The biggest threat to liberal democracy isn't what you think it is
The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) is conducting a survey of asset managers and asset owners on their climate-related financial reporting practices.
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
Pomp: We Should Not Normalize Economic War On Innocent Civilians
Substack | Anthony Pompliano | Mar 1, 2022
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a flurry of financial sanctions from the United States and their allies over the last week. These actions include cutting Russian banks off from SWIFT, seizing the assets of various Russian oligarchs, outlawing US citizens and companies from transacting with Russia’s central bank, and much more.
Sanctions are levied during times of conflict to apply pressure to the leadership of our adversaries, but they accomplish this goal by actually cutting the average citizen off from the global financial system. Nearly 150 million Russian citizens have watched their savings evaporate as the ruble is in a free fall, their stocks are inaccessible since the stock market was shut down due to high volatility, and they can not withdraw or spend majority of their money due to sanctions and self-imposed limits by the banks.
See: So what is financial exclusion in the era of Open Finance?
There was an interesting development in the last 48 hours that highlights one of the key differences between the legacy financial system and the new, digital financial system. Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, asked major crypto exchanges on Sunday to block all Russian users from using their platforms, regardless of whether they were accused of participating in any crimes or not. This request was followed up on Monday with a similar request from the White House’s National Security Council and the Treasury Department to major crypto exchanges.
As of this writing, all major crypto exchanges have stated that they will not cut off the average Russian citizen from using their products to buy, sell, or store bitcoin and various other cryptocurrencies. The largest crypto exchange in the world, Binance, stated that they are “not going to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts.” The company spokesperson explained to CNBC that “Crypto is meant to provide greater financial freedom for people across the globe. To unilaterally decide to ban people’s access to their crypto would fly in the face of the reason why crypto exists.”
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell publicly stated that his platform “cannot freeze the accounts of our Russian clients without a legal requirement to do so.” He continued with this explanation:
See: How open finance ecosystems should generate value for everyone
“Our mission at [Kraken] is to bridge individual humans out of the legacy financial system and bring them into the world of crypto, where arbitrary lines on maps no longer matter, where they don’t have to worry about being caught in broad, indiscriminate wealth confiscation. Our mission is better served by focusing on individual needs above those of any government or political faction…Besides, if we were going to voluntarily freeze financial accounts of residents of countries unjustly attacking and provoking violence around the world, Step 1 would be to freeze all U.S. accounts. As a practical matter, that’s not really a viable business option for us.”
Ultimately, we are watching the divergence of two financial systems. The legacy infrastructure is built and run by a group of financial firms who are susceptible to the whims of their governments. The new infrastructure is built on open-source software that is run by no single individual or organization. The decentralized nature leads to a different outcome in these situations.
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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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Is productivity, wealth creation and competition at the forefront of Canada’s growth agenda?
The Globe and Mail | Patrick Brethour | Feb 26, 2022
The Liberals have pointed to the country’s sizzling labour market as proof of their economic management prowess. Canada is indeed a leader among developed countries in creating jobs. But we’re at the back of the pack in creating wealth.
Rising productivity, not jobs, is what will be key to not just outrunning the shadow of the federal debt burden, but in creating the fiscal capacity to deal with climate change, an aging population and a host of other huge challenges in coming decades.
See: Monopoly-Friendly Canada ‘Does Not Treat Competition Policy Seriously’
Ms. Freeland’s fiscal update speech mentioned jobs nine times. Productivity got zero mentions. Competitiveness, just one.
That lopsided emphasis is one warning sign. Another is Canada’s last-place finish in an October study from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development on projected growth in per capita gross domestic product from 2020 to 2060 among its 38 member countries.
If the Liberals’ gambit is to pay off, that 50-year slump must end. Canada needs a productivity plan. But so far, the federal government hasn’t produced one. “There’s a lack of ambition, a lack of commitment,” says Scotiabank chief economist Jean-François Perreault.
Former BlackBerry Ltd. chairman and co-CEO Jim Balsillie says: The debate should not be about shifting from resource extraction to factories making gear for the green economy. Canada should not try to compete on labour costs in a world where many other nations can offer much more favourable terms.
See: The Enterprise Automation Imperative—Why Modern Societies Will Need All the Productivity They Can Get
Instead, the focus of policy should be creating conditions for Canadians to invent the next world-beating electric battery, rather than make someone else’s. “The money is owning the idea, and capturing value on that,” he says.
One immediate change he recommends: leverage federal research funding to capture more of the economic value of Canadian innovation. That could be done by requiring that the rights to any intellectual property have to be retained in Canada, so that domestic firms can make use of that technology.
Canadians can either seize the high ground in the increasingly digitized global economy, and reap outsized benefits, or this country will see itself relegated to at best second-tier status.
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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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Open-source intel’s offers valuable insight into global conflicts but misinformation remains a challenge
The Hustle | Juliet Bennett Rylah | Feb 25, 2022
Open-source intelligence can offer valuable real-time insight into global conflicts. But misinformation remains a challenge.
In recent years, social media has provided a valuable window into global conflicts. But as Russia prepared to invade Ukraine, several open-source intelligence analysts and reporters suspected that a Russian bot attack led to the suspension of their Twitter accounts, per Ars Technica.
What is open-source intelligence?
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is derived from publicly available data, such as satellite imagery, CCTV footage, or images posted to social media. OSINT communities are often active on Twitter, detailing conflicts in real time and combating misinformation. “People share footage, geolocate it, try to identify the types of tanks, armed vehicles, that kind of stuff,” OSINT researcher Thomas van Linge told Yahoo! News.
See: Millions, an ‘Anonymous’ fintech, that gives cash away on social media raises $3 million seed
As tensions mounted around Ukraine, researchers were able to look at public railway databases in Russia — since shut down — to see where trains traveled and what they carried, while satellite imagery showed Russian troops assembling at Ukrainian borders, per MarketWatch. Researchers also determined a briefing between Russian president Vladimir Putin and his security council wasn’t broadcast live, as claimed, after analyzing participants’ wristwatches.
But while this can be valuable intel…
… Twitter suspended several OSINT accounts as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine loomed. Many users suspected they’d been targeted by Russian bots that reported their content, leading Twitter to automatically remove it. (At the same time, Ukrainian government and financial websites were taken down by cyberattacks, per CNBC.)
And the other problem? Anyone can post to social media, meaning not every post is a carefully vetted piece of information.
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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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Bitcoin wallet Nunchuk scolds Ontario court over order to freeze crypto assets
Financial Post | Stephanie Hughes | Feb 22, 2022
Bitcoin wallet Nunchuk.io is pushing back against an order from the Ontario Superior Court demanding the platform freeze and disclose information on digital assets sent to anti-vaccine mandate protesters.
In a letter made public on Twitter, the company stated that it was a self-custodial bitcoin wallet and software provider, not a custodial financial intermediary.
See: ‘Immediate emergency situation is over’: PM Trudeau revokes Emergencies Act
“We do not collect any user identification information beyond email addresses. We also do not hold any keys,” the letter read. “Therefore: We cannot ‘freeze’ our users’ assets; We cannot ‘prevent’ them from being moved; We do not have knowledge of ‘the existence, nature, value and location’ of our users’ assets. This is by design.”
“Please look up how self custody and private keys work,” the letter continued. “When the Canadian dollar becomes worthless, we will be here to serve you, too.”
See: Decentralization and Resilience are Key to Bitcoin’s Value
The Mareva Injunction, signed by Justice Judge Calum MacLeod, was also sent to eight other digital asset platforms, including Canada-based Bitbuy, as well as various fundraising platforms, financial institutions, and digital asset custodians.
In self-custodial wallets, digital asset owners hold their own private keys and thereby have exclusive access to their own assets, as opposed to having them in the custody of a financial third-party.
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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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Alex Vronces: Follow the money, but also look in the mirror
Mox | Alex Vronces | Feb 16, 2022
The biggest threat to liberal democracy isn't what you think it is
The biggest threat to liberal democracy is not what most people are saying it is. It’s not the “freedom convoy” that is calling for an end to mobility restrictions and vaccine mandates. Yes, many of them are wacky. If you spent as much time as I did scrolling through your Twitter feeds, you’d have found a video of a naked man army-crawling across a cement road, in a crowd of protesters cheering him on, with party music blaring to the discontent of Ottawa’s downtown residents. The video has since been taken down. It’s wacky, but it’s not democracy-destroying. And neither is the chattering class of cottage-dwelling MacBook-wielders, who are calling for authorities to suppress what the New York Times’ editorial board called legitimate democratic expression. These people need to take a breath and count to ten more than they need a refresher in political philosophy.
See: PM Trudeau Invokes Emergencies Act Catching Protester Firms including Crypto in Crossfire
The biggest threat to liberal democracy is the poor state of our public institutions. Law enforcement and our governments should have drawn the line weeks ago. Honking your horns on Parliament Hill in the late afternoon, and occupying a small strip of Wellington Street? Go ahead. That’s a liberal democratic vibe. Breaking decibel metres in the middle of the night, and blocking the Canada-United States border? Truck around and find out. But our public institutions were so busy pointing the finger at each other that they didn’t have any hands left to draw the line, let alone hold it.
That we let things get bad enough to invoke the Emergencies Act is as clear a sign as ever that our public institutions aren’t up to snuff. Along with its emergency powers, the federal government announced a slew of measures to follow the money: authorizing banks to cut suspected funders of civil disobedience from their bank accounts, and forcing crowdfunding platforms and payment processors to register with our financial intelligence and crime unit, FINTRAC. The private sector’s role in all of this—the good and the bad—has been under the looking glass for a while now. Recently, a parliamentary committee on public safety and national security agreed to study the role of the private sector in funding extremism. The usual suspects were named: social media, crowdfunding platforms, payment processors.
Calls to follow the money are fine. But where are the other calls? We should ask whether private institutions had a hand in this, but we should also ask why public institutions have a record of being outperformed by their private counterparts. GoFundMe, the original crowdfunding platform for the “freedom convoy,” froze almost $5 million in donations on January 25 because its terms and conditions were being violated. It wasn’t until February 10 that the Ontario government froze the funds being raised on GiveSendGo, an alternative crowdfunding platform the convoy’s enablers started using. Now the convoy has turned to bitcoin. It’s a game of whack-a-mole the government can’t keep up with.
See: NCFA Advocacy | Industry Research & Reports
Our public institutions lack capacity because we don’t invest in them to meet future logistical challenges. For example, the extraordinary power the government has exercised to follow the money didn’t have to be extraordinary. It probably could have been a business-as-usual power if the federal government had passed the Retail Payment Activities Act when it was supposed to. Passed in 2021 but not yet in effect, the RPAA will give the federal government the power to shut down any payment service provider, whether that’s for “prescribed” reasons or for reasons related to national security. This potentially broad power wouldn’t be invoked lightly, but then again, neither should the Emergencies Act.
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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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VC-backed DAO Startups Racing to Define What DAOs Actually Are
TechCrunch | Lucas Matney | Feb 1, 2022
Amid the growth in web3, NFTs, DeFi and tokens, institutional investors are also looking at how they can leverage another crypto structure called DAOs to build a new model for community action on the internet.
DAOs — or decentralized autonomous organizations — are at a very weird place in 2022.
The crypto collectives theoretically are designed around allowing groups to make decisions and operate in a structured capacity governed by smart contracts and blockchain transparency, but DAOs that are popping up recently seem to be indistinguishable from each other, with varying commitments to both decentralization and autonomy. While some camps have focused on how DAOs can be used as autonomous governance mechanisms for technologies like DeFi protocols, others are using them to make collective decisions for NFT project roadmaps, while some see the structure simply as a new way to add a crypto treasury to their Discord or Telegram group chat.
See: FreeRossDAO: Another blueprint for peer to peer Crypto Crowdfunding
The reality is that few people have a tight definition for what DAOs are, leaving room for new organizations to help the crypto-curious make sense of them and help would-be DAO founders make the most of the structure. Founders in the space say that the difficulty in pinning down a catch-all definition for what a “standard” DAO should look like only highlights how broad the opportunities are.
“At the end of the day, DAOs are a collective technology as opposed to an individual one,” Syndicate co-founder Will Papper told TechCrunch last week. “DAOs are kind of the next evolution of the corporation because encode both voice and exit into their foundations.”
DeepDAO, a dedicated DAO analytics firm, is currently following more than 4,100 DAOs. The groups have evolved considerably since the first-ever DAO, called The DAO, was founded back in 2016.
See: In the face of wreckage, DeFi’s self-policing shines
a16z GP Ali Yahya told TechCrunch in an interview accompanying the firm’s investment in PleasrDAO:
“The fact that a DAO is just software that can can be spun up with the click of a button… but can catalyze thousands or tens of thousands of people — eventually we expect millions of people or larger numbers — that all put together capital and put together ideas to work together for some common goal… we see that as almost the purest vision of what web3 and crypto are all about.”
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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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TCFD Survey: Climate-related Financial Disclosure (15mins)
TCFD | Feb 14, 2022
The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) is conducting a survey of asset managers and asset owners on their climate-related financial reporting practices.
The Task Force will publish aggregated survey results in its 2022 status report as well as a summary of TCFD-aligned reporting practices and challenges across asset managers and asset owners. This information should help asset managers and asset owners implement the TCFD recommendations and help a wide range of stakeholders understand the current state of asset manager and asset owner TCFD-aligned reporting.
We would appreciate if someone well-acquainted with your organization’s climate-related reporting would complete our 15-minute survey.
See: Canadian securities regulators seek comment on climate-related disclosure requirements
All responses will be kept confidential and will not be attributed to either you or your organization without permission.
We would be grateful to receive your response to the survey by Friday, March 25, 2022. Please feel free to contact info@fsb-tcfd.org if you have any questions.
Thank you for your support.
About the TCFD
The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures
(TCFD) works to improve and increase reporting of climate-related financial information. In 2017, the TCFD released climate-related financial disclosure recommendations designed to help companies provide better information and support more informed capital allocation. More than 3,000 organizations around the world have declared support for the TCFD and its recommendations.
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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