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
Cato Institute Event (Video): Digital Currency: Public or Private?
Cato Institute | Nov 2, 2021
Who should supply the nation with digital currency? Should the Fed do it, should the private sector do it, or should it be provided by some combination of the two? Join us on November 2 for a conversation with J. Christopher Giancarlo, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Dante Disparte, Circle’s chief strategy officer and head of global policy.
See: On the Brink Podcast: George Selgin of the Cato Institute on Stablecoins, Bitcoin and Free Banking
The event will be moderated by Cato’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives director emeritus George Selgin, during which Giancarlo and Disparte will discuss the merits of digital currency, both public and private.
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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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Leveraging Your Home To Start A New Business From The Ground Up
Guest Post | Nov 1, 2021
A lot of unfortunate people lost jobs thanks to the pandemic. Some have decided the only way to protect themselves in the future is to start their own business. Sadly, the vast majority of them are going to fail pretty fast.
I think people underestimate the amount of money you need to keep going when things get tough. Luckily, it's a lot easier when you own a nice home. Let's look at some cool ways you can use your home to bankroll a new business.
Look Into A Reverse Mortgage
If you're a little older you should have a good amount of equity in your home. If you speak to a company like CloverMortgage reverse mortgage brokers should be able to offer you quite a bit of money to fund your startup.
It's great because you won't need to pay anything back until you eventually sell your home, so it doesn't matter if your business succeeds or not. You'll get a lump sum so make sure you don't spend it all at once.
Extend Your Current Mortgage
Speak to a certified mortgage broker and you might be able to extend your current mortgage. How much are you spending on your mortgage per month at the moment? Those payments will drop when you add on more years.
It does mean you'll end up paying extra interest over the lifetime of your mortgage, but it's not all bad news. If your business is successful, the money you make means you'll be able to pay back extra at a later date.
Renting Out Your Garden Shed
Do you have a garden shed or garage that's sitting unused? You won't be the only person who is trying to start a new business right now. Someone who doesn't have a garden shed might be desperate to make furniture or fix bikes.
See: Why Artificial Intelligence Will Solve All Our Money Problems
You will be able to rent out the space for a monthly fee. As soon as you get the money you can reinvest it in your own business. If the person renting it out is successful they'll likely keep it for a long time.
Look For A Suitable Roommate
When was the last time you lived with a roommate? If you have a spare bedroom it might be worth renting it out for a few years. It's a consistent amount of cash being pumped into your business while it's in the growth stage.
If you're unsure about renting out a room try to look for a college student. They tend to spend most of their free time studying in their bedroom. Sharing your home is a small price to pay for building a successful business.
Let Someone Use Your Driveway
One of the best things about working from home is the fact you don't need to drive to work. But everyone won't be as lucky as you. They will still have jobs in the city where it's difficult to find parking spaces.
See: Digital money is an opportunity for Canada – if we seize it
Depending on where you live, it might be easy to find someone willing to rent your driveway. They could park in the morning and pick their car up after work. If you have enough space for two cars it's double the money.
You Need To Make Sacrifices
If you want to build a great business you need to make sacrifices. At least these options don't require you to sell your home, so you'll always have somewhere to live.
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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Why Artificial Intelligence Will Solve All Our Money Problems
Guest Post | Nov 1, 2021
Artificial intelligence is already pretty big in the finance industry, but it's going to get better within a few years. It will get to the point where it makes life easier for the average person on a daily basis.
Things like paying off credit cards and applying for loans are still tough, but technology is coming on leaps and bounds. Let's take a look at some of the most popular ways AI will play a large part in our lives.
Easier To Apply For A Loan
When loan providers are unable to make smart lending decisions fewer people will be approved. It's important to err on the side of caution when you don't know whether or not someone will pay back a loan or default.
You can skip high-interest payday loan companies once AI reaches a point where it can accurately predict who deserves a loan. Not only will your application be approved, but it's going to go through much quicker too.
Paying Off Your Credit Cards
Too many people need to get a loan in Ottawa and other expensive places to pay off credit cards. Banks are at fault because they give you too much credit in the first place. AI will tell them a safe amount you can handle.
It will also let banks know when your credit limits should be raised because AI doesn't stop learning. More people will be approved for cards if they can afford them, and risky customers will be rejected when applying for credit.
Protecting You From Fraudsters
Multi-factor authentication helps people avoid fraudsters right now. Other systems put in place to protect you are effective too, but scammers always find a way to steal money because they're intelligent.
See: Synthetic Media and Deepfakes: An insurance industry threat
Artificial intelligence is getting much better at detecting odd behavior and blocking transactions. I know it's sometimes frustrating when they get it wrong, but it's going to learn from any mistakes going forward.
Beat The Stock Market Regularly
Most professionals who've worked in the financial industry for decades can't beat the S&P 500, so what chance does the average person have? It means the stock market isn't enticing if you want to make lots of money.
AI is helping us predict the future more accurately, and machines can learn from things like the 2008 financial crisis. Once you know the right time to buy, hold, and sell stocks you'll be able to retire faster.
What To Spend Your Money On
We have apps that can help us understand how much we have to spend, but none that tell us if it's a good idea. Can you imagine the day when AI will be able to tell you whether or not to make a purchase you're thinking about?
See: Kraken Crypto report and On-Chain Analysis: SHOKTOBER
You will be told why it's not a great idea and what you should do instead. If you can get a little better at spending on a regular basis it will add up. You'll also save time when you don't need to mull over financial decisions.
Will AI Improve Your Life
Will any of the advancements in technology we've talked about today improve your life? We're still in the early stages at the moment, but wait to see what it's like in a few years.
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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Hester Peirce: Lawless in Austin
SEC | Oct 8, 2021
Thank you to the Texas Blockchain Summit for the chance to be here today. I have to start with my disclaimer that my views are my own and not those of the Securities and Exchange Commission or my fellow Commissioners. I am interested, however, in what my colleagues have to say, which is why Chair Gensler’s habit of calling the cryptoverse the “Wild West” has captured my attention. He is not alone in referring to the crypto landscape as the Wild West, a place we imagine to have been lawless—a society in which the gunslinger with the best reflexes and worst morals wins at everyone else’s expense.
See: SEC likely to target stablecoins this week, report says
Merriam-Webster defines the “Wild West” as “the western U.S. in its frontier period characterized by roughness and lawlessness.” Bringing government into that kind of an environment to establish some order seems like a no-brainer. Today, however, I will offer a different take on the Wild West and, with that picture in mind, suggest a way forward in crypto regulation.
Texas may come to mind more readily than my native Ohio when we think of the old West. Here too, though, the Wild West was marked by more order than the movies would have us believe. Andrew Morriss, who, after a stint at Case Western Reserve University, moved West and eventually ended up in Texas, researched the Wild West and identified numerous forms of effective private regulation, which were effective precisely because they faced competition. He explained, for example, that Texas cattlemen, whose ranches were delineated by clear property lines, were able to “creat[e] order on their ranches.” One ranch’s code “prohibited cowboys from gambling, carrying six-shooters, keeping private horses, running game with [ranch] horses, drinking, and stealing cattle from other ranches.”
See: SEC commissioner: Investors have the right to make their own decisions without regulators standing in the way
As detailed in an article titled “The -Not So Wild, Wild West,” western order was not limited to ranchers imposing gambling bans on their cowboys, but also included an array of private organizations dedicated to maintaining order:
[I]t appears in the absence of formal government, that the western frontier was not as wild as legend would have us believe. The market did provide protection and arbitration agencies that functioned very effectively, either as a complete replacement for formal government or as a supplement to that government.
On the other hand, ironically, our gunslinging ways in the old, supposedly staid, government regulatory world back East are causing people to question our commitment to the rule of law. Let me explain by raising several questions about our regulatory approach to date. I will conclude by suggesting that it is not too late for government regulators to set clear rules that respect the unique attributes and challenges of life on the crypto frontier.
I. Is There Really Legal Clarity Around Digital Assets?
II. Are We Enforcing Rules by Settling or Settling for Ambiguity?
III. Are We Fighting for Investors or Fighting for Jurisdiction?
IV. Are We Protecting Investors or Denying Investors Opportunity?
V. Are We Going to Pretend Everything is Centralized So We Can Regulate It?
VI. Are We Catching Bad Actors or Creating a Catch 22?
See: Hester Peirce on personal liberty, crypto regs and retail investor particiation
- Can the platform custody client assets, a feature typical of centralized crypto trading platforms? If so, how, given our concerns about custody of digital asset securities?
- If not, could a sufficient number of broker-dealers navigate the registration process to make a liquid market?
- Would the conditions placed on their registration permit them to function as market makers or to facilitate trading on behalf of retail investors?
- Can the platform trade non-securities alongside securities? If not, how can the platform, using two entities—a broker-dealer entity for digital asset securities, and an affiliated non-broker-dealer entity for non-securities, offer a seamless, or at least serviceable, trading platform to customers, who are likely, for example, to want to trade both digital assets and digital asset securities and pay for transactions in digital asset securities using non-security digital assets?
- How can a trading platform and its customers determine whether a particular digital asset is a security?
- If a token was sold in a securities offering as part of an investment contract, how long must secondary transactions in that token be deemed to be securities transactions by platforms trading the tokens?
- What are the mechanics of registering tokens sold as part of an investment contract as a class of “equity security” under the Exchange Act?
Conclusion
These questions are intended to spur a deeper cross-government commitment to searching for sensible regulatory solutions. The stakes are high because the government is riding into crypto town with the promise that it can do a better job than the existing informal disciplinary mechanisms.
See: Hester Peirce on personal liberty, crypto regs and retail investor particiation
We do have regulatory experience that we can bring to bear here, but we have to do so carefully. As government agencies consider how to regulate, they ought to take their lead from Congress, work collaboratively with one another, and actively consult the public who will be subject to and protected by the rules. I might approach this whole endeavor with a less strict hand than some of my fellow regulators, but the real question is not what I or any other regulator wants, but what you the people—the intended beneficiaries of this regulation—want. I am eager to see what you accomplish on the crypto frontier once we set some sensible, clear regulatory parameters.
To paraphrase the standard closing words of a popular crypto podcast, which follow an appropriate warning about the riskiness of the space, “[You] are headed West. This is the frontier. It’s not for everyone. . .”
Thank you for allowing me to drop in on your journey West.
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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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Shiba Inu Meme Coin Soars to Record, Slips…as Chinese Authorities Strengthen Supervision of NFTs
TheStreet | Rob Lenihan | Oct 25, 2021
Cryptocurrency prices were climbing Monday with the parody cryptocurrency Shiba Inu coin soaring to a record over the weekend before losing ground.
Shiba Inu's recent surge appears related to unconfirmed rumors that the coin would soon be listed on the popular stock trading app Robinhood, according to Fortune. Shiba Inu coins traded at a record $0.0000455 at 7:20am U.S. Eastern. That topped the previous record $0.0000388 from May 10, Coindesk reported, citing Messari data. It's currently trading at $0.000039.
See: SEC says GameStop’s wild stock surge was not short covering
Some market observers said that the currency started falling after Tesla CEO Elon Musk, famed for rattling crypto markets worldwide, tweeted on Sunday that he does not own the cryptocurrency.
"Don't bet the farm on crypto," Musk tweeted. "True value is building products & providing services to your fellow human beings, not money in any form."
Regulation remains a factor in the cryptocurrency world.
-- "[The] U.S. Congress predictably looking at imposing standard financial industry 'Know your Client' and Internal Revenue Service reporting requirements
-- "[The] UK warning about investor protection
-- [The] EU cracking down on money laundering," and,
-- "China clearing the field for the introduction of the digital yuan."
Winston Ma, a former managing director and head of North America at China Investment Corp., said Chinese regulatory authorities are strengthening their supervision of NFTs, "as regulators cast a weary eye on this new virtual asset market as a potentially huge bubble."
See:
Elon Musk reposted this meme > 2 days later ‘Love in The Time of Web3’ sold as an NFT for nearly $20,000
Ways NFTs Can Reinvent Your Small Business
"They have spoken with Big Tech companies about this market, according to a tweet posted on Saturday by Colin Wu, an influential blogger," said Ma, who is author of "The Digital War - How China’s Tech Power Shapes the Future of AI, Blockchain and Cyberspace."
By Monday, Ma said, Chinese technology giants Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings have both renamed their nonfungible-token offerings “digital collectibles. The rebranding actions taken by Alibaba and Tencent reflect their efforts to steer away from any potential conflict with China’s digital economy regulators," Ma said.
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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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Digital money is an opportunity for Canada – if we seize it
The Globe and Mail | and | Oct 21, 2021
Robert Fay is the managing director of digital economy at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. David Dodge is a former governor of the Bank of Canada and is senior adviser at Bennett Jones LLP.
Around the world financial systems are digitizing to provide faster, cheaper and more secure and comprehensive services to households and businesses.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies are attracting substantial public attention. They are reflections of the continuing digitalization of the global economy, driven by innovation and competition, that is creating new opportunities worldwide.
The potential benefits are many.
Digital currencies and payments can speed up and lower transaction costs, both domestically and especially across borders, while bolstering security. Financial technology (fintech) is expanding the range of financial services available in the marketplace.
See: Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI): China’s crackdown puts US in pole position and Canada in 4th
Open banking allows consumers and small businesses to securely and efficiently transfer their financial data among financial institutions and accredited third-party service providers. It can stimulate competition, facilitate access, and expand the range of services available to households and businesses.
And central bank digital currencies can spur innovation and boost financial inclusion, ensuring all have access to digital services.
But fully harnessing the benefits of digitalization will require a sound and coherent framework that ensures collaboration between the public and private sectors.
We recently held a workshop to hear the opinions of international and Canadian experts in this domain. As we explain in more detail in a new report, we argue there are three essential steps that Canada must take.
First, Canadian governments and service providers need to work together to deliver what has already been placed on the agenda; namely, a modernized payments system and secure data transfer to facilitate open banking.
Second, Canada requires a thoroughly updated legislative framework for privacy and data management, and the adoption of industry standards for digital identification. Governments, the central bank, and regulators, working with market participants, must adapt existing policy frameworks to accommodate and harness change in a manner that supports a financial system that is efficient, competitive, stable, secure, inclusive, and one that instills trust. It is essential to ensure data security and privacy and enable consumers to have greater control over their financial data in ways that promote sound competition.
See: Bank of Canada to become new regulator of fintech companies doing payments processing
Third, regulatory gaps must be remedied. Existing regulatory frameworks are ill-suited to deal with new and emerging market structures.
Federal leadership here is crucial. Risks must be taken.
To deliver on these three essential steps, the federal government must exert strong leadership in mobilizing the necessary collective effort; making policy and market choices will require a careful balancing of objectives. Win-win solutions must be pursued, but there will be trade-offs at the margins – for example, between efficiency and stability, or between compliance and privacy.
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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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As regulators circle above, how should the DeFi industry respond?
Forkast | Adi Ben-Ari | Oct 19, 2021
Recent intervention by regulators in the U.S. and China has made for difficult times for the decentralized finance DeFi sector, but it highlighted again the need to communicate the value that DeFi brings to business and finance, and to allay concerns about the risks.
DeFi is an exciting, rapidly growing corner of the cryptocurrency and blockchain world. It aims to remove human involvement from financial services by using smart contracts that democratize financial services, lower costs and improve access. Its popularity is growing sharply as organizations ranging from startups to traditional banking institutions recognize the value it brings.
Yet, as with all financial services, DeFi is accompanied by risk. The question is: how risky is DeFi and is that risk any greater than elsewhere in the financial services sector?
See: Decentralized Finance—Risks, Regulation, and the Road Ahead
The regulators evidently see risk. Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) blocked a new digital asset product from Coinbase called Lend, having determined that it is a security and therefore under its regulatory authority. Later in the month, the People’s Bank of China cracked down on cryptocurrencies and crypto exchanges, declaring that all trading and other activities related to digital coins are illegal.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler commented that “a lot of people are likely to get hurt,” without investor protections of banking, insurance, securities laws and market oversight. His urging of Congress to allow regulators greater oversight of crypto exchanges suggests he wants a much tighter grip.
In China, meanwhile, the government clearly wants greater control as it paves the way for its own central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan.
Stablecoins support interconnection between DeFi and banking sectors
As Mr. Gensler considers the risks, particularly for small investors, it is incumbent on the DeFi industry to demonstrate that those risks are negligible — and certainly no greater than those elsewhere in the financial services sector.
If stablecoins eliminate the cryptocurrency risk, why all the fuss about them? First of all, there’s no standardized way for stablecoins to disclose the assets that back them. Second, there are concerns about the providers of stablecoin solutions, private companies such as Tether and Circle, the two largest ones, both of which are under scrutiny over governance.
DeFi link to financial system crucial now, but set to loosen
We see a lot more money going into the tokens than coming out — this is evident in the prices. It looks as though a lot of investors and other organizations wish to stay in the crypto world as longer-term speculation, and to eventually conduct business through it.
See: Kraken report: Crypto Yields – Deep Dive on DeFi
There are risks in the crossover between DeFi and traditional banking. If you want to cash out of crypto, you have to do so at an exchange — the same as when buying the crypto. The exchange can convert it into dollars or euros, for instance, but that ultimately will be through a traditional bank account. The risk is that the banks can decline their services to crypto exchanges — they have done so before. One reason would be if they don’t know where the money comes from, an important factor as they try to clamp down on money laundering and other nefarious activities.
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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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