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
Elon Musk Adds #bitcoin to Twitter Bio Fueling Speculators
Mashable | | Jan 29, 2021
As the man himself said, it was inevitable.
On Friday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk changed his Twitter bio to "#bitcoin." This alone perhaps wouldn't be that interesting — after all, Musk expressed his interest in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies before — but Musk followed up with a cryptic tweet that might indicate he's actually bought some Bitcoin.
"In retrospect, it was inevitable," Musk tweeted.
In retrospect, it was inevitable
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2021
This could mean anything and nothing. It could be related to DOGE, a joke cryptocurrency Musk is a fan of and has recently been tweeting about. Or it could be related to something that's not crypto-related.
See: What the MicroStrategy Deal — and Others Like It — Means for the Future of Bitcoin and Altcoin Prices
However, cryptocurrency Twitter immediately started speculating about Musk buying Bitcoin, or even Tesla investing a part of its cash pile into the cryptocurrency. Software company MicroStrategy has invested a massive amount of money into Bitcoin in recent months, and its CEO Michael Saylor has been vocal about Bitcoin being a better alternative than cash for a company's reserves.
In December, Saylor actually offered Musk — through Twitter — some advice on how to purchase large amounts of Bitcoin in a company's name.
At this point, we don't know what, exactly, Musk has referred to in his latest tweet, or whether he or Tesla own, or plan to own, any Bitcoin. But that didn't stop speculators from driving the price of Bitcoin up by 19 percent in less than an hour, up from roughly $32,000 to just short of $38,000. The pump has now subsided, and the price is sitting at around $36,000.
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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Reddit Partners with Ethereum Foundation to Build Scaling Resources
Reddit | u/jarins |Jan 27, 2021
The social media firm will dedicate developer resources to support scaling efforts for Ethereum.
Via Reddit post:
Reddit admin u/jarins here, with some exciting news to share today: Reddit has teamed up with the Ethereum Foundation to establish Reddit’s first-ever blockchain partnership!
As Reddit continues to grow with more than 50 million daily users and hundreds of thousands of communities, the platform has long maintained a decentralized ethos by empowering users to create, govern, and grow their own communities. Through this partnership, we will be increasing our commitment to blockchain, accelerating scaling and resources for the Ethereum ecosystem, and bringing the value and independence of blockchain technology to millions of redditors.
See: From Voting To Social Media: What Does The Future Hold For Digital Identity On The Blockchain
In many ways, this collaboration started with the Scaling Bake-Off that we hosted in this community with the Ethereum Foundation. In this new stage of our partnership, immediate efforts will be focused on bringing Ethereum to Reddit-scale production. Our intention is to help accelerate the progress being made on scaling and develop the technology needed to launch large-scale applications like Community Points on Ethereum. The scaling technology developed through this partnership will be open-sourced and publicly available for anyone to use.
We introduced Community Points last year to give more ownership and control back to users through decentralized technology. Built on Ethereum, Community Points represent a user’s ownership in a community and rewards them for their individual contributions (such as posts and comments). This project is our first attempt at utilizing decentralized technology to empower individuals to have a sense of accountability and more ownership in the communities that they create and contribute to. Community Points are currently in beta on the Rinkeby network and are being tested in r/CryptoCurrency and r/FortNiteBR.
Cointinue 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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Will Gary Gensler at SEC be Good for Crypto?
Traders Magazine | Shanny Basar | Jan 21, 2021
Gary Gensler has been nominated as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission and his expertise in fintech and digital currency could lead to new regulatory approvals such as a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
Gensler is a professor of the practice of Global Economics and Management at MIT Sloan School of Management and co-director of MIT’s Fintech@CSAIL, which collaborates with industry and also senior advisor to the MIT digital currency initiative, researching artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and new financial technologies.
See: The four contenders to be Joe Biden’s SEC chair
Google searches for “Gary Gensler Bitcoin” jumped after his appointment was confirmed:
Gensler is a professor of the practice of Global Economics and Management at MIT Sloan School of Management and co-director of MIT’s Fintech@CSAIL, which collaborates with industry and also senior advisor to the MIT digital currency initiative, researching artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and new financial technologies.
Google searches for “Gary Gensler Bitcoin” jumped after his appointment was confirmed:
MachinaTrader, part of Swiss fintech MachinaWare, said in a blog that
Gensler has supported cryptocurrencies, including telling Congress that Bitcoin was a “modern form of gold.”
“He also believes that Diem (formally Libra) meets the requirements for being classified as a security,” added MachinaTrader. “However, Gensler is also aware that the asset class is rife with vulnerabilities, scams, and manipulation.”
Jake Chervinsky, co-chair of the decentralized finance (DeFi) group at the Blockchain Association, said
the SEC could approve a bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
See: Brookings Event: Climate change and financial market regulations: Insights from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro
Dennis Kelleher, president and chief executive of Better Markets, said: “Based on years of working closely with Gary at the CFTC, when he fought valiantly and relentlessly to enact the Dodd-Frank financial reform law...
We know Gary will fulfill the SEC’s mission to prioritize investor protection, promote U.S. capital markets and facilitate capital formation for the productive economy. In stark contrast to the prior chairman, Gary will actually look out for Mr. and Mrs. 401k and Main Street investors, not use them as PR cover for an anti-investor agenda.”
Want to know, what the incoming SEC Chairman Gary Gensler thinks about cryptocurrency?
Check out: coindesk.com/ex-cftc-chair- Especially his remarks regarding Ripple and Ethereum give some food for thought.
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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Regulators Should Not Underestimate the Value in Having Younger Investors Enter the Market
Cato Institute | Jennifer J. Schulp and Caleb O. Brown | Jan 21, 2021
The “gamification” of stock trading has raised the hackles of state‐level financial regulators. So what’s the big deal if Robinhood throws up confetti when you make a trade? Jennifer Schulp evaluates the claims.
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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Final Report: Ontario Capital Markets Modernization Committee Recommendations
Ontario Capital Markets Modernization Committee | Walied Soliman Taskforce Chair | Jan 22, 2021
Job creation and economic prosperity. Fundamentally, these are the most important outputs of a successful capital markets regime. Ontario first enacted its capital markets laws in 1928. For decades, Ontario has been at the forefront of investor protection and market efficacy. We cannot fall behind. Late last year, former Minister Rod Phillips formed the Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce to review the current status of Ontario’s capital markets. By February 2020, Rupert Duchesne, Wes Hall, Melissa Kennedy, Cindy Tripp, and I were appointed to conduct this review.
Since the financial crisis in 2008, the global financial system has undergone significant changes. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to be adaptive and forward-looking in developing a modernized capital markets. The Taskforce aimed to address the issues of tomorrow’s capital markets with bold and innovative recommendations that will make Ontario one of the most attractive capital market destinations globally.
See:
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Ontario’s Capital Markets Modernization Task force report draws criticism
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CSA Provide Comments on the Ontario Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce Consultation Report
The Taskforce worked diligently for ten months, through the COVID-19 pandemic. We met over 110 different stakeholders in our preliminary consultations, meeting with some repeatedly, and received over 130 stakeholder comment letters in response to our consultation report released in July 2020.1 The consultation meetings and formal feedback told us that the time for change is now.
One of our main objectives is to amplify growth “The recommendations we have made are and competitiveness in Ontario’s capital generational in their impact on the Ontario capital markets. The decline in new issuers and initial markets.” public offerings in Ontario is alarming. The real Walied Soliman consequences of this trend are fewer head offices, fewer entrepreneurs, and fewer growth investment opportunities, all of which could drive Ontario to become a “branch plant” economy. To address this, the Taskforce proposes recommendations to incubate junior issuers in this province by reducing the regulatory burden, providing new opportunities for capital-raising through the expansion of prospectus exemptions, and streamlining disclosure requirements, among others.
The recommendations we have made are and competitiveness in Ontario’s capital generational in their impact on the Ontario capital markets, Walied Soliman
Recommending proposals designed to spur the growth and establishment of independent dealers will increase the number of intermediaries who focus on connecting capital with smaller companies. Smaller companies, in particular, rely heavily on the independent dealer community to raise capital.
To give more choice to Ontario investors, we put forward recommendations to ensure that wealth management distribution channels provide greater access to competitive and independent wealth management products. Competition among product manufacturers leads to better and more innovative products, resulting in greater choice for investors.
Read:
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The OSC’s New Innovation Charter: Is this really a ‘new model’?
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NCFA Response to the Modernizing Ontario’s Capital Markets Consultation Taskforce
Although developing recommendations to foster growth and innovation is important, all of our recommendations were made through the lens of investor protection. Instilling confidence in our capital markets is critical and investors need to feel safe. One way that confidence is instilled in our capital markets is through a transparent and effective corporate governance framework. Changes are being recommended to modernize governance standards and the proxy voting framework for Ontario’s public companies to make it easier for companies to address stakeholder concerns, increase transparency, and encourage shareholder participation.
Our recommendations also support enhanced enforcement powers to protect investors and ensure a fair playing field for all market participants, while providing enhanced certainty and clarity on the enforcement process. We have also recommended new ways for funds to be returned to harmed investors.
In all, we have made over 70 consequential recommendations. The Taskforce was incredibly honoured to have had the confidence of , and encouragement from former Minister Rod Phillips in this endeavor. I would also like to thank the OSC for their support throughout this process. Ontario is privileged to have the hardworking individuals at the OSC working for us. They are talented, global capital markets leaders and we hope these recommendations will give them enhanced tools to help drive our capital markets objectives.
On behalf of the Taskforce, I would like to thank the stakeholders who have provided input during the preliminary consultations and submitted detailed, written comment letters. We are encouraged by the enthusiasm displayed by all stakeholders to work towards enhancing Ontario’s capital markets.
This report is a result of a dedicated team effort and I extend my greatest gratitude to my fellow Taskforce members, Rupert Duchesne, Wes Hall, Melissa Kennedy and Cindy Tripp for their tremendous dedication and commitment to public service throughout this process. I want to thank Eric de Roos, Deputy Minister Greg Orencsak, Assistant Deputy Minister David Wai, Assistant Deputy Minister Sunita Chander, Shameez Rabdi, Jeet Chatterjee, Luc Vaillancourt and Diane Yee at the Ministry of Finance. I would also like to thank my partners Heidi Reinhart and Rowan Weaver, and my colleagues Abigail Court, Daniel Weiss and Scott Thorner from Norton Rose Fulbright, f or their pro bono assistance to the Taskforce. Lastly, I would also like to thank members of the Expert Advisory Group for their advice and feedback throughout this process. The Government of Ontario is committed to modernizing our capital markets regulatory framework. The recommendations we have made are generational in their impact on the Ontario capital markets. Together, these changes will make our province more prosperous, entrepreneurial, competitive, and help position us as a global leader.
Respectfully submitted in December 2020, with thanks for this opportunity.
Walied Soliman Taskforce Chair
Download the 115 page PDF Recommendations Report --> Now
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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How Banks, Fintechs, and Customers Win Together
Fintech Confidential | Michael King and Richard Nesbitt | Jan 21, 2021
In our recently published book The Technological Revolution in Financial Services: How Banks, Fintechs, and Customers Win Together, a group of expert contributors from North America and Europe share their insights on how the financial services industry will evolve in the coming decade. The context is the ongoing transformation in the financial services industry, which is being driven by three structural forces: heightened regulation that followed the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), innovation fueled by new technologies and entrepreneurial fintech startups, and demographic trends with the rise of millennials and the retirement of baby boomers.
These forces are changing the competitive landscape of financial services, lowering barriers to entry and increasing competition from both inside and outside the industry. Our book outlines what we see as the successful strategies for financial technology (fintech) companies and incumbents, namely banks, insurance companies, and asset managers.
While there is much to learn from our contributors, this article shares our main conclusion and a few key takeaways.
We argue that the winning strategy for the coming decade will be for banks, insurance companies and asset managers to partner with fintech startups to deliver a superior experience to end-customers.
The media has portrayed fintechs and financial incumbents as rivals. But the real threat over the coming is coming from outside the financial services industry – from large technology companies such as the Chinese techfins (Alibaba and Tencent) and North American bigtech companies (Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Shopify). These global players have platform ecosystems with large and loyal customer bases, massive datasets on customer behavior, and well-known brands. Techfins and bigtech are bundling financial services with non-financial products to provide end-customers with the delightful, easy, convenient and lower cost experiences they desire.
See: Why Partnerships Are the Future for Fintech
Faced with these new entrants, we argue that incumbents need to partner with fintechs, combining their respective strengths to provide a better customer experience.
- Banks, insurance companies and asset managers are product-centric. These incumbents have millions of customers, expertise in risk management and compliance, funding and scale. But they view the world in terms of deposits, loans, payments, and investments. They see technology as a tool to reduce costs and increase profitability while meeting increased regulatory requirements. They are more focused on their shareholders than on understanding their end-customers.
- Fintech companies are customer-centric. Fintechs are better at understanding the customer’s needs and their financial journey. Fintechs leverage technology to solve customer pain points and offer a better value proposition. They have access to talent and are employing design thinking to develop innovative solutions that provide a delightful user experience.
So, the technological revolution highlighted in the title does not refer simply to the emergence of new technologies or the disruption from new entrants. It refers to a paradigm shift in financial services that refocuses on the end-customer, their experience and their lifetime journey.
Briefly, here are three more takeaways:
Technology is not a strategy, it is a tool for the execution of strategy.
Strategy is the answer to three questions: where is the organization today, where does it want to go in the future, and how will it get there. Technology can provide better tools for pursuing this strategy, but technological innovation is not the end goal of strategy itself. Technology does provide a sustainable competitive advantage; it is widely available and can be copied by competitors who are fast-followers. The biggest barrier to entry in banking is not technology or even regulation, but access to customers.
See: Does FinTech Substitute for Banks? Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program
Trust in banking is paramount, supported by data security and privacy.
The loss of trust in incumbents following the GFC opened the door to new entrants including fintechs. But trust in financial services is intertwined with cybersecurity and data privacy. Cybersecurity has clearly become the biggest operational risk. The approach must be a shift in mindset from “if we are hacked” to “when we are hacked”. Finding it fast, disclosing it and dealing with it immediately, and minimizing the impact on customers will be critical. Data privacy is a second critical issue. Consumers and privacy advocates are acutely aware of the mixed incentives created by the advertising- based business models of Facebook and Google. This is one area where technology (such as blockchain) and new services (such as digital identity) can promote trust, by protecting customer data, privacy, and identity.
Open banking sits at the nexus of these concerns. We argue that the adoption of open banking -- in Canada and globally – will increase data security by putting in place a secure system for the transmission of data using application programming interfaces (APIs).
Regulation and risk management remain pillars of financial services.
See: The future of European payments: Strategic choices for banks
Regulation is not going away, nor should we want it to. Leading financial players – whether fintechs or incumbents – support higher regulatory requirements to weed out bad actors. We argue that maintaining a level playing field and avoiding regulatory arbitrage are important. Effective risk management will continue to be a driver of success in financial services. Incumbents possess this expertise. Fintechs and other new entrants will inevitably need to invest in risk management and compliance to be successful.
Authored by:
- Michael R. King, Lansdowne Chair in Finance, Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria
- Richard W. Nesbitt , CEO, Global Risk Institute in Financial Services
This article appears as a featured article in NCFA's digital magazine, Fintech Confidential (Issue 3 Dec 2020). 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
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Are Stablecoins Better Than Bitcoin?
Guest Post | Jan 20, 2021
If you’re new to the world of investing in cryptocurrencies, you might have heard of stablecoins. These are physically-backed assets that differ quite a bit from Bitcoin and other coins. If you’ve heard of them, you’re understandably curious as to what they’re about. This guide can help you with that.
How are Stablecoins Different from Bitcoin?
As mentioned, stablecoins are tied to a physical asset. Bitcoin is not. It has its own value backed by the electricity that goes into mining it. Stablecoins like Tether or TrueUSD are tied to the value of the US dollar. These are sold on most traditional exchanges. Otherwise, there are also precious metal-backed stablecoins. Coins like these are more often sold on dedicated platforms like Gold Exchange.
Now, you can probably infer that because stablecoins are tied to the value of physical assets, their value is inherently less volatile than Bitcoin. As you may know, Bitcoin can (and has) risen or fallen thousands of dollars at any given moment.
That volatility might be a boon for some experienced investors, but newer ones might want to avoid them. This is where stablecoins come into play.
Stablecoins like SilverCoin allow users to take advantage of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology without volatility. This way, they can invest in things like silver or gold without hassle, from anywhere in the world.
What are the Benefits of Stablecoins
When buying silver or gold physically, investors have to jump through tons of hoops. Buyers need to validate their identity, income, and other information. They also need to find a proper vendor to buy from and will often pay a premium for doing so. After all of that, they need to wait for the assets to be shipped or go pick them up. Then, they must store those assets. This could be in a safe they buy themselves or paying a company to secure the assets.
In other words, investing in physical assets can be a pain. With stablecoins, investors can buy fractional amounts of an asset instantly. There’s no need to reveal any identity, and the coins are held in a free digital wallet. That anonymity is huge for most investors, especially those interested in cryptocurrency. That, and the ability to buy fractional amounts, is significant for investors with fewer funds. It allows users to start earlier than they would otherwise, putting in as little or as much as they’d like.
See: Cryptocurrencies vs. Precious Metals: Which is the Better Investment?
However, it’s worth noting that those looking to profit off of crypto might not enjoy stablecoins as much. Because these coins are tied to a physical asset’s value, the coin only raises or lowers its price as its physical counterpart does. For example, those investing in the Tether stablecoin must realize it is designed to sit at $1.00 per coin, give or take a few cents. There’s next to no way to profit from this.
Instead, it’s more for users to convert funds to another type of fiat or move them around the world faster and cheaper than traditional conversions. While some stablecoins can provide a profit, the reality is that’s not what they are designed for.
So, Which One is Better?
Technically, neither asset is “better” than the other. Both are great at what they’re designed to do, but each has its own set of flaws. Really, whichever one is better depends on what you’re looking for in a cryptocurrency.
If you’re trying to profit off of your investments, Bitcoin is probably the best option. If you’re more of a traditional investor or need to move funds, stablecoins are your best bet. In fact, central banks around the world are planning to release their own stablecoins for customer’s sake.
Regardless, do your research before investing in any asset. There’s always risk no matter where you put your funds.
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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