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.
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Cyber Security, Quantum, Hacks, Fraud Alerts, Risks, InsurTech
6 lessons on online privacy and digital authentication
Sifted | Tom Ritchie | Mar 23, 2021
Digital fraud, from phishing to synthetic identity fraud, is increasing in frequency and sophistication. It’s more crucial than ever for startups to protect themselves using biometric identification, which uses AI and machine learning to analyse images — but just how good is verification tech, and where is it headed?
We asked this and more to our panel of privacy and security experts for the latest Sifted Talks, including: Stephen Ritter, CTO of digital identity verification and mobile deposit solutions business Mitek; Seun Oshinusi, head of financial crime prevention at Curve, a digital card and wallet app; and Dr Kate Coleman, CEO of iKey, a software provider that takes exploratory images of retinas for identification and health purposes.
1. Digital verification is in a constant state of innovation
As new technologies are introduced and adopted, bad actors are quickly adapting their strategies to defraud or extort businesses and their customers. Startups need to constantly iterate for the latest security technology — like near-field communication (NFC) chips, that hold our biometric data in our smartphones — to keep their customers’ data safe.
“As the technology advances, so too do the fraudsters. As we get smarter, so do they. They’re constantly looking at how to intercept the systems that we have… We try to stay in front of them.” — Seun Oshinusi, Curve
See: How Verifiable Digital Identity Will Protect Your Post-Pandemic Privacy
2. Startups need to choose a biometric that’s right for their product
The key to successfully implementing authentication is ensuring that it marries well with your product and userbase’s needs. Ritter suggests using a range of different biometric authentication points — like facial, iris or voice recognition — that mirror your onboarding process, to reduce UX friction and keep your customer in the process.
“It’s important to pick the right biometric at that moment in time, otherwise there’s too much friction and it’s not going to feel natural.” — Stephen Ritter, Mitek
3. Current tech is capable of even greater security
Our panellists all agreed that the infrastructure required for greater biometric identification is already largely in place. For example, Dr Coleman suggests retina authentication is already possible with current smartphone tech. While there is little demand for this tech at the moment, the constant threat of cyberattack and the spread of mimicking software such as deep fakes will create a need for more sophisticated authentication in the next few years.
See: Matt Warman’s speech on digital identity at Identity Week 2020
“The average phone is 125 times more powerful than the rocket we sent to the moon. The technology is there, it’s just that people haven’t asked for it yet.” — Dr Kate Coleman, iKey
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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NCFA Announces 7th Annual FFCON21 Digital ‘Breaking Barriers’ FinTech Conference
NCFA Canada | FFCON21 Team | March 11, 2021
FFCON21 to connect HR talent and explore accelerated Fintech trends and innovations paving the way to mass adoption and scale
TORONTO — March 11, 2021 — The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA), organisers of Canada’ foremost Fintech conference, is pleased to announce the return of FFCON for its 7th consecutive year. The annual FFCON Digital Event, held in association with Toronto Finance International (TFI), will take place May 11-13, 2021.
Building on the success of previous conferences, this year’s event -- titled ‘Breaking Barriers’ -- will bring together an international community of leading voices in fintech, digital banking, tokenization, blockchain, CBDCs, digital identity, AI, capital markets innovation, EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) and sustainable, open, and alternative finance.
“Fintech is evolving quickly and breaking barriers,” said Craig Asano, Founder and CEO of the National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada. “Fintech is no longer niche -- it is a permanent technological evolution that is changing the world of finance by high growth fintech companies and incumbent financial institutions. It’s rewiring financial services for the new economy and setting new standards that also demand new regulations. Most importantly, it’s about improving access and delivering better financial products, services and outcomes for everyone especially consumers and small to midsize enterprises (SMEs).”
The theme of FFCON21 reflects the growth and challenges that the Canadian Fintech industry has had to navigate through to foster scalability and mainstream adoption, made all the more complicated through the disruption caused by Covid-19.
“Our Fintech ecosystem has become a great strength in the greater Canadian innovation landscape. COVID-19 has accelerated the pace of change in the industry and highlighted the important role digital innovation plays in the competitiveness of the financial services sector. Rapidly changing consumer habits and ways of delivering products and services offers a significant opportunity for Canadian Fintechs" Jennifer Reynolds, President & CEO, Toronto Finance International
Beyond covering important fintech topics, FFCON21 will offer an engaging and fast-paced interactive agenda, including investor speed dating, sports-inspired Fintech Draft pitching and demo competitions designed to identity and feature emerging fintech stars, debates, round table discussions, digital ebooths and virtual expo, 1-on-1 networking opportunities and unique experiences. Delegates and partners can build their knowledge base, launch or scale an idea or collaborate digitally with visionary entrepreneurs and investors.
New to FFON21 this year, organizers are adding an HR fintech talent marketplace to connect anyone seeking new opportunities with high growth companies, and a ‘deep dive’ masterclass series on the topic of decentralized finance as part of its quarterly Global Fintech Now program for VIP passholders.
The multi-day event will run from May 11-13 inclusive with daily content to span feature themes of Digital Innovation and Breaking Barriers, Creation & Growth and Global Future Forward. Updates to the evolving programme and speaker lineup can be found on the FFCON21 website.
Registration Now Open
Registration for FFCON21 Breaking Barriers is now open with special early bird rates for delegates, exhibitors and startup packages available for a limited time. Tickets can be purchased at https://fintechandfunding.com/tickets/.
Useful Links
Fintech Draft Pitching & Demo Application
Website | Experience | Partner Packages
Connect with us
About the NCFA
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA) 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 and cryptocurrency, Regtech, and Insurtech sectors. To learn more about NCFA visit www.ncfacanada.org
About Toronto Finance International
Toronto Finance International (TFI) is a public-private partnership between Canada’s three levels of government, the financial services sector and academia. TFI’s mission is to lead collective action that drives the competitiveness and growth of Toronto’s financial sector and establishes its prominence as a leading international financial centre. For more information, please visit: www.tfi.ca
About FFCON
FFCON21 (Fintech and Financing Conference) is an annual conference hosted by Canada’s National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association (NCFA). Now in its seventh year, FFCON21, held in association with Toronto Finance International, will bring together professionals and innovators in fintech, open banking, digital identity, blockchain, cryptocurrency, AI, capital markets innovation, sustainable and alternative finance.
Further information about the conference can be found at www.fintechandfunding.com
FFCON21 Contacts
Craig Asano
Founder and CEO, NCFA
casano@ncfacanada.org
(416) 618-0254
Partnership Inquiries
Lauren Linton
Advisor, NCFA
lauren@ncfacanada.org
(416) 569-4349
Media Contact
The Top Floor Public Relations
Michele McDermott-Fox
michele@thetopflooragency.com
(905) 379-1893
David Lewis
david@thetopflooragency.com
(905) 541-5699
Edelman Canadian Trust Report: Trust declines in all sectors including 8% in technology
Edelman | Feb 17, 2021
Canada is facing a crisis in leadership
This year, after months of unprecedented disaster and turbulence – including the COVID-19 pandemic, economic crisis, the global outcry over systemic racism and political instability – the findings reveal widespread misinformation and mistrust of societal leaders in Canada.
See: Future Market Dynamics Part 3 – data sharing, trust and a world of choice
In fact, 50% of respondents worry that business leaders are purposely trying to mislead them, and 46% believe the same about government leaders – this is a wake-up call for leaders, who need to take action to build trust amongst their stakeholders, or risk falling behind.
Spring trust bubble bursts with no institution remaining in the trusted category
In the Spring, business, government and NGOs all saw a spike in trust, moving them into the trusted category among the Canadian general population. Since then, the trust bubble has burst, with all institutions giving back most (if not all) of the gains they saw and returning to the neutral zone. Government saw the biggest increase in the Spring with a 20-point increase; however, despite declining 11 points in the past six months, government remains the most trusted institution in Canada.
Societal leaders are not trusted to do what is right
Amid urgent problems and a year of crisis, leadership is failing. Government leaders, CEOs and religious leaders are not trusted to do what is right. Instead, we’re seeing Canadians look to experts and those that are local – like people in their community – to help tackle the issues that matter most to them. In fact, 50% of respondents worry that business leaders are purposely trying to mislead them, and 46% believe the same about government leaders – this is a wake-up call for leaders, who need to take action to build trust amongst their stakeholders.
Trust in most information sources at record lows
Not one information source – traditional media (55%), search engines (47%), owned (32%) or social media (22%) – is trusted in Canada and the latter three are distrusted. All four information sources have witnessed a decline in trust compared to last year.
Download the 37 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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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.
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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FCA and City of London’s Digital Sandbox Pilot – Presentations and Use Cases
Digital Sandbox Pilot UK | Feb 20, 2021
The pilot ran from November 2020 through to February 2021. An evaluation process is currently being undertaken by an independent consultant. The pilot will be assessed against the 5 success criteria:
- Innovation – role played in encouraging innovation in financial services to the Covid-related challenges detailed in the use cases
- Speed – role played in enabling quicker testing and development of proof of concepts
- Collaboration – role played in fostering collaboration, facilitating diversity of thinking and creating an ecosystem of key organisations
- Pilot features – the effectiveness of the key features of the pilot (see below) in stimulating and accelerating innovation
- Sustainable future – role played in informing and assisting the design and future operating model of a permanent digital sandbox
See: UK Digital sandbox – coronavirus (Covid-19) pilot
Select Teams and Descriptions
Fraud & scams
Sedicii: An AML solution that allows financial institutions to securely share knowledge about clients or transactions without disclosing any underlying data or information.
EalaX Ltd: A solution that creates digital synthetic twins of real financial data which can then be used to detect fraudulent patterns and complex problems that are being experienced during Covid-19.
MPC4AML: A solution that uses a Privacy Enhancing Technology (PET) known as Secure Multi-Party Computation (MPC) to run risk scores on a transaction network data from multiple banks.
Norbloc: A solution that uses blockchain to allow for a secure and GDPR-compliant sharing of verified KYC files across multiple institutions in real-time to create a single profile per customer.
IT2 Fraud Signals - Trust Stamp, Cifas, Lloyds & OneBanks: A solution that uses biometric data to create an identity token that can be used to match, de-duplicate and verify across institutions while protecting the users personal identity information.
See: UK: Open Finance: The FCA Consults On How To Transform The Financial Services Market
Vulnerability
PrinSIX Technologies: PrinSIX is focusing on detecting vulnerability within credit applications, testing and deploying dynamic onboarding journeys that identify applicant vulnerability flags and trigger highly personalised digital assessments to improve customer outcomes.
Qpal: A digital assistant focused on financial wellbeing, powered by Open Banking, that automates financial decision for consumers.
Applied Blockchain: A solution to allow a range of lenders to assess the credit risk of a borrower without requiring direct access to private and sensitive financial data by using privacy-preserving technologies.
DirectID: A solution that uses transactional data to predict the probability of default based on an individual’s historical and predicted cash flow.
See: FCA Report (Feb 2020): Sector Views – Key Areas of Harm Identified
SME Lending
Fluence: A solution that uses natural language processing AI to interpret and analyse financial applications and claims handling processes in order to automatically interpret new applications and claims.
Company Watch Ltd: A solution to enable finance funding providers to predict, analyse and risk assess the ability of a small business to repay credit within certain time periods.
Fractal Labs: A solution that uses Open Banking to create a cashflow forecast in order to help assess the eligibility of SME’s for small working capital loans.
Untangled Finance: A solution using tokenised assets on a blockchain to enable simple, cost-effective and transparent ways to securitise SME loans and invoices.
Continue to the full list and to watch presentations --> 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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Overview of how Canada is modernizing its core payments infrastructure
Asset Servicing Times | Feb 3, 2021
With an evolving payments landscape, Canada is marching ahead to modernise its core payments infrastructure with a vision to build a modern payments system that is fast, flexible, secure and promotes innovation
Developments in technology, evolving customer behaviour and new market dynamics are all catalysts for change in the payments space. Recent research has suggested that banks are committed to investing in areas such as digitising customer journeys, introducing machine learning, and improving technological and operational resilience, and this hasn’t been swayed by the pandemic.
See: Bank of Canada Speech: Money and Payments in the Digital Age
Real-time payments are becoming increasingly popular as they allow participants to make and receive instant payments, providing convenience, speed, and faster availability of funds. Payments Canada recently selected Mastercard’s Vocalink as the clearing and settlement solution provider for the country’s new real-time payments system, the Real-Time Rail (RTR).
“Ultimately, Canadians are seeking choice and convenience. Technology, payments innovation, and shifts in the ways that Canadians make payments are all contributing to our developing payments landscape,” says Ryan Grundy, lead, industry relations, Payments Canada.
Experts say Canada continues to hold a strong position among institutional investors on the world stage, in keeping with the strength of its financial markets and ‘big six’ banks — the National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank, the Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Scotiabank, and Toronto Dominion Bank.
See: Bank of Canada partners with the Bank for International Settlements to launch innovation centre
Canada’s financial sector features robust and mature markets, stability and transparency, proven infrastructure, efficient settlement mechanisms and a well evolved regulatory framework – along with a focus on controlled innovation. In line with the consolidated nature of Canada’s financial sector, the payments landscape also focuses on the major bank-driven players.
“In Canada, we see a synthesis of domestic innovation combined with global connectivity, with local players deploying Canadian solutions where they make sense according to Canada’s financial markets and infrastructure, while also driving connectivity or access to global platforms where either scale and accessibility make them the right direction — or, particularly in the retail space, where client demands and appetite for global solutions fits,” explains Lloyd Sebastian, vice president, global financial institutions, at CIBC Mellon.
For example, Interac is a payment network jointly owned by the consortium of banks, which links the banks along with other financial institutions, retailers and others to enable more seamless electronic financial transactions. With Canadian consumers concentrated on a small group of big six players who offer integrated Interac services, that is likely to continue to shape consumer use.
Marching ahead
In line with efficiency and convenience priorities in Canada, Payments Canada is marching ahead with its journey to modernise the country’s core payments infrastructure. “Its vision is to build a modern payments system that is fast, flexible, secure and promotes innovation,” says Sebastian.
See: How will Canada reinvent its payments framework for a post-pandemic digital reality?
As part of these developments, Payments Canada has selected Mastercard’s Vocalink as the clearing and settlement solution provider for the country’s new real-time payments system, the RTR. Expected to launch in 2022, RTR will support payment information travelling with payments and act as a platform for innovation, enabling the introduction of new payment products and experiences.
While RTR is operated by Payments Canada, it is underpinned by the ISO 20022 data standard, and regulated by the Bank of Canada. Canada’s new real-time payments system will consist of two components including a clearing and settlement component provided by Mastercard; and an exchange component.
As well as the upcoming launch of the RTR system in 2021, Lynx, a new high-value payments system to replace the Large Value Transfer System is set to launch this year.
“Introducing Lynx is a fundamental part of Payments Canada’s modernisation program that will transform the country’s payments ecosystem. Lynx will replace Canada’s current Large Value Payments System. The Lynx system will be a world-class, high-value payments system built in compliance with Canadian and international risk standards and will support the global ISO 20022 messaging standard,” says Payments Canada’s Grundy.
Lack of data and transparency within payment messages is a major challenge in Canada’s payment space and this creates a number of inefficiencies for businesses of all sizes. This includes labour-intensive payments reconciliation, limited predictability of cash inflows and outflows, difficulty tracking cross-border payments, and continued reliance on manual back-end processes.
See: Right to anonymous payments
As Lynx and RTR will be underpinned by the ISO 20022 messaging standard, they should be able to support businesses in overcoming these challenges.
“The standard enables the transfer of rich data with payments, a change that has the potential to improve automation and efficiency, reducing many pain points for Canadian businesses,” explains Grundy.
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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Right to anonymous payments
Do we have a right to anonymous payments? If so, is this right linked to certain payment instruments, such as cash? Does this right apply equally to payers in the analogue and the digital world? For most people, the daily payments initiated as market participants are unavoidable. It has therefore become one of our basic needs, like sleeping and eating. The right to anonymity, which can be regarded as an essential pillar of a modern democratic society, is generally derived from the fundamental rights to freedom of expression and informational self-determination.
This right is by no means limited to the analogue world. For example, we have the right to browse the internet anonymously, using appropriate software and pseudonyms. Does this right also apply to the payment act? In the analogue world, this right is indirectly established by the existence of cash. Cash leaves no traces of data and, due to its special status as legal tender, it is a means of payment
See: Bill to overhaul Canada’s privacy laws coming soon
As long as there is still cash as legal tender, we therefore do not only have the option, but also the right to anonymous payments. The interesting question of whether this right can also be enforced anywhere and at any time (e.g. when paying the broadcasting licence fee) has been debated by the German courts for quite some time, at ever higher levels.
Right to anonymous cashless payments
As a means of payment, cash, which is still dominant today, is gradually losing in importance (not, however, as a means to store value). The shift in demand in favour of online retailing has contributed to this, as cashless payments are usually the only option in that area. In the future digital world with, for example, the Internet of Things and automotive payment applications (pay per car), the only thing that will remain are cashless digital payments. In Germany, the right to anonymous online payments is only protected by law for the use of telemedia (Sec. 13 No. 6 of the German Telemedia Act – Telemediengesetz).
The German party SPD was the only party who was consistent and future-oriented in its election campaign program in 2017 in this regard as it demanded a general right to anonymous cashless payment. And rightly so, as why should I have to forfeit my elementary rights from the analogue world when entering the digital world, which is inevitable nowadays? The demand of the SPD party was an important step forward, which unfortunately was again deeply buried in the slightly childish games in the sandpit of the grand coalition.
See: Cadillac Fairview broke privacy laws by using facial recognition technology at malls, investigators conclude
Is this demand even technically feasible? “Cashless + anonymous” is not an inherent contradiction. In contrast to a cash payment, there is always data on the payment process, but not necessarily on the identities of the payer and the payee. This means that digital payments can also be made while maintaining anonymity. You don’t have to surf the Darknet and pay with Bitcoins to achieve this. Digital payments with an anonymous prepaid card (e.g. a gift card) demonstrate how easily this can be done. Since the mid-1990s, analogue cash has been capable of being used digitally 1:1 as an anonymous bearer instrument without any further complications. If technology is not the problem, then what is?
5AMLD: The right through the back door
Let us recall the chutzpah of EU Directive 2018/843 (better known as AMLD5), which has to be implemented by 10 January 2020. In its first draft (2016), the Commission wanted to ban anonymous cashless online payments using e-money. Anonymous e-money payments at the physical POS have not yet been banned, but the thresholds have been significantly lowered (from EUR 250 to EUR 150). In this segment, the door should not be slammed shut completely, as prepaid cards currently still make an important contribution to social and financial inclusion according to recital 14. In addition, according to the Commission’s Impact Assessment Analysis on the draft directive, a ban on anonymous payments in this segment would not be very effective as cash can still be used here.
See: Survey Until Feb 26: Ontario Seeks Input from Individuals and Businesses to Help Shape Digital ID Program
AMLD is obviously intended to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing. There was no evidence of money laundering with anonymous prepaid cards. On the contrary, the current scandals show that money laundering in the billions is mainly carried out via non-anonymous accounts by fully identified bank customers (Danske Bank in Estonia, ING Bank in the Netherlands, Deutsche Bank in Russia, etc.). The only remaining argument is therefore terrorism financing. There was vague evidence, which has not yet been verified, that in the Paris attack (November 2015) the Islamic terrorists used an (anonymous?) prepaid card.
The consequence is to abolish the right to anonymous cashless payment on the internet for half a billion EU citizens. As a passionate cyclist, I am delighted that the terrorists did not use an anonymous bicycle when they fled, for otherwise the Commission would have introduced the same questionable logic of compulsory bicycle registration and the use of number plates throughout Europe.
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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