Category Archives: Digital Identity, Privacy, KYC, AML/ATF

[Nov 18, IIROC Virtual Event]: Quebec’s Bill 64 regarding the Protection of Personal Information

IIROC | Nov 2, 2021

Speakers for IIROC Quebec Bill 64 event on personal informationIIROC will host a live virtual conference about Quebec’s Bill 64 regarding the protection of personal information.  The conference will feature a panel discussion about the new privacy requirements that apply to all public and private firms operating in Quebec. While the requirements of Bill 64 will be phased in over a three-year period, the task of ensuring compliance is significant and will require dedicated time and resources. Join us to learn key aspects of the new legislation.

Details:

Thursday, November 18

1:00 to 1:45 p.m. Eastern Time (ET)


Panelists include:

  • Claudyne Bienvenu, Vice-President, Quebec and Atlantic, IIROC
  • Eloïse Gratton, Partner and National Co-Leader, Privacy and Data Protection group, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
  • Elisa Henry, Partner and National Co-Leader, Privacy and Data Protection group, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP

See:  Privacy Implications of an Open Banking System in Canada

The conference will be broadcast in French and English, and we will accept questions in both languages. We encourage you to send your questions in advance to Suzanne Lasrado, Director, Member Regulation and Strategy at slasrado@iiroc.ca, and if time permits, we will respond to all questions.

A recording of the webcast will be released shortly after the event date.

This conference will qualify for Compliance CE credit. CE letters will be distributed via email at the conclusion of the event.

Register for the November 18 IIROC event --> 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

NCFA Financial Innovation MapNCFA Innovation Opportunity BriefsNCFA Fintech Insights
NCFA Fintech WhispererNCFA Fintech Fridays PodcastNCFA Weekly Newsletter

 

Liquid Avatar Technologies and Optimize Financial Technology Partner to Launch Fintech and Neobanking Solutions for US Markets

Liquid Avatar Technologies | Cara Buckspan | Oct 28, 2021

Liquid Avatar partners with ftoptimize to launch Neo Banking fintech solutions to US market

Toronto, Canada - TheNewswire - October 28, 2021 -Liquid Avatar Technologies Inc. (CNSX:LQID)(OTC:LQAVF)(FRA:4T51) a global blockchain, digital identity and fintech solutions company announce that it has signed an agreement with California based Optimize Fintech Technology (“OptimizeFT”) to launch a fintech and neobanking solution for the Liquid Avatar Mobile App initially for US markets and consumers.  The program is expected to begin rollout sometime in the first two quarters of 2022.

The new Liquid Avatar payment card account will be powered by the OptimizeFT’s Engage360 payment card and digital banking solutions platform. The Engage360 platform contains a robust library of financial technology features and services that enable a wide range of financial solutions including a prepaid card and neobank accounts. Liquid Avatar will be well positioned with its security-conscious user base, to expand beyond its initial US Card offering to launch financial solutions targeting multiple demographics within its consumer base.

See:  Liquid Avatar Technologies Partners with the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) to Provide Digital Age-Verification Solutions to Over 8,000 Stores

The neobank and alternative banking market is experiencing explosive growth. According to KBV Research, the global neobank market is expected to grow from a baseline of $34 billion in 2019 to an expected US$333 billion by 2026. The number one factor for consumers selecting a digital or alternative bank, is security and increased risk. With users having to create their Liquid Avatar Digitally secured ID as the first step to getting an account, Liquid Avatar provides an extremely high level of security to launch and generate significant opportunities from neobank and other alternative financial solutions.

“We are very excited to enter into an agreement with Liquid Avatar Technologies to develop and launch industry-leading payment card and digital bank (neobank) solutions,” said Jim Collas, CEO of OptimizeFT. “The Liquid Avatar mobile app is in a unique position to offer security conscious consumers financial solutions aligned with its Verifiable Credentials Ecosystem, which elevates account security to the next level.

In our experience, a perception of enhanced account security can drive account use by consumers, which in-turn generates increased account revenues. We anticipate working with Liquid Avatar Technologies to develop and launch an array of uniquely branded financial solutions that will strongly resonate with their user base.”

According to Allied Market Research, prepaid cards have taken the place of cash, cheques, and other payment cards where consumers or businesses want to use an electronic means of payment, without linking the payment to a credit or debit account. The global prepaid card market size was valued at $1.73 trillion in 2019, and Allied predicts that it is projected to reach $6.87 trillion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 18.2% from 2021 to 2030. The prepaid card market is expected to exhibit high growth during the forecast period, owing to the convenience offered being similar to that of a credit or debit card with the ability to allow the end user to set the spending limit according to the budget.

See:

Digital IDs Help Open Banking Reach Its Fullest Potential

Liquid Avatar Releases Major Update to their Digital Identity Mobile App

Liquid Avatar Technologies has developed the Liquid Avatar Verifiable Credential Ecosystem (LAVCE) and a digital wallet that supports digital credentials for multiple forms of verification. The LAVCE platform has been developed to allow users to leverage their government issued and other digital ID, as they become available to verify who they are at healthcare facilities, testing labs, government agencies, financial institutions, schools, sports arenas, transportation, trade shows, age-restriction programs, and workplaces.

Available to consumers at no cost, the Liquid Avatar Mobile App is available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play and allows users to hold, manage and control digital credentials using the LAVCE.  Additionally, Liquid Avatar users can benefit from a wide range of discounts and cash back offers from over 600 brand named merchants across North America.

“We are very excited to have formalized this partnership with OptimizeFT,” said Michael Konikoff, Chief Revenue Officer - Liquid Avatar Technologies. “We believe that the OptimizeFT solution is ideal for our emerging US audience, and we believe that we can jointly provide value to Liquid Avatar Mobile App users and provide them with neobanking, engagement and loyalty solutions as we continue to accelerate our programs.”

The Liquid Avatar Wallet mobile app is now available to everyone via Google Play and the App Store.

If you would like to join our mailing list and receive updates from the Company, please click here  

View the original release --> 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

NCFA Financial Innovation MapNCFA Innovation Opportunity BriefsNCFA Fintech Insights
NCFA Fintech WhispererNCFA Fintech Fridays PodcastNCFA Weekly Newsletter

 

Monetizing the Creator Economy Through Social Tokens

Borderless Ventures | Ethan Pierse | Oct 27, 2021

Monetizing creator economy and social tokensYou might not yet have heard of social tokens or creator coins, but it's very possible that you heard the news of Lionel Messi changing football clubs from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain. Well, millions of dollars of his $40M signing bonus were paid in $PSG tokens issued by social token platform Socios. Those tokens allow fans to interact with the team by earning rewards, participating in select club decisions, and accessing unique merchandise and experiences.

But what are social tokens ?

Social tokens allow brands, whether individuals or organizations, to include their fans and community in a dedicated tokenized economy that facilitates:

- Direct monetization

- Community engagement and loyalty

- Governance

See:  67 per cent of young Brits want a socialist economic system, finds new poll

Social media platforms can take 5-30% of content creators' tips and payment tools like Venmo charge 3% commission. However, creator coin platforms like Rally are able to charge 0% for direct digital payments to creators. Amazing platforms like Patreon, Substack, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch have enabled creators to build business models on top of their communities and content, but in addition to expensive commissions, there is always the risk of de-platforming and censorship, potentially eliminating a particular revenue stream entirely. On the pure donation side, even Twitter and Clubhouse are now offering in-app tipping.

While there exist great tools like Gumroad for monetizing downloadable content and products, content creators need more choices for direct digital payments that are independent of any specific content platform or merchant account. Social tokens facilitate low to no-fee fiat and crypto transactions between creators and their communities.

The ability to hold a balance of a creator's token creates an opportunity for deeper engagement and customer/fan loyalty. Platforms like Discord and Clubhouse or tools like WordPress can confirm a user's token balance through APIs and provide token-gated access to content, events, and VIP discussion channels. Fans can earn rewards by contributing to, supporting and evangelizing the community.

If you have explored NFTs at all, this may sound familiar, as the ability to bake in early/VIP access to special content, merchandise, online and offline events, and other benefits is exactly the same with creator coins.

See:  Businesses competing on social values use fintech to gain an edge

The third utility allows for token holders to participate in the decision process around a brand or organization. Maybe you want to pick the color of the next PSG jersey or vote on which subject a content creator should discuss in their next video or podcast. You'll be hearing a lot about Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) over the next year and the functionality is the same here; token holders can actively participate in the governance of an organization.

Social tokens can be :

- Individuals, like your favorite YouTuber, podcast, or newsletter

- Brands, like a soccer team

- Communities, like an online forum or NGO, or the social token platform itself, like Rally or Socios (Chiliz).

Why I’m bullish on social tokens: 3 trends

You might be saying, fine, those are a few, recent examples, but is there really huge potential here? There are three signals that suggest that tokenizing content creators' communities could lead to a massive market.

The first is the existing centralized creator economy growth over the past few years. Hundreds of thousands of people now create full-time incomes on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch. There are hundreds of journalists and writers making thousands (even tens of thousands) of dollars per month through small subscription payments on Substack. Patreon has 200,000 content creators monetizing their communities. During home confinement, practically every band you know used StageIt to perform paid concerts from their sofas. All of this runs through centralized platforms and legacy payment systems. Fans have shown that they are more than willing to financially support their favorite content creators directly.

See:  NFT Fire hose: Educational Resources

The second signal is the rapid growth of NFTs and digital collectibles this past year. While you may be a bit dubious on the potential of pixelated digital art, people continue to innovate around the kinds of content and perks they are creating with non-fungible tokens. Digital collectibles, however, are the evolution of the billion dollar industries behind baseball cards, Pokemon, and comic books. Three year old fantasy football platform Sorare is built on NFTs, has generated more than $100 million in revenue in 2021, and is rumored to have recently raised over $500M at an almost $4B valuation. You don't have to understand the blockchain or care about bitcoin to see the future value in business models built on digital collectibles.

And third, decentralized finance continues to create new financial solutions that don't rely on historical financial infrastructure in the areas of savings, loans, bonds, crowdfunding, and insurance. Each month, more people are discovering and getting comfortable with crypto/blockchain services without necessarily being "into" crypto.

Taken together, these three trends show us a very near future where brands use a mixture of centralized and decentralized platforms and financial services to monetize their communities.

See:  CPAs and the New Social Contract: The Rise of the Warrior Accountant

Still not sure? I already mentioned Lionel Messi but Sorare has 180 officially licensed football clubs and just signed La Liga. Social token-issuance platform Rally just raised $50M and signed a deal with United Talent Agency to begin tokenizing some of the thousands of actors, musicians, and athletes that UTA represents. Sotheby's just auctioned $24M worth of digital collectibles. The Vault ($WHALE) is a social currency fund of curated digital art, blockchain gaming, and virtual real estate, with a market cap of over $100M. The future of finance is social and tokenized.

About the Author

Eethan pierse picthan Pierse, Director at The CryptoAssets Institute, evangelizing the blockchain economy across Europe and Southeast Asia. Director, Quantum Economics Financial Advisory. Founder of Borderless Ventures focused on FrenchTech, CEE, and ASEAN startups. Former Managing Partner, Nest Venture Capital.  Serial entrepreneur in digital and e-commerce in the US and Western Europe. 20+ years digital marketing strategy advising Coca-Cola, HP, BP, large banks, airlines and governments.   Twitter | Rally

 


NCFA Fintech Confidential Issue 4 250 - Finliti Delivers Personalized Financial Insights Using the Power of Psychometrics

This article is featured in NCFA's digital magazine, Fintech Confidential (Issue 4 Oct 2021). Click to read the latest thought leadership, insights and trends about Fintech in Canada:

Checkout NCFA's digital magazine, Fintech Confidential (Issue 4) --> here

 


NCFA Jan 2018 resize - Finliti Delivers Personalized Financial Insights Using the Power of Psychometrics 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

Digital money is an opportunity for Canada – if we seize it

The Globe and Mail | and | Oct 21, 2021

Digital futureRobert Fay is the managing director of digital economy at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. David Dodge is a former governor of the Bank of Canada and is senior adviser at Bennett Jones LLP.

Around the world financial systems are digitizing to provide faster, cheaper and more secure and comprehensive services to households and businesses.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies are attracting substantial public attention. They are reflections of the continuing digitalization of the global economy, driven by innovation and competition, that is creating new opportunities worldwide.

The potential benefits are many.

Digital currencies and payments can speed up and lower transaction costs, both domestically and especially across borders, while bolstering security. Financial technology (fintech) is expanding the range of financial services available in the marketplace.

See:  Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI): China’s crackdown puts US in pole position and Canada in 4th

Open banking allows consumers and small businesses to securely and efficiently transfer their financial data among financial institutions and accredited third-party service providers. It can stimulate competition, facilitate access, and expand the range of services available to households and businesses.

And central bank digital currencies can spur innovation and boost financial inclusion, ensuring all have access to digital services.

But fully harnessing the benefits of digitalization will require a sound and coherent framework that ensures collaboration between the public and private sectors.

We recently held a workshop to hear the opinions of international and Canadian experts in this domain. As we explain in more detail in a new report, we argue there are three essential steps that Canada must take.

NCFA Sign-up for our newsletter

First, Canadian governments and service providers need to work together to deliver what has already been placed on the agenda; namely, a modernized payments system and secure data transfer to facilitate open banking.

Second, Canada requires a thoroughly updated legislative framework for privacy and data management, and the adoption of industry standards for digital identification. Governments, the central bank, and regulators, working with market participants, must adapt existing policy frameworks to accommodate and harness change in a manner that supports a financial system that is efficient, competitive, stable, secure, inclusive, and one that instills trust. It is essential to ensure data security and privacy and enable consumers to have greater control over their financial data in ways that promote sound competition.

See:  Bank of Canada to become new regulator of fintech companies doing payments processing

Third, regulatory gaps must be remedied. Existing regulatory frameworks are ill-suited to deal with new and emerging market structures.

Federal leadership here is crucial.  Risks must be taken.

To deliver on these three essential steps, the federal government must exert strong leadership in mobilizing the necessary collective effort; making policy and market choices will require a careful balancing of objectives. Win-win solutions must be pursued, but there will be trade-offs at the margins – for example, between efficiency and stability, or between compliance and privacy.

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

NCFA Financial Innovation MapNCFA Innovation Opportunity BriefsNCFA Fintech Insights
NCFA Fintech WhispererNCFA Fintech Fridays PodcastNCFA Weekly Newsletter

 

Privacy Implications of an Open Banking System in Canada

McMillan | Darcy Ammerman, Mitch Koczerginski, Robbie Grant, Anthony Pallotta | Oct 12, 2021

privacy implications of open banking in Canada

Privacy and Open Banking

Since open banking is predicated on the free flow of information, privacy is key to an open banking system. In its February 2019 Review into the Merits of Open Banking, the Committee said “[t]he trust needed to allow the digital economy to flourish, and the social license that organizations will need from Canadians to innovate with their personal data, hinges on having an appropriate legal framework in place that puts at the forefront key privacy issues.” In its January 2020 review of stakeholder submissions, the Committee observed that all stakeholders considered privacy to be a significant risk of open banking. In its own submission to the Committee, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (“OPC”) called for several privacy reforms to support an open banking system.

Many of those reforms are already making progress. Before the election was called, the government had introduced a substantive overhaul to Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”), in the form of Bill C-11, which would have enacted the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (“CPPA”) (we summarized the proposed changes in a previous bulletin). Bill C-11 died on the order paper when the election was called, but since the liberal government has now returned to office, a new privacy law bill is expected to be forthcoming. There is added international pressure for privacy reforms too, as the EU reviews Canada’s adequacy status under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). Maintaining such status is crucial as it permits data processed in accordance with the GDPR to be subsequently transferred from the EU to Canada without requiring additional data protection safeguards or authorization to transfer the data.

See:  Canada’s Library of Parliament Report: A Comparison of Open Banking Recommendations

Meanwhile in Quebec, An Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information (“Bill 64”) received Royal Assent on September 22, 2021. This Bill amends Quebec’s Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (“Quebec’s Private Sector Act”) to include a data portability right, increased fines for non-compliance, and enhanced requirements for breach notification, consent, and data protection, among other changes.

Data Portability

In its June 2019 report on open banking, the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce recommended modernizing PIPEDA to align it with global privacy standards. It wrote that these changes “must include a consumer data portability right.”

In the context of open banking, data portability means a consumer’s right to direct that their personal financial information be shared with another organization. While this sounds simple in theory, it presents challenges for the organization sharing the data (typically the financial institution). First, personal information owned by the consumer is often grouped together with information owned by the sharing organization. For example, financial institutions may create “derived data” by processing consumer information together with proprietary algorithms and analysis. The Final Report takes the position that the financial institution should generally be able to exclude derived data from an open banking system. However, if such data is normally available to the consumer, the financial institution should have an obligation to justify an exclusion.

See: 

Betakit podcast with Senator Deacon on Open Banking and Competition

Reflections on Canada’s open banking report

The second and related challenge is that sharing organizations may store and process data in a variety of formats, but for data portability to be meaningful, the personal information must be shared in a usable technological form. The difference between a string of loose data, and a properly organized spreadsheet is significant to the utility of such information for a third party app developer. Financial institutions can look to Quebec’s Bill 64 as an example of how the concept of data portability could play out in practice. When it comes into force, Bill 64 will amend Quebec’s Private Sector Act to provide consumers with a right to request their computerized personal information in a “structured, commonly used technological format” unless doing so raises serious practical difficulties.

The introduction of a data portability right may require financial institutions to overhaul their data processing systems to ensure consumer data can be shared in a commonly used form, while separating out data that is unnecessary or proprietary to the financial institution. Depending on the sharing organization’s data processing systems, data portability may require significant lead time to implement. The challenges outlined above are likely why the technological format amendment to Quebec’s Private Sector Act does not come into force until September 22, 2024 (a full year after the majority of the amendments).

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

NCFA Financial Innovation MapNCFA Innovation Opportunity BriefsNCFA Fintech Insights
NCFA Fintech WhispererNCFA Fintech Fridays PodcastNCFA Weekly Newsletter

 

Bitcoin’s mystery man turns up in the law courts

The Law Society Gazette | | Michael Cross | Oct 14, 2021

Bitcoin’s mystery man

Source: iStock

As far as his acolytes are concerned, the ministry on earth of Satoshi Nakamoto lasted just over two years.

During that time, from the end of 2008, ‘he’ - Satoshi is a male given name - published a brilliantly written white paper setting out the principles of a currency that could operate without a central authority. He also released the computer code to turn Bitcoin in to practice (written in the programming language C++) and engaged in web conversations about its debugging and development. The last public comment appeared in December 2010. Email exchanges with developers continued for a few months, but then Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared without trace. 'I’ve moved on to other things,' he wrote in April 2011.

His, or their, identity remains a mystery.

See:  Privacy laws might prove to be a blessing in disguise for crypto

At least that is the widely accepted version of history among the mixture of geniuses, visionaries, hard-headed entrepreneurs, gullible punters and outright rogues who make up the global Bitcoin community. However a series of actions in the English courts could rewrite the authorised version. They are being brought by Dr Craig Wright, an Australian academic and Bitcoin entrepreneur resident in England, who says that the identity of Satoshi is no mystery, because it is he. Wright has registered the US copyright of Bitcoin's founding white paper and the original computer code. In June this year the High Court granted default judgment against the bitcoin.org website for infringement of his rights.

Wright is also taking vigorous action for defamation against those who dispute his claim. Judgment in a pre-trial review of one such action, against posts by a podcaster named Peter McCormack, resulted in a 256-paragraph ruling in the Queen's Bench Division earlier this month. Legal action is understood to be under way against another blogger.

Why, you may ask, does this matter? Surely Dr Wright has every right to defend his reputation, which has been subject to unquestionably vicious attacks. To quote Mr Justice Julian Knowles, Wright 'avers by way of innuendo the said words meant and were understood to mean that the claimant had fraudulently claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto'. Not that there appears to be much innuendo in complained-of phrases such as: 'Craig Wright is a fucking liar, and he's a fraud; and he's a moron'. (McCormack admits publication.)

See:  Bitcoin is an Unstoppable Force

The immediate answer is that anyone claiming, or admitting, to being Satoshi Nakamoto must accept responsibilities along with the kudos. A widely believed reason for 'Satoshi's' disappearance was the growing concern by law enforcement agencies in the use of Bitcoin to finance criminal and terrorist activity. These concerns have not gone away. The financial services authorities may also be interested: Satoshi's Bitcoin holding is in theory worth some $60bn. And HMRC is unlikely to ignore the sudden appearance of a multi-multi-billionaire apparently within its jurisdiction.

Wright is already contesting a lawsuit in the US over the ownership of a very large sum in Bitcoin; a trial opens in Miami next month.

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

NCFA Financial Innovation MapNCFA Innovation Opportunity BriefsNCFA Fintech Insights
NCFA Fintech WhispererNCFA Fintech Fridays PodcastNCFA Weekly Newsletter

 

Miami mayor says the city is moving toward paying public employees in bitcoin

ComplianceX | Jack J. Kelly | Oct 13, 2021

Miami

Miami will advance a plan to pay city workers in bitcoin, Mayor Francis Suarez told Bloomberg on Tuesday, expanding on his push to make the Florida city a major hub for digital assets.

“We’re going for a request for proposal in October to allow our employees to get paid in bitcoin, to allow our residents to pay for fees in bitcoin and even taxes potentially in bitcoin if the county allows it,” Suarez said in an interview with the business channel.

A formal solicitation would come after the city commissioners in February backed his resolution to direct the city manager to procure a vendor to offer employees the ability to receive a percentage of their salary in bitcoin.

See:  Miami’s mayor says MiamiCoin generated over $5 million USD for the city in the last 30 days

At the time, bitcoin traded close to $48,000, then hit an all-time high of $64,804.72 in April, fell below $30,000 in July, and recently reclaimed the $55,000 mark.

Despite the price volatility, Suarez also wants the state of Florida to allow Miami to hold bitcoin on its balance sheet. Statutes at the state and federal levels currently don’t allow cryptocurrencies to be owned by municipalities.

“It’s a major priority for me because I want us to differentiate ourselves as the crypto capital of the United States or of the world,” Suarez told Bloomberg Tuesday.

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

NCFA Financial Innovation MapNCFA Innovation Opportunity BriefsNCFA Fintech Insights
NCFA Fintech WhispererNCFA Fintech Fridays PodcastNCFA Weekly Newsletter