Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Enterprise, Scaleup
Bullish Buys Equiniti For Tokenized Market Infrastructure
May 5, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | Digital Assets And Tokenization, Capital Markets And Market Infrastructure
Ownership Records Become A Digital Asset Prize
On May 5, 2026, Bullish agreed to acquire Equiniti from Siris in an all stock transaction valued at $4.2B, with FT Partners serving as financial advisor to Siris. The deal gives Bullish control of a regulated transfer agent that serves:
- 3,000 public companies
- Supports more than 20M shareholder relationships
- Processes about $500B in annual payments
Equiniti’s client base includes roughly 50% of the FTSE 100 and about 33% of the S&P 500, placing it directly inside the ownership and record keeping core that global capital markets already rely on. It's a scaled infrastructure business with expected 2026 revenue of $890 - $940M and EBITDA of $335 - $350M.
See: a16z Raises $2.2B For Practical Crypto Infrastructure
That kind of scale can handle real volume, real issuers, and real investor bases that tokenized securities systems require. The platform already processes payments, dividends, and corporate actions at scale across global markets.
Frank Baker, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Siris:
"Tokenization represents one of the most significant shifts in market infrastructure since the advent of electronic trading, and we are confident that Bullish is exceptionally well positioned to build on Equiniti’s strength and capture the meaningful growth opportunities ahead.”
Regulated Ownership Infrastructure
Transfer agents operate at the center of capital markets, and Bullish is buying the system of record. They track ownership, manage corporate actions, and connect issuers to investors. That role becomes even more valuable as securities are tokenized and begin moving faster and across more venues.
Bullish already operates digital asset market infrastructure across trading, liquidity, and data. It's listed on the New York Stock Exchange BLSH and holds licenses across major jurisdictions, including New York, Germany under MiCAR, Hong Kong, and Gibraltar.
Equiniti adds the issuer side of the market. Together, the combined platform points to a full stack that spans issuance, registry, compliance, trading, and settlement.
This deal puts Bullish on a different track than other major platforms. Coinbase is focused on custody, trading, and derivatives. Robinhood is expanding distribution and retail access, including in Canada. This aligns with growing market activity in tokenized collateral and cash, where trusted infrastructure is driving adoption more than isolated blockchain tools.
Conclusion
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. The outcome isn't final, but the direction is already visible. Ownership records are becoming a strategic asset in digital markets, and Bullish just paid $4.2B to secure that position.
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
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a16z Raises $2.2B For Practical Crypto Infrastructure
May 5, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Capital Markets And Funding
Stablecoins Tokenization And AI Agents Lead The Thesis
On May 5, 2026, a16z crypto announced Crypto Fund 5, a $2.2 billion fund for startups building crypto infrastructure and products. a16z isn’t waiting for another hype cycle. It's putting capital behind the parts of crypto that already look useful, including stablecoins, tokenized assets, on chain lending, payments, and AI agents.
The stablecoin thesis carries the most weight currently. Trading activity still rises and falls with crypto markets, but stablecoins keep gaining use in saving, cross border transfers, and payments. That’s the fintech read. Stablecoins aren't just trading tools. They're becoming payment, treasury, and settlement infrastructure.
Fund 5 also points to a capital markets build. Perpetual futures, prediction markets, on chain lending, stablecoin credit markets, and tokenized real world assets push crypto closer to financial workflows that run continuously and settle faster than legacy systems. The opportunity is infrastructure that reduces friction where money, collateral, data, and ownership move.
The Canadian market is perking up too, with a practical example in Canada’s first financial institution issued CAD stablecoin, while bank technology providers are building toward bank issued digital money. The next test is volume growth. Stablecoins and tokenized cash only matter if they improve settlement, treasury, lending, compliance, and payment workflows for real customers (while at the same time servicing robot customers too? Here's Google says to build for agents And humans).
And then there's AI that makes the fund more of everything all at once. a16z links crypto networks to software agents that can decide, act, and transact on behalf of users. Agent driven commerce needs payment rails, permissions, identity, auditability, digital property rights, and settlement that works without banking hours. Crypto infrastructure may become one way machines pay for compute, data, services, and financial access.
See: Crypto Adoption Data In Europe Points To Next Phase
Where's the risk? A large fund can finance infrastructure, but customers still need simple products, trusted custody, clear rules, strong compliance, and measurable cost savings. The market has already punished crypto projects that don’t turn tech novelty into customer value. Fund 5 allocation will need to ensure builders can turn crypto infrastructure into everyday financial products that work better than the old rails.
Talking Point
If global venture capital is backing crypto infrastructure for payments, tokenization, and AI agents at scale, can Canada turn regulated digital asset rails into products that win real settlement, treasury, and financial services volume?
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
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Coinbase AI Cuts Reset Fintech Cost Discipline
May 5, 2026 | NCFA Insight | Artificial Intelligence And Data, Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization
Image: Magnific
AI Becomes A Boardroom Cost Test
On May 5, 2026, Coinbase filed a Form 8-K restructuring plan to cut about 700 employees or 14% of its global workforce as of May 1, 2026. The company expects most of the work cuts to finish in the second quarter of 2026 and estimates $50 - $60 million in restructuring expenses, such as severance and termination benefits. This isn't just another volatile crypto layoff, but rather a public market test of how the integration of AI tech is altering cost, team design, and operating workflow and design.
Coinbase linked the restructuring plan to current market conditions and the need to optimize operations for the AI era. With AI now disrupting the cost base, fintech boardrooms are facing harder questions around how much work can run through smaller teams, better tooling, and tighter controls?
Brian Armstrong, CEO and Co-Founder, Coinbase:
“Over the past year, I've watched engineers use AI to ship in days what used to take a team weeks. Non-technical teams are now shipping production code and many of our workflows are being automated.”
AI Is Now An Operating Issue
For fintech leaders, artificial intelligence is a capital allocation decision. AI spending and workforce redesign is surfacing new trade-offs about spending the next dollar on creating more output, people, platforms, or compute?
That question is currently running through every repeatable workflow in finance. Customer support. Compliance triage. Fraud review. Internal reporting. Software development. Onboarding. Risk monitoring. AI can compress parts of that work, but financial firms don’t get to optimize for speed alone. They also need audit trails, data controls, customer protection, and clear human accountability.
Clean operators can use AI to remove friction. Messy operators may spend more just to make automation safe enough to use.
Crypto Infrastructure Faces A New Cost Benchmark
AI raises the benchmark because investors can now ask whether a crypto infrastructure firm needs the same headcount to support the same activity.
It's pressure that's proliferating through all fintechs, not just crypto, but payment firms, wealth platforms, regtech and insurtech vendors, market infrastructure providers, and more.
See: AI Usage Data Shows Early Labour Market Strain
Can they serve more customers, process more exceptions, ship better software, and meet compliance obligations without scaling headcount at the same rate?
There's inherent danger in treating AI as a simple cost cutter. It is not because automation creates new work around oversight, security, data quality, model review, escalation, and governance. In financial services, a faster workflow that weakens trust is not progress. It is future liability.
Operator Lessons
Investors want stronger unit economics. Customers expect faster service. Regulators expect better controls.
Companies should be rebuilding work before harder choices arrive. Canadian firms should know which workflows still depend on manual review, which controls can be automated safely, and which teams can support growth without adding people at the same pace as revenue.
This is also a productivity issue. Canada’s fintech competitiveness will depend on whether firms can turn AI into better service, lower operating cost, stronger fraud controls, faster onboarding, and cleaner compliance. Companies that can solve this earlier will have more room to invest when capital tightens.
AI changes the economics of work, but it also changes decision making. If software helps write code, approve support responses, flag suspicious activity, draft compliance notes, or review onboarding files, management must know where human review remains mandatory. That is where AI agents in finance become more than a software story. They force firms to decide which tasks should run through automation, which decisions still need human judgment, and how every exception gets reviewed.
See: Coinbase Wins Conditional OCC Trust Approval
AI can improve speed, but weak controls can create opaque decision chains. Smaller teams can be stronger teams when work is clear, measurable, and governed. They can also become fragile when automation hides weak process design.
Talking Point
If AI is now establishing operating cost benchmarks for crypto exchanges and fintech platforms, can Canadian financial innovators redesign work fast enough to compete without weakening trust, compliance, or customer protection?
For Canada, the opportunity is practical. Build cleaner workflows. Improve data quality. Keep accountability visible. Use AI where it strengthens the work, not where it hides weak process.
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
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Crypto Adoption Data In Europe Points To Next Phase
May 4, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Insight | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization
Segmented Markets, Investment Driven Demand, And Push Towards Utility
On Apr 29, 2026, NCFA published a resource post on crypto adoption data across 11 European markets, based on the ARI10 Report Cryptocurrency Adoption in Europe 2026. The data points to a market that's moved past early awareness but hasn’t yet settled into consistent daily use just yet. That gap is where the next phase of competition starts.
Key Metrics
The study surveyed 11,068 respondents across 11 countries between Jan 9 and Jan 15, 2026:
- It found 39.44% had some exposure to crypto assets
- 31.47% qualified as investors, and 64.6% saw potential uses for crypto
- Poland led country exposure at 47.10%, followed by Norway at 45.42%, Spain at 42.38%, and Romania at 42.23%.
- France ranked lowest at 30.41%, while Sweden stood at 35.16%.
- Among investors, 48.65% cited potential value growth as a reason for entering the market, and 68.4% cited financial motives overall.
- The top barriers were risk and volatility at 33.3%, lack of funds at 32.1%, lack of technical knowledge at 31%, and lack of trust in exchanges at 28.6%.
Adoption Has Scale But Uneven
Roughly four in ten respondents have already researched, owned, or traded crypto. Just over three in ten qualify as investors. People know what crypto is, and many have already touched it. Crypto is by far no longer fringe.
See: Canada’s Productivity Depends on Intangible Tech Adoption
However, Poland’s 47.10% exposure rate and France’s 30.41% rate describe very different market conditions. Norway, Spain, and Romania also show stronger engagement than the overall average. For operators, that means Europe has different adoption curves. It breaks into local markets depending on income, education, age, product trust, and financial habits.
Single broad brushed strategies may miss the mark. A wallet, exchange, payment product, or tokenized asset platform needs to match how users actually behave in each market, not how the regional average looks in a slide deck.
Crypto Still Looks Like An Asset First
Investors still participate primarily for financial gains. Nearly half point to potential value growth, and more than two thirds cite financial motives overall. That makes crypto adoption look less like daily payment adoption and more like investment market participation.
This actually strengthens the crypto infrastructure story. Exchanges, custodians, payment firms, banks, and tokenization platforms keep investing because they’re trying to move crypto from access to daily utility. But user behaviour still leans toward buying, holding, and trading. The next stage of growth and adoption depends on how useful crypto becomes inside regular financial workflows, not just easier to purchase.
Barriers Are Practical
Risk and volatility rank at 33.3%. Lack of funds follows at 32.1%. Technical knowledge comes in at 31%. Lack of trust in exchanges reaches 28.6%. Regulatory uncertainty ranks much lower at 9.3%.
Regulation supports trust and scale, especially for institutions. But regulation alone doesn't turn interest into everyday use. Users need clearer entry points, better risk explanations, stronger platform trust, and products that make participating in crypto feel normal and useful.
See: Brussels Faces Pressure to Fix Europe’s DLT Pilot
This is where the current market opportunity is in Europe. Not in chasing generic adoption, but by turning curiosity into confidence, and confidence into repeat and useful behaviour.
3 Takeaways For Builders
- Awareness already has scale, so growth now depends on conversion, trust, and repeated use.
- Adoption remains segmented, so product strategy needs local depth rather than wide sweeping regional assumptions.
- Utility still trails investment behaviour, which leaves room for better products across payments, transfers, tokenized assets, embedded finance, and compliance grade infrastructure.
Talking Point
Crypto adoption has reached a point where awareness and regulation are no longer the main constraints (at least in Europe and based on this study). The next iteration depends on whether the industry can turn interest into trusted, useful, everyday financial behaviour. Access the full report on Crypto adoption in Europe
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
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How Companies Are Using Global EOR Services to Hire in 100+ Countries Without Setting Up Legal Entities
May 4, 2026
The ability to hire the best available talent regardless of geography has become a baseline expectation for competitive companies. Engineering teams, creative departments, and commercial roles are increasingly filled by professionals located in countries where the hiring company has no operational presence. The problem is not identifying those candidates; it is employing them legally. Establishing a local legal entity in a foreign market typically takes three to six months, requires ongoing administrative maintenance, and creates permanent compliance obligations that are difficult to unwind if the market does not develop as planned.
For companies that need to hire now rather than after completing a multi-month incorporation process, this gap between hiring intent and legal readiness represents a real cost, in delayed product development, lost candidates, and competitive disadvantage. That's why global EOR services have moved from a niche HR solution to a standard tool in the international workforce strategy of companies across sectors.
What Are Global EOR Services?
An employer of record (EOR) is a third-party company that legally employs workers on behalf of a client organization in a foreign jurisdiction. The EOR holds the employment contract, processes payroll, withholds taxes, administers benefits, and maintains compliance with local labor law. The client company directs the employee's work on a day-to-day basis, while the EOR carries the legal employer liability in the local market.
Global EOR services extend this model across multiple countries simultaneously. In other words, a single provider can serve as the legal employer of record for employees located in dozens of different countries, managing the distinct compliance requirements of each jurisdiction through one coordinated service relationship. Thanks to this, companies can build internationally distributed teams without replicating the legal and HR infrastructure of each target market internally.
This is materially different from working with a staffing agency, which supplies candidates but does not assume ongoing employer liability. It is also distinct from a professional employer organization (PEO), which typically operates as a co-employer in markets where the client already has a legal presence. An EOR operates in markets where the client has no entity at all.
When Does It Make Sense to Use Global EOR Services?
Here's when a global EOR model can enter the game: when the company's hiring needs outpace its legal infrastructure, and the cost or complexity of establishing entities in every relevant market is disproportionate to the hiring volume.
You should attentively analyze whether the following scenarios describe the organization's current situation:
- Engineering or commercial roles need to be filled in multiple countries where no local entity exists
- Existing contractors in foreign markets are being converted to full-time employees to reduce misclassification risk and improve retention
- The company is entering a new geographic market and wants to test local hiring before committing to entity setup
- A merger or acquisition has introduced employees in jurisdictions where the acquiring company has no legal presence
- The internal HR and legal teams lack bandwidth to manage cross-border payroll and compliance manually across multiple markets
The majority of companies that adopt global EOR services report that the model significantly reduces time-to-hire in new markets and eliminates the compliance overhead that previously made international hiring prohibitively complex for teams without dedicated global HR functions.
How Global EOR Services Work in Practice
Understanding the operational mechanics helps companies set realistic expectations and structure the engagement effectively.
The Employment Structure
When a company engages an EOR provider, the worker signs an employment contract with the EOR entity in their country. That contract reflects local employment law requirements, including probationary period terms, notice periods, mandatory benefits, and severance entitlements. The client company signs a separate services agreement with the EOR, defining the commercial terms, IP ownership provisions, and the scope of the employer's day-to-day direction of the worker's activities.
The worker operates functionally as a member of the client's team. They follow the client's processes, use the client's tools, and report to the client's management structure. The EOR handles the payroll cycle, tax filings, benefits enrollment, and any HR administrative processes required by local law.
The Compliance Layer
Compliance management is the core value of the EOR model. Labor laws vary significantly across markets, including mandatory minimum wages, statutory leave entitlements, public holiday requirements, employer social security contribution rates, and termination procedure rules. What is also important here is that these regulations change; a provider that was compliant twelve months ago needs ongoing legal monitoring to remain compliant today.
What reliable global EOR services should have from a compliance standpoint:
- In-country legal expertise or direct entity presence in active employment markets
- Up-to-date country-specific employment contract templates reviewed against current labor law
- Automated statutory deduction calculation and payroll tax filing in each jurisdiction
- Documented processes for monitoring and implementing regulatory changes
- Clear accountability for compliance failures, including indemnification provisions in the services agreement
The Technology Platform
Modern EOR services are supported by software platforms that consolidate workforce administration across all active countries. These platforms typically cover employee onboarding and document collection, payroll processing and payslip delivery, benefits enrollment and management, time and expense tracking, and reporting dashboards that give HR and finance teams consolidated visibility across markets.
Pay attention to the self-service capabilities available to employees. A well-designed platform allows workers to access their own employment documents, view payroll history, submit expenses, and track leave without routing every request through an HR intermediary. This reduces administrative volume and improves the employee experience for distributed team members.
How to Transition from Contractors to EOR Employment
A large number of companies that engage global EOR services do so initially to regularize an existing contractor workforce. This transition is operationally straightforward when managed systematically.
- Audit the current contractor arrangements by country, identifying which relationships carry misclassification risk based on duration, exclusivity, and the degree of client control over the work
- Prioritize conversion by risk level, starting with contractors in jurisdictions where labor authorities are most active in enforcement, such as Germany, France, Spain, and Brazil
- Select an EOR provider with validated in-country infrastructure in each relevant market before beginning any contractor communications
- Communicate the transition clearly to contractors, explaining that the change converts them to employment status with statutory benefits and protections
- Coordinate contract timing so that contractor agreements terminate cleanly and EOR employment contracts begin without gaps in coverage
- Transfer any IP assignment provisions from the contractor agreement to the EOR employment structure, ensuring client ownership of all prior and future work product is documented
We recommend completing this process market by market rather than attempting a simultaneous global conversion, which reduces coordination complexity and allows the HR team to verify that each country's transition has been executed correctly before moving to the next.
How to Evaluate Global EOR Providers
Not all EOR providers operate with the same model or coverage quality. The most highly demanded options in the enterprise segment typically offer their own in-country legal entities rather than relying entirely on sub-vendor networks, which produces more consistent compliance standards and clearer accountability.
From a financial perspective, pricing structures vary considerably across providers. Per-employee per-month flat fees are the most predictable and easiest to budget. Percentage-of-salary models become significantly more expensive at higher compensation levels, which matters particularly for senior technical and commercial roles. Apart from this, setup fees, country activation fees, and offboarding costs should be evaluated as part of total cost of ownership rather than ignored in favor of the headline monthly rate.
It will be helpful to request references specifically from companies with similar workforce profiles, including comparable team sizes, comparable countries of employment, and comparable roles. An EOR that performs well for a twenty-person team in Western Europe may not have the operational depth to support a two-hundred-person distributed team across Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa simultaneously.
Typical integrations that a mature EOR platform should support include HRIS systems, finance and ERP platforms, expense management tools, and time tracking applications. A platform that cannot connect to the client's existing HR infrastructure will create parallel data workflows that increase reconciliation risk and administrative overhead.
Conclusion
Global EOR services remove the primary operational barrier to international hiring: the requirement to establish a local legal entity before employing anyone in a foreign market. First of all, they allow companies to hire compliantly in new geographies within days rather than months, which translates directly into faster team assembly and competitive advantage in markets where talent is scarce. Secondly, they transfer the ongoing compliance burden of cross-border employment to a specialized provider, freeing internal HR and legal teams to focus on workforce strategy rather than regulatory administration.
See: AI Spending Rewrites Jobs And How Firms Operate
The organizations that use this model most effectively treat it as a long-term infrastructure decision rather than a temporary workaround. Selecting a provider with genuine in-country expertise, transparent pricing, and robust technology will determine whether the EOR relationship enables growth or simply adds a new administrative layer.
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
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KOHO Adds Regulated Crypto Trading Inside Its Money App
Apr 29, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Banking And Credit Infrastructure
KOHO And Wealthsimple Compete On Crypto Access
On Apr 29, 2026, KOHO launched KOHO Crypto powered by Ndax, giving users a way to buy, hold, and manage digital assets inside the KOHO app. KOHO brings crypto trading into a money management app already used by more than 2.5 million Canadians.
The pricing is the main user hook. KOHO Crypto starts at 0.5% per trade for KOHO Everything members, 1% for Extra and Essential members, and 1.5% for non members. Users can start with as little as $1, access more than 20 crypto assets, and fund purchases instantly from their KOHO balance.
See: Crypto Self Custody Growth And User Behaviour Data
KOHO is also using an incentive to bring existing Bitcoin holders into the app, offering a limited time 3% BTC transfer match up to $150 for eligible Bitcoin moved into KOHO powered by Ndax.
| Feature | KOHO Crypto | Wealthsimple Crypto |
|---|---|---|
| Base trading fees | 0.5% to 1.5% based on KOHO plan. Users can start with $1. | 2.0% for Core, 1.0% for Premium, and 0.5% for Generation. |
| Volume pricing | KOHO does not list volume tiers on its crypto page. | Volume based fees can fall to 0.05% for $10M+ in 30 day crypto trading volume. |
| Current incentives | Limited time 3% BTC transfer match, up to $150. KOHO pays the matched amount in CAD after 12 months. KOHO reimburses trading fees after 90 days for eligible transfers over $1,000. | Wealthsimple charges no trading fee on USDC bought or sold with USD. Wealthsimple also charges no trading fee on recurring crypto purchases through automated paycheque investing. |
| Funding and FX | Users fund trades from a KOHO balance. KOHO says all coins pair with CAD, with 0% FX fees, no hidden spreads, and no unexplained markups. | Users can place trades in CAD or USD where Wealthsimple supports it. Wealthsimple says it uses its corporate FX rate when CAD settlement requires conversion, and includes that cost in the trading fee. |
| Transfers | KOHO currently limits external transfers to one way Bitcoin deposits. KOHO does not yet support transfers out. | Wealthsimple supports a broader crypto account setup, with trading, swaps, recurring purchases, and staking where available. |
| Staking | KOHO does not yet offer staking. | Wealthsimple charges staking fees of 30% of rewards for Core and Premium clients, and 15% for Generation clients, plus applicable validator fees. |
| Custody and regulation | Ndax, a CIRO member, powers the product. KOHO says qualified custodians hold at least 80% of client crypto, with a smaller amount in operational wallets. | Wealthsimple Crypto operates inside Wealthsimple’s broader regulated investing platform and fee schedule. |
| Platform strategy | KOHO embeds regulated crypto access inside a daily money app where users already spend, save, borrow, and build credit. | Wealthsimple places crypto inside a broader wealth and investing platform, where pricing improves with client tier, trading volume, and account depth. |
Two Different Ways To Cross Sell Crypto
The comparison shows two different cross sell strategies. KOHO is using crypto to deepen a daily money relationship, with low entry size, CAD pricing, and a Bitcoin transfer incentive aimed at existing holders. Wealthsimple is using crypto inside a wealth platform, where pricing improves with account tier, trading volume, and wider product depth. KOHO’s advantage is access from a spending balance. Wealthsimple’s advantage is depth for investors already using its trading and wealth products.
See: KOHO Launches Low Cost Global Money Transfer Service
Many crypto platforms still require users to transfer funds out of a banking or spending account before trading. KOHO keeps the experience inside the same app people already use for spending, saving, and building credit. It also removes foreign exchange friction by pricing transactions in Canadian dollars.
Daniel Eberhard, CEO, KOHO:
“Access has been one of the biggest barriers for the average Canadian to dive into crypto. We’re also seeing growing demand from people who want more flexible ways to build wealth, especially at a moment when financial pressure and instability are high. By bringing crypto into an environment Canadians already trust, we’re making that access more practical and aligned with how people actually manage their money.”
Calgary based Ndax provides the regulated trading infrastructure and custody framework behind the product, while KOHO controls the customer interface. In this way, KOHO doesn't have to become a standalone crypto exchange to offer digital assets. It can embed regulated trading into its financial platform.
The timing fits Canada’s regulated fintech buildout. KOHO registered as one of the first Canadian fintech payment service providers under the Retail Payment Activities Act in 2025 and later became a Payments Canada member as a supervised PSP. These are important qualifications because consumers now trust fintech apps with more of their financial lives.
Crypto demand remains real, but trust is still uneven. The CSA 2024 Investor Index found that crypto assets are among the six most commonly held investment types in Canada, with 33% of investors under 35 reporting crypto asset holdings.
See: Datavault AI Targets Canadian CyberCatch In $136.8M Deal
For KOHO, the product expands wallet share. For Ndax, it opens distribution through a consumer finance app with national reach. For Canadian fintech, the trend is clear. Regulated crypto access now sits inside existing financial apps instead of forcing users into separate trading venues.
Talking Point
Will crypto access in Canada grow less through standalone exchanges and more through trusted financial apps? The hard part is giving users simple access without turning everyday money tools into speculation funnels.
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 works 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
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NCFA Weekly Fintech Intelligence Apr 25-May 1, 2026
May 1, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Whisperer Weekly Intelligence | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Payments And Market Infrastructure, Regulation And Policy, Capital Markets And Market Infrastructure
Image: Freepik
This live weekly NCFA intelligence page tracks financial technology developments that significantly affect how fintechs build, sell, raise capital, and operate under scrutiny. Coverage prioritizes Canada and includes global events that directly influence competitive conditions, market access, and execution realities across fintech sectors. This page will be updated throughout the week with market movers in a live format and then each week we'll close the prior week's contents in prep for the upcoming week, and continue on a rolling basis. (Missed prior week's Fintech Whisperer? (December 6-12, 2025, December 13-19, 2025, January 1-9, 2026, January 10-16, 2026, January 17-23, 2026, January 24-30, 2026, January 31-February 6, 2026, February 7-13, 2026, February 14-20, 2026, February 21-27, 2026, February 28-March 6, 2026, March 7-13, 2026, March 14-20, 2026, March 21-27, 2026, March 28-April 3, 2026, April 4-10, 2026, April 11-17, 2026, April 18-24, 2026).
Weekly Fintech Market Intelligence Apr 25 - May 1, 2026
Open Banking Open Finance And Data Sharing
FCA Publishes Assessment For Open Banking Standards Body
May 1, 2026, United Kingdom
- The FCA publishes KPMG’s independent assessment of proposals to lead the establishment of a future open banking standards setting body.
- The assessment supports industry decision making on a standards body capable of becoming the Future Entity, subject to future legislation.
- The FCA expects industry to set out next steps promptly and plans to publish another KPMG report on how the Future Entity could be operationalized.
Open banking is moving from policy design into standards governance. The next control point is who sets the technical, data, consent, and implementation standards that banks, fintechs, and payment firms will have to build against.
Risk Compliance And Regtech
APRA Calls For Step Change In AI Risk Governance
Apr 30, 2026, Australia
- APRA publishes an industry letter after reviewing AI use across banking, insurance, and superannuation.
- AI adoption is moving into operational and customer facing uses while governance, accountability, and assurance remain behind deployment speed.
- The review identifies board literacy gaps, third party dependence, embedded AI in vendor systems, weak contingency planning, and fragmented assurance across cyber, privacy, procurement, data, and operational risk.
- Existing prudential standards already apply, with regulated entities expected to close control gaps before AI use expands further.
AI governance is now part of prudential supervision. Banks, insurers, super funds, and vendors need evidence that AI systems can be explained, challenged, monitored, and shut down without breaking critical operations.
Canada Targets Crypto ATMs And MSBs In Spring Update
Apr 28, 2026, Canada
- Canada proposes to ban crypto ATMs and tighten rules for money services businesses used in fraud, money laundering, sanctions evasion, and terrorist financing.
- The update proposes $352.7M over five years and $82.1M ongoing to stand up the Financial Crimes Agency, plus funding for prosecutors and Finance Canada.
- FINTRAC revoked 84 MSB registrations in March 2026, and the update proposes stronger registration controls, criminal record checks, and new powers to stop non compliant operators from re entering the system.
- The National Anti Fraud Strategy advances a multi sector framework across finance, telecom, and digital platforms.
Canada is moving financial crime policy closer to the access points where fraud enters the system. Crypto ATMs, MSBs, account funding, and platform coordination now sit inside the same risk conversation. For fintech operators, the message is practical: faster finance needs stronger onboarding, monitoring, reporting, and partner controls. Weak compliance is becoming a market access problem, not just a regulatory issue.
Regulation And Policy
CSA Removes Some Personal Data Fields From NI 33-109 Filings
Apr 30, 2026, Canada
- The CSA publishes Coordinated Blanket Order 33-930 as interim relief from requirements to submit or update certain personal information under NI 33-109.
- The order exempts eye colour, hair colour, height, weight, and citizenship information from specified Form 33-109F4 and change notice requirements.
- The relief takes effect on May 1, 2026 and is intended to remain in place until NI 33-109 is amended, with Ontario expiry limits noted in the CSA notice.
CSA is removing unnecessary personal data from registration filings before the formal rule amendment is complete. Registrants, dealers, advisers, and compliance vendors should update onboarding, change notice, and filing workflows to reduce data collection and privacy risk.
FCA Opens ESG Ratings Reporting Pilot Ahead Of New Regime
Apr 28, 2026, United Kingdom
- The FCA invites ESG rating providers expected to fall under UK regulation to join a voluntary regulatory reporting pilot.
- Providers must express interest by May 13, 2026, with the pilot intended to test data availability, accessibility, and proportional reporting requirements.
- The FCA links the pilot to CP25/34 on ESG ratings regulation, while noting the pilot does not indicate final policy.
ESG ratings regulation is moving from consultation into reporting design. Data providers, asset managers, platforms, and compliance teams should watch what information the FCA tests now, because today’s pilot data fields can become tomorrow’s supervisory evidence.
Bundesbank President Pushes Digital Euro For Payments Sovereignty
Apr 28, 2026, Europe
- Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel frames digital payments as critical infrastructure and links the digital euro to Europe’s strategic autonomy.
- Cash accounts for 24% of euro area day to day payment value in 2024, while the share of merchants not accepting cash has tripled to 12% over three years.
- About two thirds of European card payments are processed by large U.S. payment providers, reinforcing the dependency risk behind the digital euro agenda.
- Nagel says the digital euro legislative process can be concluded by the end of 2026.
Europe’s digital euro case is now less about payment choice and more about infrastructure control. Banks, wallets, processors, and fintechs should watch how legal tender status, offline payments, privacy, and private sector distribution are built into the final framework.
Mercury Receives OCC Conditional Approval For National Bank
Apr 27, 2026, United States
- Mercury receives conditional OCC approval to establish Mercury Bank, N.A. as a national bank headquartered in Utah.
- Mercury serves more than 300,000 businesses and individuals, generates more than $650M in annualized revenue, and has 4 years of GAAP profitability.
- The company still needs remaining OCC requirements, FDIC approval, and Federal Reserve approval before Mercury Bank can launch.
- Mercury says a bank charter would support Zelle, expanded lending, faster money movement, and more direct control over payments infrastructure.
Mercury’s conditional approval shows how fintech infrastructure is moving closer to regulated bank ownership. The test now is execution: capital planning, compliance controls, risk governance, deposit insurance approval, payments operations, and regulator confidence.
Payments And Money Movement
Brazil Restricts Virtual Assets In Regulated eFX Settlement
Apr 30, 2026, Brazil
- Banco Central do Brasil issues Resolution BCB No. 561, updating rules for electronic foreign exchange payment and international transfer services.
- The rule requires eFX provider settlement with foreign counterparties to use foreign exchange transactions or non resident real accounts, and prohibits virtual assets in that settlement flow.
- The same framework expands eFX use to transfers tied to financial and capital market investments in Brazil or abroad.
Brazil is drawing a clear line inside regulated cross border payment infrastructure. eFX providers get broader investment related use cases, but crypto and stablecoins stay outside the supervised settlement flow between providers and foreign counterparties.
Visa Expands Stablecoin Settlement Pilot To Nine Blockchains
Apr 30, 2026, United States
- Visa adds five blockchains to its global stablecoin settlement pilot, expanding supported networks to nine.
- The pilot now supports Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon, and Tempo, alongside Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar.
- Visa says the pilot reached a $7B annualized stablecoin settlement run rate, up 50% quarter over quarter.
Stablecoin settlement is moving deeper into card network infrastructure. Visa’s multi chain expansion gives issuers and acquirers more settlement options while keeping a global payment network as the common operating layer.
Ant International Opens Agentic Mobile Protocol For AI Commerce
Apr 27, 2026, Malaysia
- Ant International introduces Agentic Mobile Protocol for AI agent payments across digital wallets, banking apps, super apps, mobile portals, and wearable devices.
- The protocol is open sourced and designed to connect AI platforms, merchants, agent builders, and LLMs to digital wallet users through secure mobile interfaces.
- AMP includes delegated payment authority, Know Your Agent controls, agent trust ratings, cross-device compatibility, and agent-to-agent settlement for nano transactions.
- Ant International says Alipay+ connects more than 40 wallet partners, 1.8B user accounts, and 150M merchants globally.
AI commerce is moving beyond card rails into wallets, super apps, banking interfaces, and wearable devices. Payment providers now need agent controls, authentication, settlement, and audit trails built directly into mobile workflows.
Capital Markets And Funding
Canada Launches First National Sovereign Wealth Fund
Apr 27, 2026, Canada
- The federal government announced the Canada Strong Fund as Canada’s first national sovereign wealth fund, with an initial federal contribution of $25B.
- The fund will invest alongside private capital in strategic Canadian projects and companies, including clean and conventional energy, critical minerals, agriculture, infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and telecommunications.
- The Department of Finance backgrounder says the fund will focus primarily on equity investments, operate as an arm’s length Crown corporation, and pursue market rate commercial returns.
- The government will consult on a retail investment product that lets Canadians invest directly in the fund, with upside participation and protected initial invested capital.
Canada is creating a new public capital vehicle that blends nation building, private co investment, and retail participation. For fintechs, dealers, platforms, and wealth firms, the key watch item is the retail product design: distribution, disclosure, capital protection, eligibility, liquidity, and how ordinary Canadians gain access to strategic national investments.
FCA Consults On Changes To IPO Research Rules
Apr 27, 2026, United Kingdom
- The FCA proposes removing the 7 day delay before connected IPO research can be published.
- The consultation also proposes removing rules that require firms to give independent analysts the same information as their own research analysts.
- The FCA says the 2018 rules have not increased unconnected research and have added cost, risk, and complexity to the IPO process.
- The CP26/14 consultation closes on May 29, 2026.
The FCA is trying to reduce friction in UK listings. Issuers, banks, advisers, and research teams should watch this closely because research timing affects IPO execution, investor education, and how competitive London looks beside other listing venues.
Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization
CLARITY Act Yield Deal Puts Stablecoin Rewards Back In Play
May 1, 2026, United States
- Sens. Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks released compromise language on stablecoin yield for the digital asset market structure bill.
- The text would ban rewards on stablecoin balances that are economically or functionally equivalent to interest bearing bank deposits.
- The compromise tries to preserve rewards tied to bona fide activity while addressing bank concerns about deposit flight.
- Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad says the compromise preserves rewards based on real platform and network usage, and Brian Armstrong replies “Mark it up,” signalling Coinbase support for moving the bill to committee.
The stablecoin yield fight is moving from a hard stop to a narrower fight over rewards design. Stablecoin issuers, exchanges, wallets, and banks should watch whether Congress draws the line around deposit like yield, activity based rewards, and who gets to define the difference.
SEC Publishes NYSE Texas Filing For Tokenized Securities Trading
Apr 30, 2026, United States
- The SEC publishes NYSE Texas’s rule filing to adopt Rule 7.39 and related changes enabling trading of securities in tokenized form during DTC’s tokenization pilot.
- The filing lets eligible participants select a tokenization flag at order entry, with NYSE Texas sending the tokenization preference to DTC after execution.
- Eligible tokenized securities trade on the same order book as traditional securities with the same execution priority, CUSIP, trading symbol, shareholder rights, and privileges.
- NYSE Texas keeps core exchange mechanics unchanged, including order types, routing, sessions, connectivity, pricing, and market data treatment.
Tokenized equities are being routed into existing U.S. market structure rather than a parallel venue. That makes the DTC pilot more important: the operating question is no longer whether tokenized securities can trade, but how clearing, settlement, custody, controls, and shareholder rights fit inside the national market system.
Cari And Tassat Advance U.S. Bank Tokenized Deposit Network
Apr 30, 2026, United States
- Cari partners with Tassat and will incorporate selected Tassat technologies and expertise into its tokenized deposit network.
- Cari’s MVP launched in March with design partner banks including First Horizon, Huntington, KeyCorp, M&T Bank, Old National, and SouthState.
- Eight additional banks have committed to join ahead of production launch later this year, with hundreds of institutions in active discussions.
- Tassat says its infrastructure has settled more than $2.5T to date.
Bank led tokenized deposits are moving from experiments toward shared network infrastructure. The signal is not only the technology transfer. It is the bank roster, production launch timing, and push to keep always on settlement inside the regulated deposit perimeter.
MoonPay Korea And Woori Bank Build KRW Stablecoin Infrastructure
Apr 30, 2026, South Korea
- MoonPay Korea signs its first banking MOU with Woori Bank to support bank led won backed stablecoin infrastructure.
- The work covers global distribution, cross border settlement, wallet access, and currency conversion for Korea’s emerging KRW stablecoin market.
- The consortium will explore use cases across remittances, merchant settlements, institutional payments, and cross border financial activity.
- MoonPay says it serves more than 30M customers across 180 countries and supports more than 500 enterprise customers.
Korea is moving bank led stablecoin infrastructure toward cross border distribution and wallet access. Stablecoin providers, banks, and payment firms should watch whether KRW backed settlement becomes a regulated bridge between domestic bank money and global digital commerce.
FCA Publishes Guidance And Rules For Fund Tokenisation
Apr 30, 2026, United Kingdom
- The FCA publishes guidance on how firms can use distributed ledger technology within existing rules for fund tokenisation.
- New rules add an optional Direct to Fund model that lets investors deal directly with a fund, whether traditional or tokenised.
- The FCA cites the UK asset management market as around 2,600 firms managing £16.5T for UK and global clients.
Simon Walls, Executive Director of Markets, Financial Conduct Authority
“Tokenisation has the potential to play an important role in asset management, and its adoption will be driven by firms and investors. We have focused on delivering what the market has asked for: a clear, practical framework that provides confidence in how fund tokenisation can operate within our rules, both now and into the future.”
AIMCo Discloses Strategy Holding In Q1 2026 Filing
April 29, 2026, Canada
- Alberta Investment Management Corporation's Q1 2026 Form 13F disclosed a holding of 1,382,000 Strategy shares.
- The filing reported a market value of approximately US$172.5 million at quarter end.
- The position provides indirect Bitcoin exposure through Strategy's corporate treasury model within a conventional public equity portfolio.
Institutional Bitcoin adoption is expanding through public equity as well as direct digital asset holdings. Pension funds, asset managers, banks and capital markets participants should watch whether listed Bitcoin treasury companies become a common route for regulated institutions seeking digital asset exposure within existing investment mandates.
Computershare And Securitize Bring Tokenized Shares To U.S. Issuers
Apr 29, 2026, United States
- Computershare and Securitize agree to let U.S. listed companies offer tokenized shares alongside traditional equity.
- The model keeps Computershare as transfer agent and lets issuers offer blockchain based ownership while preserving shareholder rights such as voting and dividends.
- Computershare serves more than 25,000 clients worldwide and supports companies representing about 58% of the S&P 500.
- Securitize has more than $4B in tokenized real world assets under management as of Apr 2026.
Tokenized equities are moving into the transfer agent layer. That matters because shareholder records, voting, dividends, and issuer controls are the plumbing that separates real tokenized securities from synthetic exposure or offshore wrappers.
FIS Launches Lyriq Platform For Bank Issued Digital Money
Apr 29, 2026, United States
- FIS launches Lyriq, a platform that lets banks issue, manage, and settle their own digital money, including tokenized deposits and digital currencies, while keeping deposits on bank balance sheets.
- Lyriq integrates with existing core banking systems, supports 24/7 settlement, and uses transactions that complete fully or fail cleanly.
- The platform is entering limited availability after seven digital currency proofs of concept with financial institutions globally.
- FIS says Lyriq includes compliance, identity verification, access controls, and auditability inside the platform infrastructure.
Bank issued digital money is moving closer to core banking infrastructure. Lyriq gives banks a way to run tokenized deposit style money flows with controls, auditability, settlement finality, and core integration built in from the start.
OKX BlackRock And Standard Chartered Launch Tokenized Collateral Framework
Apr 28, 2026, Global
- OKX, BlackRock, and Standard Chartered launch a framework that lets qualified clients use BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized short term U.S. Treasury fund as yield bearing trading collateral.
- Standard Chartered provides regulated custody, creating a G SIB backed off exchange tokenized collateral framework.
- The framework supports both on exchange margin and off exchange collateral, allowing institutional clients to keep earning yield while using tokenized Treasury exposure in trading workflows.
Tokenized Treasury funds are moving from passive yield products into active collateral infrastructure. Exchanges, custodians, asset managers, and institutional trading desks now have a working model for combining yield, margin, custody, and counterparty risk controls in one operating stack.
Conclusion
This week is about ownership of core financial infrastructure. Canada introduced a sovereign wealth fund. Fintechs pursued bank charters. Global banks, exchanges, transfer agents, payment networks, and core processors advanced tokenized deposits, fund tokenization, tokenized shares, stablecoin settlement, and AI agent payments. These initiatives are about control: who owns the account, who controls settlement, who keeps custody, who sets the rules, and who earns the economics when financial assets and payments become programmable.
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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, 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
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