
VISA, Mastercard, and American Express act as card networks for clearing and settling funds. The card acquiring bank and the card issuing bank can be – and often are – different. If banks were to settle transactions one by one without an intermediary, each bank would have to settle the transactions with all the other banks. This is quite inefficient.
See:
FTP Report: B2B Payments: A Major Fintech Opportunity to Solve Paper-based Payments and Processes
Instagram Launches Payment Service for Small Businesses (Directly in Chat)
Crypto Payments Report 2022: How digital currencies are revolutionizing commerce, corporates and culture
Bank of Canada: The Latest on Retail Payments Supervision and Survey
QR Code payment process using your digital wallets, such as Venmo, Paytm, or Paypal
To understand the process involved, we need to divide the “scan to pay” process into two sub-processes:
- Merchant generates a QR code and displays it on the screen
- Consumer scans the QR code and pays
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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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Caution: Binance Chain Red Alarm System Flags 50 New Projects as Potential Scams
Cointelegraph | Arijit Sarkar | Aug 15, 2022
BNB Chain’s Red Alert system flags projects based on obvious features that have been historically used in scams, rug pulls and phishing.
BNB Chain, a blockchain network created by crypto exchange Binance, has identified over 50 on-chain projects that pose a significant risk to users. A mix of crypto spin-offs resembling Dogecoin (DOGE) and Binance and others dedicated to pandas, cyborgs and koalas made the list as untrustworthy and high-risk projects.
See: Binance CEO Raises Red Flag on Massive Chinese Data Leak
BNB Chain’s Red Alarm feature, implemented to protect investors from potential rug pulls and scams, flags projects based on two main criteria: if the contract performs differently from what the project owners advertised and if the contract shows risks that might influence users’ funds.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Gwendolyn Regina, investment director at BNB Chain, said that the Red Alarm system analyzed 3,300 contracts in July alone, adding that the company continues to develop further measures for highlighting deceptive practices in the ecosystem.
New projects that have not been tested and lack genuine products are flagged by the system based on apparent features that have been historically used in scams, rug pulls and phishing. Regina added:
“We will tend to put them on the ‘Red Alarm’ list to effectively warn users to steer clear or participate with caution.”
As a result, the real-time identification of risky projects serves as a proactive measure in helping to protect investor funds. Red Alarm also allows users to assess project risks by entering the contract address to discover if it has logical flaws or fraud risks.
See: Crypto scams, DeFi hacks, and rug pulls: Why the crypto industry needs insurtech
In addition to BNB Chain’s measures, Regina recommended investors “do their own research” while engaging with projects within the BNB Chain ecosystem.
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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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Informal Survey Results: Do You Trust Your Bank?
Canada Today | | Jul 25, 2022
Informal Survey and Results
In a recent informal poll of 1,124 people via the Carrick on Money newsletter. Boomers and seniors dominated the survey’s demographic at 73 percent, Gen Xers made up 15 percent, Millennials (aka Gen Y) and Gen Z made up 10 percent, with the small remainder made up of those who didn’t indicate their age.
- TD topped the list of most trusted with 200 votes, while RBC was just behind with 190 votes.
- Three other large banks came next, followed by a body of support for smaller credit unions.
- Then came EQ, Tangerine, Wealthsimple, and two major credit unions, Ontario’s Meridian and BC’s Vancity.
- 30 people answered “none” when asked which financial company they trust the most.
See: Ipsos Survey: Most Canadians Say (88%) We Need More Competition
A total of 327 votes went to a variety of smaller companies, including online bank (and subsidiary of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) Simplii Financial, independent mutual fund companies Steadyhand and Mawer, investment firm Vanguard, investment dealer Edward Jones, online broker Questrade, insurance giant Manulife Financial and American Express.
Investment firm Wealthsimple performed particularly well among young adults, while online player EQ Bank beat all major banks on percentage of Millennial and Gen Z support.
Takeways
Big banks have trusted franchises with all generations that have long helped them fend off and — let’s face it — kill competitors in the banking and investment businesses. But the trust that younger generations are placing in companies like Wealthsimple and EQ Bank suggests we’re at an inflection point.
See: Open Banking to Bring Multitude of Benefits to Canada in 2023
Even with the comparatively small sample of younger people, it is clear that they are more open to trusting non-bank brands.
Bank competitors, there is hope. Bank customers, you have alternatives.
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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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