Concerns over competing interests between FinTech startups and financial incumbents have existed since the start of the process. Governance is the latest battlefront
The SEC chief has gone from rhetoric to enforcement, targeting token projects from the present and past. Crypto companies are shook.
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Fintech Opinions
Consumer Protection: Fintech Complaints Have Been Rising
Protocol | Ryan Deffenbaugh and Fintech team | Aug 29, 2022
Image: Unsplash/Gabriel Gonzalez
The CFPB received 20,900 complaints last year involving money transfer services (including mobile and digital wallets) and virtual currency companies, the category most closely associated with fintech. That marked a 63% increase from a year earlier, even if they amount to just a small part of the nearly 1 million complaints to the agency, the majority of which involve credit-reporting companies.
- In response to complaints of fraud on peer-to-peer money-transfer services, the CFPB has promised new guidance "ensuring that financial institutions are living up to their investigation and error-resolution obligations," a CFPB spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal last month. That could include requiring refunds for fraudulent transfers, according to the Journal, which the industry warns could lead to higher costs or even encourage more fraud.
See: Some New Banking Rules Implemented to Protect Consumers in Canada
- The guidance could address a common complaint flagged by the CFPB’s 2021 annual report. Customers trying to report issues such as fraudulent activity to money-transfer services "described no response to support tickets — and no way of contacting the company by phone.”
- Some fintechs have promised to improve their responsiveness to customers. Both Coinbase and Robinhood added live phone support last fall. Block offers a phone line for Cash App and told Bloomberg in March that it is committed to “expanding our customer support and operations infrastructure.”
California is building its own mini CFPB
- The state's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation is reviewing comments on a rule-making proposal that would dictate how some of the financial and fintech companies under its jurisdiction, such as lenders and debt collectors, respond to customer complaints.
- While acknowledging the importance that companies respond to complaints, some within the industry have called out requirements such as quarterly reporting and responding to telephone-based complaints within 24 hours as particularly onerous, and beyond what is required by other regulators.
See: Penrose Report: Power to the People: Stronger Consumer Choice and Competition
- Documents published about the rule noted that the DFPI was required to set new rules for companies to handle complaints and disputes as part of new authority granted under the 2020 California Consumer Financial Protection Law.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Canada’s Open Banking Working Committees Flag ‘Governance’ as the Latest Gap
Betakit | | Sep 6, 2022
Concerns over competing interests between FinTech startups and financial incumbents have existed since the start of the process. Governance is the latest battlefront
- Working group participants from the FinTech community and those familiar with the talks expressed concern that delaying governance decisions could hamstring the system, leaving Canadians without recourse if their data or accounts are compromised. FinTech participants are also concerned they would be left without recourse in disputes with other financial institutions.
- Canada’s future open banking system will need some form of governance entity to handle dispute resolution between participants, ensure compliance with accreditation requirements, respond to security incidents and assign responsibility for remunerating consumers who’ve been harmed by possible data breaches or stolen funds, according to the advisory committee’s final report, released in August 2021.
NCFA Canada's Open Banking Journey Series:
- In response, Two FinTech industry associations (FDATA and PayTechs) have moved to address those concerns by developing or submitting their own reports on future governance options, BetaKit has learned.
- Another working group participant from the FinTech space said the fact that the technical standards for APIs and governance options have been missing from the discussions so far “candidly was concerning.” They noted that there are several options Tachjian and the finance ministry are considering regarding API standards, but “we don’t have a clear indication of what that answer is going to be.”
- Concerns over competing interests and competitive advantages regarding access and authority between FinTech startups and financial incumbents have existed prior to the release of the open banking report. The most recent flare-up came over frustrations with an early draft version of the CIO Strategy Council’s (CIOSC) minimum viable framework for consumer-directed finance, which some feared would give banks a competitive advantage over startups regarding authentication, consent and data transfer methods. Governance seems to be the latest battlefront.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Google’s Fusing Street View with AI to Create Metaverse like ‘Immersive View’
TechXplore | Glenn CHAPMAN | Sep 2, 2022
Google at I/O 2022
Google will start rolling out immersive view later this year, starting in Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo.
- Fifteen years after its launch, a Google Maps feature that lets people explore faraway places as though standing right there is providing a glimpse of the metaverse being heralded as the future of the internet.
See: Nvidia: Universal Scene Description (USD) as the Language of the Metaverse
- There was not yet talk of online life moving to virtual worlds when a "far-fetched" musing by Google co-founder Larry Page prompted Street View, which lets users of the company's free navigation service see imagery of map locations from the perspective of being there.
- Now, the internet behemoth is introducing an "immersive view" that fuses Street View images with artificial intelligence to create "a rich, digital model of the world," Miriam Daniel, Google Maps Experiences vice president, said in a post:
You'll be able to experience what a neighborhood, landmark, restaurant or popular venue is like—and even feel like you're right there before you ever set foot inside. With a quick search, you can virtually soar over Westminster to see the neighborhood and stunning architecture of places, like Big Ben, up close.
From maps to metaverse
Years spent capturing the real world in 360-degree imagery bodes well for Google when it comes to a future in which internet life shifts to immersive digital worlds, said Creative Strategies tech analyst Carolina Milanesi.
Silverman reasoned that, in a sense, Street View has been giving users a virtual experience for more than a decade, and the imagery naturally lends itself to depicting the real world in virtual settings.
See: Meta Begins Metaverse ID System Rollout
The idea of a digital twin of the world is certainly one aspect of it that Google will solve. Ideally, that metaverse, that world that we move into, we're going to be there.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Highlights from McKinsey’s “Value Creation In The Metaverse” Report + Web3 for Skeptics by Brainsy’s CIO
Medium | Lou Kerner | Aug 29, 2022
McKinsey recently published a comprehensive 77 page report titled “Value Creation In the Metaverse — The Real Business of The Virtual World.” Seven McKinsey partners were credited as the writers of the report, which included interviews with 13 senior “metaverse experts”, input from the 60 members of McKinsey Technology Council, and surveys of more than 3,400 consumers.
The ultimate conclusion of the report is that the metaverse is simply too big of an opportunity for execs to ignore, and too impactful on society for regulators to not start taking action. That said, at 77 pages, most people won’t take the time to read it. So below are my 8 highlights:
The Definition of the Metaverse Continues To Evolve
While the definition is still fluid , McKinsey believes that the metaverse is the next iteration of the internet, where it becomes something we are immersed in, rather than something we just view. Regardless of one’s exact definitions of the metaverse, it has several foundational characteristics:
- a sense of immersion
- real-time interactivity, &
- user agency
The Value Of The Metaverse Could Equal $5 Trillion In 2030
While others see even a bigger market (e.g. Citicorp sees an $8-$13 trillion metaverse market in 2030), McKinsey estimates a $4-$5 trillion market in 2030 and believes the metaverse represents the biggest growth opportunity in multiple industries including e-commerce ($2-$2.6 trillion), e-learning ($144-$206 billion), and the advertising market ($108-$125 billion).
3. The Technology Required To Realize The Potential Of The Metaverse Doesn’t Exist Yet
- The report highlighted the significant technological advancements required across multiple technologies, including compute infrastructure, network infrastructure, and devices, for the potential of the metaverse to be realized.
- For example, today, concurrency limits cap the number of players on gaming platforms. But many more users will need to be able to be online at once for the metaverse to be realized.
- With regards to network infrastructure, high-latency “lagging” creates a sensation of video and/or audio being slow for metaverse applications that require a high rate of frames-per-second.
- Finally, the metaverse today is largely accessed through devices with flat screens (i.e televisions, PCs, and smartphones). While McKinsey expects flat screens to continue to dominate for another five years, the metaverse needs AR/VR and eventually extended reality (XR) to achieve a increasingly immersive experiences.
- Yet significant advancements in AR/VR are required to enable deep immersion.
- And XR devices like contact lenses and brain-computer interfaces (e.g. Neuralink) are at least a decade away.
Continue to the full article --> here
Download the 77 page PDF report --> here
Brainsy | Brian Price | Aug 2022
Web3 Defined (for Skeptics) including Web2 vs Web3, Blockchain, DAOs, NFTs, Stablecoins, Crowdfunding and more
View the 54 page doc send report --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Sheriff Gensler of ‘Wild West’ Cryptoville Has Drawn His Guns
Decrypto | Daniel Roberts | Aug 27, 2022
The SEC chief has gone from rhetoric to enforcement, targeting token projects from the present and past. Crypto companies are shook.
When Gary Gensler was sworn in as SEC Chair in April of last year, many in crypto celebrated. The general reasoning: He had taught a course called "Blockchain and Money" at MIT in 2018, so he must be friendly to crypto. They aren't celebrating now. In the eyes of the crypto industry, he began as a wild card, became a figure of concern, and is now a proud villain.
He has already spent the past year making very clear through his rhetoric that he views pretty much all tokens other than Bitcoin as securities. (He has avoided giving his own view on Ethereum.) Now the rhetoric is turning to enforcement. Last month, the SEC fingered nine tokens listened on Coinbase as securities, and reportedly launched an investigative probe into the company. Last week, it sued blockchain platform Dragonchain for its $16.5 million ICO (initial coin offering) back in 2017.
See:
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SEC Charges 3 In Crypto Insider Trading Scheme
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Bloom Protocol: SEC Orders Startup To Register ICO Tokens or Pay US$31 Million Penalty
The message is clear: all those token sales from the ICO boom are on notice. Some prominent people in crypto have been careful to curb their criticism. Other crypto advocates have had enough, and are saying so—loudly. Gensler's latest Wall Street Journal op-ed included a call for crypto lenders "to come in and talk to SEC staff." It was roundly mocked by people in crypto who point out Gensler's SEC has had anything but an open-door policy.
- Mike Novogratz, speaking to me onstage at Messari Mainnet last September, said Gensler "wants to be the sheriff of Cryptoville." Now the sheriff has his guns drawn.
- Mark Cuban tweeted in response, "Come in and talk to who? Set up an appointment how? Since you understand crypto lending/finances, why don't you just publish bright line guidelines you would like to see and open it up for comments?"
- Cuban had also encouraged Coinbase, last fall, to "go on the offensive." Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong described the SEC's approach as "intimidation tactics behind closed doors."
- An op-ed in Forbes this week by tech consultant Roslyn Layton declares it's "time to end the SEC's 'clarity' charade on crypto" and urges Gensler to resign.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Online Casinos and Slot Machines These Days
Guest Post | Aug 28, 2022
Image: Unsplash/Erik Mclean
Just a few years ago, online casino and slot machine players viewed themselves as two different groups. By and large, the latter wouldn’t “waste” their time playing at places where they wouldn’t get paid for their winnings. The former would also question the point of wasting time traveling to brick-and-mortar casinos, yet they would enjoy the same from the comfort of their home.
That was almost two decades ago. And since then, so much has changed. The developers behind casino online and land-based slot machines seem to have realized that there’s so much the two industries share.
More and more, we are seeing some of the key players at the land-based casinos shifting their services online. We are also seeing online casino software developers bringing to life some of the old slot machine games on the internet. And most importantly, we are witnessing both incorporate gamification into their slot machines.
Gamification of Online Casinos and Slot Machines
Gamification is the new trend taking over the online casino industry. Both online casinos and slot machines of today introduce certain game mechanics and features to promote player-game/casino interaction. It could mean introducing mini-competitions in the games or online casinos with the primary objective of challenging players to compete towards a set goal.
Gamification in online casinos can be seen in the daily, weekly, or monthly tournaments sponsored by the house. In slot machines, it can be seen in interactive in-game bonus rounds where you have to land a set of symbols to unlock the main event, which holds the top prize.
So, how has gamification improved the already entertaining online casino and slot machines?
More Immersive and Adventurous Sessions
We will agree that there are instances where we’ve found ourselves drifting away while playing a game. In some cases, we even choose to use the Autoplay feature while enjoying a slot game.
At a gamified online casino, you won’t have to worry about this. You have to stay focused to progress or enjoy a game. Complete in-game missions, earn points and follow storylines to get the prize. Some of these in-game missions require you to physically play through them. The result is a seriously immersive and adventurous experience.
Leveling Up and Progress
Being able to level up and progress during gameplay has been one of the attractions of playing games. When it was integrated into online casinos and slot machines, this feature introduced an entirely new entertainment aspect.
You can see this in NetEnt’s entertaining Gordon Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen slot. First, you trigger the bonus round. After that, you pick a culinary team to compete in a cook-off competition. If it does win, you have the option of collecting the winnings or triggering another exciting game from the Hell’s Kitchen menus. If you win the bonus game, you keep all your winnings and return to the base game.
It sounds easy, right? It is easy. But it also has a lot of thrill. If you lose in any of the two bonus rounds, all the winnings amassed disappear.
More Side Action
Competition in the online casino industry has led to many improvements in different sectors. Gone are the days when the likes of NetEnt, Playtech, and Microgaming ruled the industry. Players such as Ladbrokes, William Hill, Coral, and Bet365 are no longer the only providers of casino games online.
See: What Was the Rationale Behind Ontario’s Online Gaming Regulation?
With so many options, players have a lot to pick from. For the service providers, it means if you fail to come up with a more captivating game or a tournament that will keep your audience glued, they move on to the next best site. The result is software providers and casino operators offer more activities in their games and platforms.
Side games in slot machines have side games that are simple, fast, and very engaging. For online casinos, there are tournaments with mouth-watering prizes. To make it more alluring, they try to include as many people as possible to win. Instead of, say, 100 top players, they include up to 1,000 players who can win a prize.
Traditional Online Gaming or Gamified Gambling – What’s Better?
Having stated all these points, it’s clear as day that gamified or modern-day online casino gaming offers more advantages than the traditional form of playing casino games.
But is it something every player will like, or is playing the old-school way still the best option?
The answer to this depends on your preference. But one thing that remains constant is that online casino gaming offers more than what brick-and-mortar casinos do. The most important thing to remember is you need to sign up at a licensed and regulated casino.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Lessons from crypto winter (so far)
For Bitvo by Tristram Waye | Aug 25, 2022
Nobody knows how far we are through crypto winter, but like the previous winter, the building continues. There is lots of cash and talent in the space building, developing and experimenting. Down markets also reveal numerous valuable lessons.
Leverage “don’t get no respect”
- One lesson is that leverage remains the Rodney Dangerfield of the crypto world. Dangerfield’s famous quote about “don’t get no respect” applies to the way in which certain entities abused leverage. The result has been numerous institutional implosions by centralized entities due to hidden leverage and asymmetric information in a decentralized unregulated environment.
- While leaders in the space like FTX and Binance have reduced leverage for retail participants, everyone remains subject to big swings due to the wide use of leverage elsewhere. This has led to weakness in several businesses and failure in several more.
Crypto trading opportunities are unfolding
- Throughout the worst part of this winter so far, there were also numerous opportunities. These are the opportunities you will see in retrospect. But for savvy traders, these opportunities will represent great entry points.
- We covered using leverage without leverage by exploiting liquidations. And to help you do this, you can use some basic technical analysis like support and resistance lines and volume changes. By examining the whole market, you can see where opportunities may be shaping up.
- ETH for example has had a wild ride so far. And you may, for example, be looking at a catalyst trade similar to the previous Bitcoin halving as they move to Proof-of-Stake. There is definitely risk there, but there may also be opportunity.
- The reason is that risk operates on a pendulum. We talked about this concept recently. The idea is that you can see risk being added and when it’s being reduced. Leverage is a substantial part of this process.
More confidence means more risk. Less confidence and a high level of fear mean less risk. The risk pendulum is an ongoing process that benefits traders looking for opportunities.
Too good to be true is still a reality
- Celsius built what could have been a viable business model and a very profitable one. But, by scaling beyond the capability of the market and their skillset, they took on unnecessary risk and transferred it to their customers.
- So yields and advertised rates should reflect both return and potential risk and be assessed accordingly.
See: Digital Asset Classification vs Wire Fraud: What’s the Most Powerful Law in Crypto Right Now
Concentration versus diversification
- Another important observation is the concentration of assets in one project. We discussed this in the article on thinking like a financial advisor. There are still too many people putting substantial or all of their assets into a single high risk speculative project. Crypto, with all of its promise, has risks. And those risks create outsized opportunities for gains, as well as for losses.
Community and liquidity
- We are also seeing the challenges with community and its relationship to liquidity. Strong communities continue to thrive and evolve. But even these go quiet from time to time. This is common behavior in any market. In bull markets, liquidity is high, and action gives the appearance of forever liquidity. It flows like water.
- But when things quiet down, this can change dramatically. The results can be widening spreads which can increase slippage. It can mean difficulty selling positions or assets like NFTs and difficulty pricing or valuing them. Or it can mean that clearing prices, where liquidity can be found, are much lower than you may have expected when you entered the position. This can happen in any asset
Regulatory feeding frenzy
- Regulation is another thing that has come to the forefront. This has always been a hot topic for crypto. But when you have meltdowns and significant public losses, regulators start to look more closely. These calamities end up being a catalyst for more regulation.
See: Crypto Exchanges Comply But Ethereum Community Unhappy About Harsh Canadian Rules
- The challenge with most regulation is that it is focused on the past instead of the future. Meaning that every market calamity means regulators are fighting the last war instead of the next one. Decisions around the last war inevitably lead to unintended consequences for markets in the future.
- Competition for regulatory control is ongoing, and in this crypto winter, particularly in the US, events of 2022 have created a battle between the CFTC, SEC, and other parties to attempt to control crypto’s future.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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