David Durand, Advisor, Innovation and Advocacy
September 9th, 2020
David Durand, LL.L., B.Sc. chem., – Founder and Managing Partner of Durand Lawyers – Lawyer (Québec)[...]
Category Archives: ESG, Financial Inclusion, Sustainable Finance
You knew it was coming: Climate Fintech
Forbes | | Feb 18, 2021
What do you get when you combine the buzziest tech sector with the most high-profile public policy issue? Financial technology combating climate change.
It would seem an unlikely pairing, but the last year witnessed an explosion in climate-focused fintech products and companies. The public’s focus on climate change is here to stay, which could continue to spur more exciting innovation in financial services focused on creating a greener world. It remains to be seen whether these products can generate a meaningful return (and thus merit continued investment), but this will be a common theme over the next year and beyond.
See: Brookings Event: Climate change and financial market regulations: Insights from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro
How does one combine a financial product with climate technology? There are many examples.
Stripe recently launched its climate removal tool - Stripe Climate - which lets online businesses redirect some of their proceeds towards four emerging technologies focused on reducing carbon footprints. (The tool is now global, and over 100 companies in Europe have signed up.) The kit also lets companies tout their climate credentials to customers - something that may become increasingly important in shopping habits.
Climate is also becoming a more popular investing habit. Cooler Future, a Finnish fintech, is building a retail stock investing app focused on climate impact. Trine lets its users invest in clean energy in emerging markets. Carbon Collective is a roboadvisor that builds portfolios with a low climate impact.
No fintech trend would be complete without its own neobank subset. Atmos Financial claims to offer a bank savings account “engineered to reverse the climate crisis” from clean energy investments made with deposits. Carbon Zero, which “takes a car off the road for a day for every $10 you spend,” donates part of its credit card interchange revenues to carbon removal and helps cardholders track their carbon footprint. Aspiration lets users round up their purchases to the nearest dollar, and plants trees with the change.
Not to be outdone, banks and legacy financial services players are making their own climate commitments. The American Bankers Association is pushing principles for transitioning to a low carbon footprint economy (conveniently timed with a US transition in government…) Goldman Sachs joined an open source climate data initiative. The Treasury and the European Central Bank are setting up their own centers to focus on climate change.
See: Davos 2020: Financial inclusion and fintech is key to meeting the UN SDGs
The UK government is spending £10 million to create ‘green finance’ hubs in Leeds and London. New Energy Nexus recently compiled 100 interviews into a report that shows financial institutions making comprehensive strides into mobilizing more capital in the pursuit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The big question will be: can these firms make money?
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
 |  |  |
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS!   |
Want to launch an ecosystem? Consider Tokenization
2tokens Blog | Jan 14, 2020
Tokens have been around for 1000s of years, but only recently have we seen the rise of digital tokens. Now, cryptographic tokens offer us an opportunity to redesign value streams and hence existing ecosystems. A well-designed token ecosystem unlocks value by bringing parties together in new ways and stimulates the target behaviour by having cryptographic tokens as built-in incentives. Tokens matter and offer a chance to redesign existing and new ecosystems.
On January 14, 2020, we had the second round table session organised by the 2Tokens initiative. The 2Tokens project aims to clarify the path to realising value from tokenisation. During the first round table session, we discussed why we need tokenisation, what is required to achieve value from tokenisation, and how we should move ahead with it.
Shared Understanding
Tokenisation, tokenomics and token engineering are new concepts and, for many, difficult to understand. Especially since often, these terms are used differently in different contexts. A shared understanding is not only relevant for building tokenised ecosystems, but it will also enable regulators and policymakers to address regulatory concerns in the right way. As such, it will foster a healthy public debate around tokenisation.
See: Tokenizing Assets and Unlocking Value on the Blockchain
A shared understanding consists of precise terminology and taxonomy, international standards, useful metaphors to share with wider audiences and clear legal and regulatory frameworks. Since the field of tokenisation is very much alive, on-going coordination, education and engagement among all stakeholders is essential. A Token Coalition can manage this, or organisation such as the 2Tokens project, to ensure all stakeholders' requirements are met. We define the terminology as follows:
- Tokens: the digital representation of value (e.g. asset) on a blockchain.
- Tokenisation: the process of changing value (e.g. asset) into its digital representative
- Tokenomics: the study of the emerging field of the design of crypto tokens and related digital assets using economic incentives, game theory, cryptography and computer science.
- Token engineering: the practice of using tokens as the foundation for designing value flows and ultimately economic systems
- Purpose-driven tokenisation: leveraging the exchange of value to drive behaviours of an ecosystem towards a particular goal
Innovative Funding
For any ecosystem, funding is important. Tokenisation, however, changes how this funding can be achieved, going beyond traditional financing from venture capitalists or financial institutions. When an ecosystem plans to use tokens for funding, it can benefit from easy access to capital, anywhere in the world. Compared to traditional financing such as an IPO, the costs of financing are lower, and it is easier to scale as more people have access to the investment opportunity. After all, tokens do not know borders.
See: BIGG Digital Assets Inc. to Reinvest Free Cash Flows From Operations into Bitcoin
Tokens offer multiple, technical, advantages over traditional funding. First of all, they are programmable. This means that governance and rules can be embedded within the token. For example, the longer you hold a token, the more dividend you will receive. This allows you to drive the behaviour of your investors while raising funds. In addition, tokens are transparent, secure and traceable, giving regulators more control to ensure correct behaviour.
With tokenised funding becoming the norm in the coming years, we can expect a shift from ownership to temporary ownership, as exchanging assets will become easy. As a result, previously illiquid assets will become liquid, thereby drastically changing economies. Anything can be tokenised and made liquid, including real estate (fractional ownership), CO2 rights, mobility, futures, art or even entire clubs and sport contracts to increase fan engagement.
Key to tokenised funding is the right infrastructure. This includes secondary markets to easily exchange security tokens, clear regulations so companies know what they have to comply with, and an intuitive user interface to facilitate ease of investment. When the right tools are available, tokens will revolutionise funding opportunities.
Change Management
Developing an ecosystem is one thing; getting people to use it is a different challenge. Although tokens can drive behaviour, people will need to change their behaviour to participate in tokenised ecosystems. It can be expected that there is a resistance to change because people don’t understand the new ways of interacting.
See: For Digital Assets, Private Markets Offer the Greatest Opportunities
To tackle this resistance, it is crucial for ecosystem owners to create awareness and understanding the change implied when using tokenisation; what is it, why is it important, how will it change the ecosystem and what are the benefits? In addition, it is important to take into account to define and communicate the scale of change and eliminate certain (wrong) assumptions. Starting with a minimum viable ecosystem to build engagement and showing why a tokenised approach is important can help in market adoption.
When talking about tokenisation of an ecosystem, or multiple ecosystems for that matter, we should also take into account the following subjects:
- Responsibility: define responsibility, who is responsible, what creates what and who might be responsible for possible negative consequences of the tokenisation of the ecosystem?
- Weaker parties: Weaker parties might need a helping hand to participate in the tokenisation of ecosystems.
- Ethics: is the tokenised ecosystem designed with ethics in mind?
- Skin in the game: who are the parties at risk when tokenising an ecosystem? Who can quickly adapt and who might need more help? It is important to try to keep everyone on board. Diversity within and between ecosystems could add a lot of value.
With the above components in place, it becomes easier to design and grow a tokenised ecosystem.
Tokenisation and the Law
When designing tokenised ecosystems, legal compliance is essential to stand apart from unethical and fraudulent counterparts. Therefore, legal design thinking is relevant at the core of every project.
See: Privacy laws might prove to be a blessing in disguise for crypto
It is important to have a clear view of the legal aspects of new developments to obtain regulatory cooperation and closely collaborate (for example, using sandboxes) with regulators and policymakers when designing the tokenised ecosystem. While the community should welcome regulation, regulators and policymakers need to develop regulations that do not stifle innovation. This requires more cooperation and open dialogue between those innovators and the regulators.
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
| | |
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
Has fintech made banking better?
DUCA Impact Lab | Keith Taylor | Feb 18, 2021
Fintech is responsible for a long list of innovations. Helping people make better financial decisions could be next.
Building banking that is not just different, but better, is a common refrain when speaking with fintech entrepreneurs. It is natural to wonder then, what roles are fintech companies playing now in building ‘better banking’, and more importantly, what opportunities are there to better deliver on this promise?
The DUCA Impact Lab was established by DUCA Financial Services Credit Union to explore these types of questions, and to ultimately work with its partners to build and test models of banking that benefit all. Each year, the DUCA Impact Lab, in partnership with Angus Reid Group, examines national perspectives on fair banking in Canada. The study surveys a national pool of banking consumers on their perceptions of fairness in their banking experiences. It evaluates a number of fair banking factors such as transparency, credibility, pricing, as well as access to products and services. It then compares these consumer perspectives with responses from bank employees working in a sales or lending capacity at different types of lending institutions, including fintech’s.
See: State of Fair Banking 2020
Reflecting on the study results for 2020 reveals some key considerations for fintech companies as they continue to innovate and build on their presence in the financial services marketplace. For example:
More people need access to quality advice.
The majority of consumers interact with a financial advisor once per year, or less. In fact, 29% say they have never met with one. Even for those that do meet with an advisor, chances are they either don’t trust, or are indifferent to the advice they get (75% of consumers combined). This is particularly troublesome, given that the right advice is desperately needed - nearly 45% of people with debt say they have neither a budget, nor specific financial goals. Lenders surveyed who work in fintech take an overly ‘sales first’ view of their companies compared with peers, and are significantly less likely to view the primary focus of their company as helping people (21%), when compared to 35% at banks, and 48% at credit unions. Perhaps there’s an opportunity to do both.
Trust is a short-term opportunity, but long-term potential risk for fintech’s.
Nearly as many Canadians distrust financial institutions as trust them, with a winnable 46% of consumers who are somewhere in the middle. Also consider that only 22% of big bank customers think they are getting a good deal on their financial service products; this should translate into opportunities for new entrants and alternatives to the big banks. The level of trust consumers have in fintech companies is generally similar to other lending options to start, but borrower experience becomes more negative post fulfillment. For example, fintech customers are more than twice as likely to respond that their debt has impacted their ability to afford basic health care services such as prescription drugs. Mitigating these risks has benefits for everyone.
See: How Banks, Fintechs, and Customers Win Together
The Fintech sector has produced some amazing innovations, improving the way financial institutions are able to offer a range of services, facilitate transactions and understand customer needs. Extending this innovative thinking to focus on consumer experiences and well being is a natural fit.
About the author:
Keith Taylor is the Executive Director of the DUCA Impact Lab at DUCA Financial Services Credit Union, an innovation hub focused on building banking that benefits all. He works with a range of collaborators such as fintech’s, community organizations, academics and others to build and test solutions to inequity in the banking system.
This article appears as a featured article in NCFA's digital magazine, Fintech Confidential (Issue 3). Click to read the latest thought leadership, insights and trends about Fintech in Canada:
Checkout NCFA's digital magazine, Fintech Confidential (Issue 3, Dec 2020) --> 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
| | |
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
State of Fair Banking 2020
DUCA Impact Lab | Keith Taylor | Feb 4, 2021
Defining Fair Banking
Pursuing the mission of ‘Building banking that benefits all’ requires a working definition of what that type of banking looks like. It needs to go beyond a set of ‘customer promises’ and needs to articulate a definition of fairness that enables banking consumers to spot fair banking when they see it.
We believe fair banking is any financial product or service that lives up to the following set of principles:
- Pricing is clear, transparent, and well understood
- Pricing is representative of the cost of funds, cost of administration and risk, rather than what the market will bear
- It is clear to all parties how any personal data is being used by the lender
- Personal data is only used for purposes agreed to by both the borrower and lender
- The terms and conditions, including penalties and the rights of each party are clearly explained and well understood by both lender and borrower
- Products are only recommended that will bring the borrower closer to their expressed goals
- The borrower is clear on what the institution will do (and not do), with deposits to earn a return
- The assessment of risk is objective, transparent and not prejudicial
- Financial institution recommendations are not biased towards in-house product recommendations
- Products empower consumers when they need access to financial services, not just when they do not
See: Fintech Fridays EP45: DUCA Impact Lab with Keith Taylor - Mission-driven and Consumer-centric Financial Services
Since we released the last report in 2019, much has happened. The COVID-19 pandemic has shocked the world and trailing with it came an economic recession we have not witnessed in nearly a century. Although the novel coronavirus does not discriminate, the infectious disease as well as the economic precarity of the pandemic is impacting individuals differently depending on their socioeconomic status. In the next few weeks, we will discuss the implications and the questions raised from the data and what the status of fair banking looks like today.
The first iteration of this study from 2019 will prove to be an important baseline to understand how the challenges of the public health crisis has rippled into the financial health and wellbeing of everyday Canadians through 2020 and beyond.
Download the State of Fair Banking: Borrower and Lender Perspectives (70 page PDF )--> 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
| | |
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
Tesla buys $1.5 billion of Bitcoin, Expects to Start Accepting BTC as Payment for Its Products Soon
Techcrunch | Alex Wilhelm | Feb 8, 2021
Today in an SEC filing, Tesla disclosed that it has acquired $1.5 billion in bitcoin, the popular cryptocurrency.
Moreover, the company noted that it may also accept bitcoin in the future as a form of payment for its cars, though it did allow that there is some regulatory uncertainty around that effort.
As the news broke, the price of bitcoin instantly rose by around 7% to more than $40,000 per coin.
Tesla had previously telegraphed that it had an interest in the cryptocurrency, however to purchase such a large block of the coin is notable.
See: Elon Musk Adds #bitcoin to Twitter Bio Fueling Speculators
In its filing, Tesla writes that earlier this year it “updated [its] investment policy to provide [it] with more flexibility to further diversify and maximize returns on [its] cash that is not required to maintain adequate operating liquidity,” adding that it has the option of putting cash into “certain alternative reserve assets” that include “digital assets, gold bullion, gold exchange-traded funds and other assets as specified in the future.”
Under that banner, the firm has “invested an aggregate $1.50 billion in bitcoin,” going on to say that the well-known electric car company “may acquire and hold digital assets from time to time or long-term.”
That’s enough wiggle room for Tesla to do whatever it wants with its cash and the crypto markets.
But the company wasn’t done, completing its news-drop by adding that the company “expect[s] to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for [its] products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis, which [it] may or may not liquidate upon receipt.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made waves in recent days by pumping a silly cryptocurrency joke called Dogecoin; this is something more material. Tesla is selecting bitcoin as the cryptocurrency of its choice, helping to further cement the blockchain as the world’s best known.
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
| | |
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
Podcast and Paper: Roxana Mihet on Financial Innovation and Rising Inequality
IMF Podcast | Jan 21, 2021
W
ith the great strides in financial technology in recent years, the lower data processing costs and fees associated with investing in the stock market should have led to broader increases of household wealth. But in this podcast, economist Roxana Mihet says while fintech has reduced barriers to access and held out the promise of gains for all, it may have worsened capital income inequality.
Mihet is Assistant Professor of Finance at HEC Lausanne, and her recent study suggests the most likely beneficiaries of financial innovation are those who have access to the valuable data that inform good investments. Mihet was recipient of the ECB's Young Economists Award in 2020 for her work on Financial Innovation and the Inequality Gap. She was invited by the IMF's Strategy, Policy and Review Department to present her research. Transcript
Roxana Mihet is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Lausanne, and a faculty member at the Swiss Finance Institute.
Overview of Research Paper
Information-based models of capital income inequality that link return heterogeneity to investor sophistication levels need to assume an increase in data costs to generate an increase in inequality.
Empirically, this assumption contradicts the fact that investment markets have become more informative over time, and theoretically, it also overlooks the possibility poorer investors can avoid paying a large fixed cost for data, simply by buying shares in a fund.
See:
-
Digital Financial Inclusion in the Times of COVID-19
-
Davos 2020: Financial inclusion and fintech is key to meeting the UN SDGs
-
Fintech is Driving Financial Inclusion
-
Fintech As a Pathway to Financial Inclusion? The Case of China
In this paper, I study the impact of financial innovation on capital income inequality in a theoretical framework where investors, heterogeneous in their sophistication, have a costly choice between not investing, investing through a fund of average quality, and searching for an informed fund.
The model predicts that while financial innovation can make the investment sector more efficient and boost financial inclusion, some financial innovation also brings risks. For example, when the cost of financial data processing falls, more wealthier investors trade on information.
This makes participation less valuable for the marginal stock market participant, who is a relatively poorer investor in some average (uninformed) fund and who exits the market altogether, foregoing the equity premium.
This amplifies the inequality gap and also jointly explains why in the last decades, in spite of a dramatic reduction in data processing costs and fund fees, the US stock market has become more informative, yet the stock market participation rate has been on the decline.
Download the Paper (80 page pDF) Fintech and the Inequality Gap -> 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
| | |
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
High tech meets high finance: The real revolution on Wall Street
The Economist | Feb 6, 2021
EVENTS ON Wall Street have become so strange that Netflix is said to be planning a show to immortalise them. But what should be the plot? One story is of an anti-establishment movement causing chaos in high finance, just as it has in politics. Another is how volatile shares, strutting online traders and cash-crunches at brokerage firms signal that a toppy market is poised to crash. Both gloss over what is really going on. Information technology is being used to make trading free, shift information flows and catalyse new business models, transforming how markets work (see article). And, despite the clamour of recent weeks, this promises to bring big long-term benefits.
Don’t expect screenwriters to dwell on that, obviously. Their focus will be the 8m followers of WallStreetBets, an investment forum on Reddit, who have invented a new financial adventurism: call it swarm trading. Together, they bid up the prices of some obscure firms in late January. This triggered vast losses at hedge funds that had bet on share prices falling (see Buttonwood). And it led to a cash squeeze at online brokers which must post collateral if volatility rises. Since January 28th the most prominent, Robinhood, has raised $3.4bn to shore itself up.
The swarm seems to have moved on. This week the price of some favoured shares sank and silver leapt. Meanwhile, in many markets the normal rules of play have been suspended. Almost 300 “SPACS” listed last year, raising over $80bn and allowing firms to float without the hassle of an initial public offering (IPO). Tesla has become America’s fifth most valuable firm. Bitcoin, having gone from the fringe to the mainstream, has a total value of $680bn. Trading volumes for shares are at their highest in at least a decade and those for some derivatives are off the charts.
See: Retail investors are becoming more than shareholders
Part of the reason for this is that government bail-outs have put a floor under risky debt. Banks have so much spare cash—JPMorgan Chase’s pile has risen by $580bn in the pandemic—that they are turning depositors away. Instead of using the lockdown to learn Mandarin and discover Tolstoy, some people have used their stimulus cheques to daytrade. Although the whiff of mania is alarming, you can find reasons to support today’s prices. When interest rates are so low, other assets look relatively attractive. Compared with the real yield on five-year Treasuries, shares are cheaper than before the crash of 2000.
Yet the excitement also reflects a fundamental shift in finance. In recent decades trading costs for shares have collapsed to roughly zero. The first to benefit were quantitative funds and big asset managers such as BlackRock. Now retail investors are included, which is why they accounted for a quarter of all trading in January. Meanwhile, information flows, the lifeblood of markets, are being disaggregated. News about firms and the economy used to come from reports and meetings governed by insider-trading and market-manipulation laws. Now a vast pool of instant data from scraping websites, tracking industrial sensors and monitoring social-media chatter is available to those with a screen and the time to spare. Last, new business models are passing Wall Street by. SPACS are a Silicon Valley rebellion against the cost and rigidity of IPOs. Robinhood, a tech platform from California, executes trades through Citadel, a broker in Chicago. In return for free trading, users’ trades are directed to brokers who, as on Facebook, pay to harvest the data from them.
See: Stock markets are changing: Investors, companies and regulators must be prepared
Far from being a passing fad, the disruption of markets will intensify. Computers can aggregate baskets of illiquid assets and deploy algorithms to price similar but not identical assets, expanding the universe of assets that can be traded easily. A sharply rising proportion of bonds is being traded through liquid exchange-traded funds, intermediated by a new breed of marketmakers, such as Jane Street. Contenders such as Zillow are trying to make housing sales quick and cheap, and in time commercial-property and private-equity stakes may follow.
On paper this digitisation holds huge promise. More people will be able to gain access to markets cheaply, participate directly in the ownership of a broader range of assets and vote over how they are run. The cost of capital for today’s illiquid assets will fall. It will be easier to match your exposure to your appetite for risk.
But financial progress is often chaotic. First time around, innovations can cause crises, as the structured-credit boom did in 2007-09. The capacity of social media to spread misinformation and contagion is a worry.
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
| | |
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2020 FINTECH DRAFT PITCHING AND DEMO COMPANY WINNERS! |
