Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
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NCFA Weekly Fintech Intelligence Apr 4-10, 2026
April 10, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Whisperer Weekly Intelligence | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Regulation And Policy, Payments And Market Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence And Data
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This live weekly NCFA intelligence page tracks financial technology developments that significantly affect how fintechs build, sell, raise capital, and operate under scrutiny. Coverage prioritizes Canada and includes global events that directly influence competitive conditions, market access, and execution realities across fintech sectors. This page will be updated throughout the week with market movers in a live format and then each week we'll close the prior week's contents in prep for the upcoming week, and continue on a rolling basis. (Missed prior week's Fintech Whisperer? (December 6-12, 2025, December 13-19, 2025, January 1-9, 2026, January 10-16, 2026, January 17-23, 2026, January 24-30, 2026, January 31-February 6, 2026, February 7-13, 2026, February 14-20, 2026, February 21-27, 2026, February 28-March 6, 2026, March 7-13, 2026, March 14-20, 2026, March 21-27, 2026, March 28-April 3, 2026).
Weekly Fintech Market Intelligence Apr 4 - 10, 2026
Regulation And Policy
SEC Issues No Action Relief For Bank Of England Bail In Events
Apr 10, 2026, United States and United Kingdom
- SEC staff will not recommend enforcement if UK bail in transactions proceed without Securities Act registration when investors are forced to exchange affected securities into interim non transferable instruments and then into ordinary shares.
- The relief applies where firms rely on counsel that the Section 3(a)(9) exemption is available for these exchanges during a statutory resolution process.
- The position covers scenarios where securities or interests may be issued, transferred, cancelled, modified, or converted as part of a Bank of England bail in event.
- The statement also points to possible broader rulemaking, with the SEC considering a wider exemption framework for cross border bail in transactions.
Cross border bank resolution just got more executable. Legal friction around emergency bail in mechanics drops, especially where US investors hold affected securities. That gives global banks, broker dealers, and market infrastructure firms a clearer playbook for how securities conversions and investor treatment can run under stress. It also signals where the SEC may formalize exemptions, which matters for anyone structuring cross border capital, custody, or resolution workflows.
CIRO Sets 2027 Priorities Across Rule Harmonization Cyber And Market Oversight
Apr 7, 2026, Canada
- CIRO’s fiscal 2027 priorities run from Apr 1, 2026 to Mar 31, 2027 and include publishing a final harmonized rulebook for investment dealers and mutual fund dealers.
- CIRO also plans to expand InnovateSafe, strengthen cyber resilience through new data frameworks and exercises, and review complaint handling timelines.
- Other priorities include publishing its first annual Market Regulation report, reviewing UMIR, and operationalizing delegated registration responsibilities across Canada.
CIRO is setting the next year’s pressure points now. Dealers and vendors in compliance, cyber, complaints, registration, and market surveillance can see where regulatory work and operating expectations are headed.
US Treasury Designates BNY For Trump Accounts Program
Apr 6, 2026, United States
- US Treasury designated BNY as a financial agent to support the Trump Accounts program, a new federal account program for children created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
- BNY will manage the initial accounts and help develop the Trump Accounts app.
- Robinhood will serve as brokerage and initial trustee, while Treasury will retain control over the app and operations for the initial accounts.
Treasury is putting a government account program into market through a named bank agent, a brokerage trustee, and an app structure it still controls. That creates a new federal operating model for account access, custody, and distribution.
Digital Assets, Blockchain And Tokenization
HKMA Grants First Stablecoin Issuer Licences In Hong Kong
Apr 10, 2026, Hong Kong
- The Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted stablecoin issuer licences under the Stablecoins Ordinance to Anchorpoint Financial Limited and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, with the licences taking effect on Apr 10.
- The approvals mark a new phase in the implementation of Hong Kong’s stablecoin regime.
- HKMA identified Anchorpoint as a joint venture of Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong, HKT, and Animoca Brands.
- HKMA also maintains a public register of licensed stablecoin issuers as the source of record for approved entities.
This gives banks, payment firms, and digital asset operators a live regulatory perimeter for fiat backed stablecoins in one of Asia’s key financial centres. It also raises the pressure on other jurisdictions to show whether they want sandbox activity, bank led issuance, or a full licensing track.
Japan Cabinet Approves Crypto Into Financial Instruments Law
Apr 10, 2026, Japan
- Japan’s Cabinet approved a bill on Apr 10 to amend the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the Payment Services Act, including a review of the rules for crypto-assets.
- The FSA’s crypto working group had recommended moving crypto-assets from the Payment Services Act into the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act framework.
- The proposal treats crypto-assets as financial instruments distinct from securities rather than as payment instruments.
- The recommended package includes insider-trading and market-abuse rules, stronger information provision, and tougher penalties for unregistered business.
That raises the compliance bar for exchanges, issuers, and market operators, and it gives tokenized products a clearer path into a more tightly supervised investment framework.
ClearBank Europe Enters MiCAR Perimeter For Digital Asset Services
Apr 9, 2026, Europe
- ClearBank Europe said it completed a MiCAR notification and received confirmation from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets to operate as a Crypto Asset Service Provider.
- The bank said it will roll out Circle Mint and provide clients with access to Euro Coin and USD Coin in a regulated banking environment.
- ClearBank said the move is a milestone entry into digital currency infrastructure as part of its broader digital assets strategy.
A regulated bank is bringing stablecoin access into clearing infrastructure under MiCAR. That gives bank-led digital asset services a clearer route into the European market and narrows the gap between fiat clearing and tokenized money.
Swiss Banks Open CHF Stablecoin Sandbox
Apr 8, 2026, Switzerland
- UBS, PostFinance, Sygnum, Raiffeisen, Zürcher Kantonalbank, BCV, and Swiss Stablecoin AG launched a CHF stablecoin sandbox to test Swiss franc stablecoin use cases in 2026.
- The partners said they want to connect blockchain applications to the Swiss franc and strengthen Switzerland’s digital money ecosystem and financial center competitiveness.
- PostFinance said there is currently no regulated Swiss franc stablecoin with broad application in Switzerland, and described the sandbox as a controlled live environment with defined safeguards, a limited participant pool, and transaction limits.
Swiss banks are testing whether domestic currency stablecoins belong inside regulated payments and settlement infrastructure. That puts local currency control, settlement design, and bank relevance into the same build decision.
FDIC Opens Stablecoin Rulemaking Under GENIUS Act
Apr 7, 2026, United States
- The FDIC Board approved a proposed rule to implement GENIUS Act requirements for FDIC supervised permitted payment stablecoin issuers.
- The proposal covers reserve assets, redemption, capital, risk management, and certain stablecoin related custodial and safekeeping services provided by insured depository institutions.
- It also addresses pass through insurance for stablecoin reserve deposits and says tokenized deposits that meet the statutory definition of deposit would be treated the same as other deposits under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.
The FDIC is starting to put bank level rules around stablecoin issuance, custody, reserve treatment, and tokenized deposits. Banks, vendors, and stablecoin infrastructure firms now have a clearer target for operating inside the insured deposit perimeter.
Artificial Intelligence And Data
Anthropic Restricts Mythos Cyber Model As Banks Face New AI Risk
Apr 10, 2026, United States
- Anthropic says Claude Mythos Preview is unusually capable at computer security tasks and is not being released broadly.
- The company launched Project Glasswing to give limited access so critical software can be secured before wider distribution.
- Reuters reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned major bank CEOs about the model’s cyber risk.
- Anthropic says Mythos found a large number of severe vulnerabilities, including zero day vulnerabilities, across major software and browser environments.
Banks are now treating frontier AI as a cyber and resilience issue, not just a productivity tool. That puts model access, vendor controls, and critical system defence closer to the core of financial risk management.
Anthropic Reprices Third Party Claude Tool Use As Demand Rises
Apr 4, 2026, United States
- Boris Cherny, Anthropic’s head of Claude Code, said the company is being intentional about managing growth and that Claude subscriptions were not built for the usage patterns of third party tools such as OpenClaw.
- Anthropic’s Agent SDK docs say third party developers are not allowed to offer claude.ai login or claude.ai rate limits in their own products unless previously approved.
- The change pushes heavier third party usage toward API keys, pay as you go billing, or separate usage bundles instead of relying on bundled consumer style subscriptions.
Anthropic isn't closing the door on developers, but it's separating heavy third party agent usage from consumer subscription pricing. That raises the operating cost for external Claude tools and gives Anthropic tighter control over how third party workflows consume compute.
Payments And Market Infrastructure
Circle Launches Managed Stablecoin Settlement Stack
Apr 8, 2026, United States
- Circle launched CPN Managed Payments, a fully managed stablecoin settlement layer for PSPs, fintechs, banks, and global platforms.
- The product lets institutions interact in fiat while Circle handles USDC minting and burning, payment orchestration, compliance controls, and blockchain infrastructure.
- Operators can accept stablecoin based flows and then settle in stablecoins to a business wallet or in U.S. dollars and other fiat currencies.
Circle is packaging stablecoin settlement, compliance, and conversion into one managed payments layer. That lowers the barrier for institutions that want faster cross border settlement without taking on direct digital asset operations.
Visa Opens Global Infrastructure For AI Agent Commerce
Apr 8, 2026, Global
- Visa launched Intelligent Commerce Connect as part of its Intelligent Commerce portfolio to help merchants accept agentic transactions and let partners integrate more payment and acceptance flows through one setup.
- Visa said the product is already in pilot with partners including Aldar, AWS, Diddo, Highnote, Mesh, Payabli, and Sumvin, with broader rollout planned this year.
- Visa’s wider Intelligent Commerce stack sits on top of a network that spans 4.8 billion payment credentials, more than 150 million merchant locations, and over 300 billion transactions processed each year.
Visa is moving AI agent shopping from demos into payment rails. That gives merchants, issuers, and partners a clearer path to support agent led transactions inside mainstream checkout and acceptance infrastructure.
Paysafe Launches Pay With Crypto For US iGaming Deposits
Apr 7, 2026, United States
- Paysafe launched Pay with Crypto for U.S. iGaming operators and daily fantasy sports brands, powered by MoonPay.
- The product supports deposits using USDC, other stablecoins, and major cryptocurrencies, then converts funds into U.S. dollars to fund player accounts.
- Operators can settle almost instantly in stablecoins to a business crypto wallet or settle in U.S. dollars and other fiat currencies.
Crypto rails are moving behind mainstream checkout flows with conversion and settlement packaged into one payments stack. That lowers integration friction for operators and gives stablecoins another live payments entry point inside a regulated consumer flow.
Capital Markets And Market Infrastructure
LISE Opens ST GROUP IPO On EU DLT Market Infrastructure
Apr 9, 2026, Europe
- Subscriptions are open for the ST GROUP IPO on LISE from Apr 9 to Apr 20, with a possible extension to Apr 24.
- The fixed price is €18.25 per share, with a base offer of €2,608,837.50 and an extension amount of €3,000,154.00.
- LISE identifies itself as operator of an organized multilateral trading facility and a distributed ledger settlement system under Regulation (EU) 2022/858.
- The deal gives the EU DLT Pilot Regime one of its clearest live tests yet in primary equity issuance for smaller companies.
LISE is running a live capital raise under the EU DLT Pilot Regime which had a slow start, with real pricing, subscriptions, and settlement on new rails. If this holds up through allocation and trading, it strengthens the case that SMEs and smaller issuers could reach public capital through a simpler stack with fewer legacy layers.
Ctrl Alt Gets FCA Authorisation After Tokenizing $1.2B In Assets
Apr 8, 2026, United Kingdom
- Ctrl Alt received direct authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority to provide regulated investment services.
- The firm previously operated as an Appointed Representative before moving to full FCA authorisation.
- Ctrl Alt has tokenized more than $1.2 billion in assets since 2022, according to the company.
- The firm says it serves financial institutions, asset managers, fintechs, and public sector clients.
A tokenization platform has crossed into full FCA authorisation with real operating scale. That places tokenized asset infrastructure inside the regulated investment perimeter rather than alongside it. As more firms follow, tokenization shifts from service layer into core market infrastructure.
TNS And Radianz Combine To Form Waypoint Trading Solutions
Apr 8, 2026, Global
- TNS combined its Financial Markets business with Radianz to launch Waypoint Trading Solutions as a single trading infrastructure business.
- Waypoint says it supports connectivity to more than 180 exchanges, over 6,500 financial market endpoints, and institutions across more than 70 countries.
- The combined platform brings together extranet connectivity, managed low latency exchange access, and managed market data operations in one stack.
Trading connectivity, hosting, and market data are consolidating into fewer managed platforms. That matters for firms trying to cut complexity, lower operational drag, and keep trading infrastructure closer to production grade service levels.
CIRO Updates Margin Rates List For Qualifying Index Products
Apr 7, 2026, Canada
- CIRO published an updated list of floating and tracking error margin rates for qualifying Canadian and U.S. index products.
- The update uses data through Mar 31, 2026, becomes effective Apr 10, 2026, and replaces the prior list issued on Feb 6, 2026.
- The list is distributed as a production input through CIRO’s website and MTRS 2.0 SFTP for dealer use in margining and controls.
This is a technical update, but it feeds directly into dealer risk models and operating controls. Trading, credit, and operations teams treat these lists as live reference data, not background guidance.
Conclusion
Control points are tightening. Stablecoin rules align closer with bank standards. AI commerce runs through existing payment rails. Trading and data infrastructure consolidate. LISE adds a live IPO under the EU DLT Pilot Regime. Tokenization now shows up in collateral, governance, and issuance. NCFA covered how tokenization is scaling in collateral and cash and how governance is moving onchain. This week adds primary issuance.
NCFA offers various curated resources to help founders and investors stay current on developments that impact fintech markets, subscribe to NCFA weekly newsletter updates, view a rundown of current fintech news and insights, or dive into the latest fintech industry research.
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, artificial intelligence, 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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LISE Gives EU DLT Pilot A Live SME IPO Test
Apr 10, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Insight | Capital Markets And Market Infrastructure
ST GROUP Puts Regulated Tokenized Equity Issuance Into Live Production
On April 9, 2026, subscriptions opened for the ST GROUP IPO on LISE (Lightning Stock Exchange), a regulated European exchange that brings trading and settlement together for tokenized securities under the EU DLT Pilot Regime. The fixed price is €18.25 per share and the company is raising about €2.6 million, with room to increase the offer to about €3.0 million. The offer runs through April 20, with a possible extension. That gives the EU DLT Pilot Regime something it has needed for a while: a live primary equity raise with real terms, a real issuer, and a real funding target.
The EU DLT Pilot Regime has been in force since March 2023. It gives firms a legal framework to run trading and settlement for tokenized financial instruments through new market structures, including a DLT multilateral trading facility and combined settlement system. In other words, Europe didn't create this regime to generate headlines about blockchain. It created it to test whether capital markets infrastructure could be rebuilt with fewer layers, faster settlement, and lower operating friction.
First Real Test Of The EU DLT Market Model
LISE says it operates both an organized multilateral trading facility and a distributed ledger settlement system under Regulation (EU) 2022/858. Traditional public listings split trading, post trade processing, and settlement across separate institutions. LISE is testing whether more of that stack can sit inside one regulated environment. If that model works, it will change listing economics, in addition to settlement mechanics.
Tokenized infrastructure is already running at scale in other parts of the market. Tokenization is gaining traction in collateral and cash markets, where platforms like Broadridge’s distributed ledger repo system are processing more than $300 billion in average daily volume and trillions in monthly activity. Governance is moving in the same direction, with on-chain voting and corporate actions now being applied to tokenized equities. Now, LISE is testing and bringing primary issuance into that stack.
That is where the small to medium enterprise (SME) angle becomes important. Smaller companies often stay out of public markets because the structure is too heavy for the amount of capital they need. The friction and costs are simply too great for the legal work, process coordination, time to market, listing support, and the number of institutions involved. A simpler stack doesn't remove disclosure, governance, or investor protection requirements, but it can help remove costs and delays. That is why this offer deserves attention. It is one of the clearest live tests so far of whether tokenized infrastructure can make public capital markets more usable for smaller issuers rather than just more efficient for large enterprise players.
See: AI, Capital, Money Rewire Financial Infrastructure In 2026
ST GROUP also makes the test more credible. It's not a crypto-native issuer trying to force a blockchain story into the market. It's an operating company in aerospace and defense. A real issuer with fixed pricing and a defined subscription window, so in a way it's much more than just a pilot announcement.
The strategic implications are significant. If integrated issuance, trading, and settlement work in production as planned, pressure will begin to build across legacy chain and support around smaller listings. Exchanges, depositories, advisers, and other support layers still add value, but they also add cost. When a regulated venue starts collapsing parts of that chain into software and workflow, the market gets to see which service layers are essential and which are inherited from older infrastructure.
Canada faces a similar financing problem. Many growth companies find public markets too burdensome while private capital remains opaque/uneven, and bank lending has limits. If Europe can show that regulated digital market infrastructure lowers the cost of reaching investors without cutting corners on market structure, it will create a live benchmark for how smaller issuers could access capital differently in a world of tokenized equity issuance.
Closing Outlook
It now comes down to execution. Subscriptions need to convert. Settlement needs to clear without friction. Trading needs to open with enough depth to support price discovery. If those pieces hold, LISE shows that regulated tokenized infrastructure can support real capital formation. The EU DLT Pilot Regime is now being tested in a live market with real issuers, real investors, and real money on the line.
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, artificial intelligence, 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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Agentic AI At Home, At Work, Under Scrutiny
Apr 10, 2026 | NCFA Insight | Artificial Intelligence And Data, Regulation And Policy, Risk Compliance And Regtech
Agentic AI Moves Into Daily Life Workflows And Oversight
On March 31, 2026, the UK Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum published a foresight paper on the future of agentic AI. It offers one of the clearest regulatory reads yet on where agentic AI is heading as it moves into consumer tasks, enterprise workflows, and regulatory supervision.
The paper draws a clear line between systems that respond and systems that act. Agentic AI can plan, pull data, use tools, and carry out actions such as making payments on a user’s behalf. Once AI moves into real workflows, the focus shifts fast to consent, accountability, cybersecurity, consumer protection, and competition. That lines up with wider NCFA analysis of AI governance gaps and the cost of weak controls once software starts operating inside regulated systems.
At Home Agentic AI Becomes A Delegation Layer
Everyday life admin is one of the clearest use cases. Instead of bouncing across websites, forms, logins, and support queues, a user can ask an agent to sort bills, renew a policy, or book a trip. That turns software into a delegation layer between the customer and the market.
Three benefits stand out.
Lower search costs. Agents can turn simple requests into structured comparisons across providers and calculate total cost including fees.
Better deal discovery. They can monitor prices, surface better options, and apply savings automatically.
Easier switching and cancellation. They can pre-populate forms, track deadlines, and maintain records of consent.
For users facing access barriers, including disability or language constraints, these systems could also expand participation and accessibility. But that upside depends on trust. As NCFA noted in user backlash over AI data use, convenience can disappear quickly when people no longer understand how their data is being used or who controls it.
At Work The Business Case Starts To Get Real
Companies can use agentic AI across customer facing work and internal operations.
On the customer side, agents can handle support requests, guide onboarding, process refunds, and complete routine tasks before sending more complex cases to staff.
Inside the business, they can pull information from multiple systems, draft reports, create follow ups, route approvals, and take care of repetitive work that usually eats up time.
The report includes real data. A large study of AI in customer support found productivity gains of about 14% to 15% in issues resolved per hour, with the biggest improvements among less experienced staff. A UK Government Digital Service trial across 20,000 staff reported average time savings of 26 minutes per day.
These aren’t fully agentic systems, but they help explain why firms are moving in that direction.
There’s also a concrete example from Allianz. The company built a system using seven AI agents to automate food spoilage insurance claims. The agents pull evidence from multiple sources and work together on a single case.
That matters because it shows where agentic AI is likely to land first in regulated industries. Not in open ended autonomy, but in tightly defined workflows where speed, documentation, and consistency matter. It also supports NCFA’s earlier view on which fintech processes are most ready for agentic AI.
Regulators Won’t Just Regulate Agents They’ll Use Them
The DRCF isn’t only asking how to regulate agents. It’s also looking at how regulators can use them.
AI can help detect issues, review large volumes of documents, support analysis, and assist with drafting. The Competition and Markets Authority already uses AI tools to detect bid rigging linked to more than £300 billion in UK public procurement each year. The CMA has also deployed agentic AI to detect consumer harms like drip pricing at scale.
That matters for regulated finance. Once supervisors and watchdogs use AI to monitor conduct and review journeys, firms will need stronger controls, clearer evidence trails, and more reliable oversight. NCFA’s recent review of what regulated AI needs points in the same direction.
AI doesn’t just change the market. It changes how the market is watched.
The Risks Rise When Systems Start Acting
The same features that make agentic AI useful also create new pressure points.
Accountability gets harder. Multiple agents, tools, and providers can operate inside one workflow. When something breaks, responsibility can be difficult to trace.
Action bundling raises the stakes. A simple request can trigger multiple steps at once, including data access, consent, payment, and sharing. Users may not fully understand what they handed over or when control returns to them. That risk is especially relevant in finance, where NCFA recently looked at how AI payments challenge consent rules and liability.
As agents take over comparison and decision making, users may rely on rankings they can’t see. If those rankings reflect platform incentives or partnerships, outcomes can change without users realizing it.
That also changes competition. Firms may start competing to be selected by the agent, not by the customer.
Cyber Risk Scales Faster Than Most Firms Expect
Agentic AI can improve defense by helping teams triage threats and respond faster. At the same time, it expands the attack surface.
Prompt injection becomes more serious when agents act on untrusted input. Broad permissions increase exposure. If controls are weak, emails, browsing history, and customer records can be exposed.
A recent attack used agentic AI to carry out 80% to 90% of the attack lifecycle.
That lowers the cost of scale for attackers.
The report also points to emerging ideas like Know Your Agent identity and authorization frameworks as something to watch.
Competition Risk Goes Beyond Big Tech
Vendor lock in. As agents become embedded in workflows, firms may depend more heavily on one provider’s infrastructure, data, and orchestration layer. Without strong interoperability, markets could tilt toward a single vendor that captures most outcomes. That concern sits close to NCFA’s argument that smart data infrastructure redefines financial competition.
Algorithmic collusion. Research shows agents can converge on higher prices or coordinated behaviour in controlled settings without being told to do so.
These are experimental findings, not live markets. Still, the warning is clear. Without strong controls, hidden coordination becomes a conduct risk.
What Fintechs Should Take From This Now
The most useful part of this report isn’t prediction. It shows where regulators already expect pressure to build as agentic AI moves into real use. There’s no regulatory gap to wait for. Existing rules already apply. Firms are expected to manage these risks now, not later.
The upside is real. Agentic AI can reduce friction, compress workflows, and lower operating costs across the stack.
But the bigger change is structural. Once systems act, not just suggest, control becomes part of the product. Who authorizes actions, what gets logged, how decisions can be explained, and how users step in or push back all become core features.
That creates a new dividing line. Some firms will bolt agentic AI onto existing systems and hope their controls hold. Others will rebuild around visibility, control, and user trust. The second group will move faster, scale more cleanly, and face fewer problems as scrutiny rises. NCFA’s earlier piece on agentic AI in banking makes the same point from the deployment side.
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, artificial intelligence, 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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Adyen Expands Control Across Enterprise Money Flow
Apr 9, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Activity | Payments And Money Movement, Treasury Liquidity And Cash Management
Payments, Treasury And Payouts Combined In One System
On April 9, 2026, Adyen launched Intelligent Money Movement, a product that brings payments, liquidity management, and payouts into a single platform for large global enterprises. The initial rollout includes Etsy, Expedia Group, and Vinted.
Enterprise finance teams still deal with fragmented systems. Payments, cash visibility, and payout services typically exist across multiple providers and banks. That slows things down and adds manual work. Adyen brings those pieces together so teams can see where money is and move it without as many handoffs.
Ethan Tandowsky, CFO, Adyen:
“Global commerce operates in real time, but money movement still happens in fragmented stages. Intelligent Money Movement is designed to eliminate the gaps between payments, liquidity management, and payouts.”
The scale of the problem is clear. The average enterprise works with five to six primary banks, manages more than 40 bank accounts, and uses about 12 pay in and payout providers. Treasury teams spend more than 20% of their time managing these flows, while 48% of CFOs cite cash visibility and liquidity forecasting as a top challenge.
See: Razorpay Agent Studio Targets Payment Operations
Adyen operates with banking licences across the U.S., U.K., and Europe, which gives it direct connections into payment systems and card networks. That reduces intermediaries and improves control over settlement timing and liquidity.
Its platform already supports global enterprise scale. Uber relies on Adyen’s infrastructure across more than 70 countries, using it to handle payments across markets, methods, and currencies. That foundation makes it easier to expand into liquidity and payout orchestration.
Payment acceptance alone is no longer enough. Platforms that combine payments, liquidity, and payouts can control more of how funds move through an enterprise.
Talking Point
Adyen is taking control of how enterprise money moves end to end. That puts banks and treasury providers in a weaker position when it comes to speed, visibility, and control.
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, artificial intelligence, 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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Stablecoin Rewards Keep Pressure On US Crypto Bill
Apr 9, 2026 | NCFA Insight | Regulation And Policy, Payments And Money Movement
Stablecoin Rewards Put Pressure on Bank Deposits
On April 9, 2026, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urges Congress to pass the Clarity Act, arguing the US keeps losing digital asset activity to markets with clearer rules. That verbal push is intended to dislodge the bill which remains stuck on one of the hardest questions in digital finance: whether stablecoin rewards should compete with bank deposits, or not.
The policy fight is no longer just about jurisdiction between regulators or basic market structure. It is now about who gets to hold customer cash, who gets to earn on it, and who controls the interface between payments, savings, and programmable money. Banks want tighter limits because stablecoin rewards create a new form of deposit competition. Crypto firms want room to compete on product design and customer economics.
The White House added fresh evidence shared on April 8. In new research on stablecoin yield prohibition and bank lending, banning stablecoin rewards would increase bank lending by about $2.1 billion, or 0.02%, while costing about $800 million overall. Most of the benefit would go to large banks, which would capture about 76% of the added lending, with community banks taking the rest. The gains are small. The cost is real. That weakens the case that restricting rewards meaningfully supports the broader economy.
See: NCFA Whisperer: Weekly Fintech Intelligence
Reuters reports banks have pushed hard to close what they view as a loophole that lets intermediaries offer rewards on stablecoins, and they argue that could pull deposits out of the insured banking system. This is why the Clarity Act keeps slowing down. The fight is about whether stablecoins stay as payment instruments or evolve into a stronger cash alternative.
The pressure is building from all sides. Treasury wants a bill. The crypto industry wants rules that allow product competition. Banks want guardrails that protect deposit funding. The White House research now suggests the cost of blocking stablecoin rewards may be higher than the lending benefit banks gain from it.
Canada is already taking a different path. The current stablecoin framework restricts stablecoin rewards, limiting direct competition with bank deposits at the outset. The US is still deciding how far that competition should go. If stablecoins extend beyond payments into customer incentives, they begin to pull on deposits, stored value, and parts of the transaction account stack.
Talking Point
The issue already surfaced as a regulatory fault line around stablecoin interest and rewards. Now the intensity is heating up. Treasury is pushing in public. Banks are still resisting. The White House has started publishing economic arguments into the debate. That usually means the policy window is narrowing and the commercial stakes are getting harder to ignore.
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, artificial intelligence, 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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Smart Data Infrastructure Redefines Financial Competition
Apr 8, 2026 | NCFA Feature | Open Banking Open Finance And Data Sharing
Data Infrastructure, Not Apps, Defines Competitive Advantage
On March 26, 2026, the UK Smart Data Strategy 2035 and the DRCF Smart Data Frameworks reports were published confirming that the UK's data sharing strategy is moving beyond banking into a cross sector system that covers finance, energy, telecoms, retail, property, transport, and more. The UK is planning to build it into national economic infrastructure.
The UK strategy estimates that just four smart data schemes could generate £71.2 billion in net social value from 2028 to 2043 and contribute £9.6 billion in annual GDP by 2043. It also sets a target of 5 or more active schemes by 2030 and 20 or more by 2035, backed by at least £36 million of public investment over four years. That puts smart data alongside AI, digital identity, and payments as part of the infrastructure layer that will determine how the next economy works.
This is not about better apps. It is about who controls access to data across the economy.
Open Banking Proves The Model
Open Banking already shows what happens when data becomes portable. The UK now has more than 17 million active consumers and businesses using Open Banking and processes more than 2 billion API calls a month. It's plain evidence that once standards, rules, and trust are in place, consumer and business behaviour changes.
See: UK Open Banking Update and Road to Open Finance
The UK now wants a connected system where data can move securely across sectors and support better switching, lower costs, stronger competition, and more tailored services. Once that happens, the data driven moat around financial services starts to break down. Financial data can be combined with energy usage, telecom activity, property records, identity, and business data to support new products and new operating models.
Three Global Models Are Now Competing
The DRCF report lays out three distinct models now emerging globally.
The first is the regulator mandated model. Australia and Brazil are the clearest examples. This approach forces participation, sets standards, and can create rapid ecosystem scale. Brazil shows what that looks like. The report says Brazil’s Open Finance system had onboarded more than 940 institutions, served 40 million customers, processed more than 100 billion API calls, and managed more than 60 million active consents by 2024.
But scale alone does not guarantee success. Australia’s Consumer Data Right shows the other side of the model. The DRCF report points to high compliance costs, data quality issues, weak consumer awareness, and limited use. One review cited in the report found uptake at just 0.31% of Australian customers. That is the warning for policymakers everywhere. Mandating infrastructure is not the same as creating compelling use cases.
The second is the market facilitated model, seen in the United States and Japan. This approach allows industry to move first and can encourage experimentation. It also creates fragmentation, uneven standards, and uncertainty over liability, consent, and pricing. In the United States, the DRCF report shows how quickly a market led system can tilt back toward incumbents when access rules are unsettled and pricing power becomes a commercial negotiation.
The third is the public infrastructure led model, seen most clearly in Estonia and Singapore. These systems are built on trusted digital identity and shared national rails. That reduces friction because identity, consent, and data access work together from the start. Singapore’s SGFinDex shows the commercial upside of that approach. By the end of 2024 it had grown to more than 400,000 users, built on Singpass and a central consent architecture that gives users a consolidated view of financial data.
The third is the public infrastructure led model, seen most clearly in Estonia and Singapore. These systems are built on trusted digital identity and shared national rails. That reduces friction because identity, consent, and data access work together from the start. Singapore’s SGFinDex shows the commercial upside of that approach. By the end of 2024 it had grown to more than 400,000 users, built on Singpass and a central consent architecture that gives users a consolidated view of financial data.
This model also shows up in markets building broader digital infrastructure stacks. India’s digital public infrastructure model combines identity, payments, and data layers at national scale, showing how shared rails can support faster adoption and wider service integration across sectors.
The best approach isn't the one with the best regulation. It'll be the one with the best interoperability.
Interoperability Control Point
The strongest line in the UK strategy document isn't sector expansion on its own. It is the push for cross sector coordination. The government plans a Smart Data Guidebook by early 2027, a refreshed Smart Data Council, future consultation on long term governance, and stronger links to digital identity, AI, the National Data Library, and trade digitization.
See: UK FCA Palantir Trial Puts Regulator Data At Risk
And it makes perfect sense given that siloed data schemes don't create a true data economy, they create compliance burden. Advantages are realized when data can move cleanly across sectors and support services that aren't stuck inside one scheme or industry.
If interoperability fails, smart data becomes compliance. If it works, it becomes infrastructure.
That's why the UK is treating smart data as national economic infrastructure. Cross sector data improves core financial functions such as affordability assessment, underwriting, and fraud detection, while enabling real time switching, automated reporting, and AI tools that act on behalf of consumers and SMEs with better insight and cleaner data.
Property And Energy
The UK strategy a sector specific example. In energy, the government says a smart data scheme could generate £9.5 billion in net social value between 2028 and 2043 and contribute £2.1 billion in GDP by 2043. In property, where the average home transaction still takes 120 days after an offer is accepted and about one in three transactions fail, the strategy cites modelling that suggests a homebuying smart data scheme could generate around £28.7 billion in net social value and £4.2 billion in annual GDP impact by 2043, depending on implementation.
For fintechs this is where financial services can embed into wider data flows. Mortgage journeys, affordability checks, insurance, transaction verification, and SME finance are all inside those ecosystems.
The biggest fintech opportunities may sit in data problems outside finance.
Consent And Trust Impact Adoption
Smart Data succeeds when users trust the consent controls and can see a clear benefit in saying yes. The DRCF report highlights the point well. Brazil’s experience shows how poorly framed consent can damage trust and expose systems to misuse. India’s Account Aggregator framework points in a better direction, using regulated consent managers that are data blind and focused on facilitating transfer rather than exploiting the data itself.
Trust isn't a compliance feature. It is a growth driver.
See: Open letter to the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister responsible for Statistics Canada
If users don't understand or feel comfortable with the legal design and consent flow, adoption stalls. If they do, entirely new categories of service become commercially viable. It's key for onboarding, conversion, and revenue and also for privacy law.
Canada Enters Implementation With A Strategic Choice Ahead
Canada is no longer just progressing toward Open Banking. Bill C-15 received Royal Assent on March 26, 2026, enacting the revised Consumer-Driven Banking Act and advancing Canada from framework design into implementation. The next steps now sit in regulation, technical standards, and launch preparation.
It now has the legal foundation for consumer-driven banking, with the Bank of Canada taking the oversight role for the framework while the Department of Finance continues policy and regulatory development.
Canada has already positioned consumer-driven banking as the first layer of a broader data mobility system. The federal framework says it will be the first iteration of an economy-wide right to data mobility in sectors that develop secure and interoperable frameworks, while a second phase will examine broader functionality and participant scope, including write access.
The real strategic question is not direction. It is design timing.
Canada can implement a narrower banking framework first and extend it later, or it can build interoperability, identity, and governance with a broader Smart Data system in mind from the start. That choice will determine how quickly Canada can evolve from consumer-driven banking into open finance and wider cross sector data mobility.
Why This Changes How Fintechs Compete
Smart Data benefits companies that can use permissioned data better than everyone else. That changes how fintechs think about distribution, underwriting, payments, financial advice, fraud controls, and AI.
See: Canada’s Artemis II Moment Challenges How We Build
Lenders gain richer inputs for decisioning. Payment firms gain new rails tied to identity and consent. Wealth and financial wellness firms gain more insight for aggregation and guidance. AI driven services gain access to cleaner, structured, permissioned data inside trust frameworks that users can understand and control.
Data access becomes the new distribution layer.
Incumbents still hold large datasets and strong customer relationships. But once data becomes portable, that advantage weakens if it's not matched by better service, lower friction, and stronger execution.
Conclusion
Open Banking proved that consented data sharing can change financial services. Smart Data raises the stakes by extending that logic across the wider economy and tying it directly to growth, AI, and national competitiveness.
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, artificial intelligence, 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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Yotpo Visual UGC vs Pixlee TurnTo: 2026 Comparison
April 8, 2026
Visual commerce has revolutionized the way customers make their purchasing choices. Photos of products of a company are a must. An authentic customer picture of the product in question is a source of trust.
The visual content created by customers; videos and photos of actual customers wearing authentic products; builds trust quicker than any other professional marketing asset. For online retailers, collecting and displaying authentic, visually appealing content is now a must for conversion optimization.
Yotpo Visual UGC and Pixlee TurnTo are two of the strongest platforms that manage the user-generated visual content. Both assist brands in collecting the content, organize it, and then display customer photos and videos across platforms like social media and websites as well as marketing channels. They look at visual commerce from fundamentally different viewpoints.
This Pixlee TurnTo vs Yotpo comparison, can help you determine which one is best suited to you and best for your visual commerce strategy in 2026.
Visual UGC Showdown 2026: Yotpo vs. Pixlee TurnTo—Which Converts?
Platform Overview
In the Yotpo vs Pixlee comparison, Yotpo Visual UGC is part of Yotpo's complete e-commerce marketing suite. It allows brands to create and manage images and videos from users. They can then display these images and videos on their websites, social channels, and marketing campaigns. Yotpo's Visual UGC module works directly with its reviews, loyalty, and referrals, as well as SMS services, forming one unified customer content ecosystem.
Yotpo Visual UGC will automatically request visual content from buyers after they have purchased and curated the most valuable content and then display it as shoppable galleries. Yotpo's platform comes with rights management tools to legally recycle customers' content throughout marketing channels. Yotpo is also able to syndicate visually-based UGC for Google Shopping,TikTok Shop as well as retail partners simultaneously.
Pixlee TurnTo is a specialized visual UGC platform that is focused exclusively on social content aggregation and influencer marketing as well as social-driven brand building. The company was purchased from Emplifi, Pixlee TurnTo helps companies discover, organize, and post customer photos and videos from social media websites, including Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
Pixlee TurnTo offers ratings and reviews as well as community Q&A, visual reviews, and checkout comments, as well as seller ratings. It is designed to serve businesses that seek to build a community built around user-generated content and leverage social proof throughout all stages of the customer journey. Pricing starts at $399 per month.
Feature Comparison
1. Visual Content Collection
Yotpo:
Yotpo Visual UGC automates visual content collection by using post-purchase emails and SMS. When a buyer receives their purchase, Yotpo sends a request asking them to post images or videos from the purchase. This process creates authentic, product-specific, visual content that is directly linked to authentic purchases.
The platform analyzes social media platforms for brand mentions as well as tagged photographs, making it possible to uncover natural UGC that users are already posting. Yotpo's AI-powered moderation tools automatically filter undesirable or poor-quality content prior to it appearing on your website.
Pixlee TurnTo:
Pixlee TurnTo specializes in social media content aggregation. It connects with Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter to find images and videos in which your company is featured or hashtagged. Pixlee TurnTo excels at finding and curating natural social content that users already share.
Pixlee TurnTo also includes ratings and reviews, which allow users to post photos, text, as well as video reviews directly on your product pages. Its checkout comments feature captures feedback when a purchase is made and increases the volume of reviews.
Winner: Yotpo for purchase-driven visual content; Pixlee TurnTo for social media aggregation.
2. Rights Management
Yotpo:
Yotpo Visual UGC includes comprehensive rights management tools that help users legally repurpose their customer content. If you come across a photograph that you wish to utilize, it is possible to request permission from the platform. Once you've been granted, Yotpo tracks rights expiration as well as usage terms, ensuring you remain in compliance.
Pixlee TurnTo:
Pixlee TurnTo also offers rights management tools, allowing users to track and request the permissions of customers for their content. It makes it easier to obtain legal permission to reuse social media pictures to use in marketing campaigns. marketing campaigns.
Winner: Tie. Both platforms have strong rights management.
3. Display and Galleries
Yotpo:
Yotpo Visual UGC offers shoppable galleries, which can be placed in product pages and homepages, as well as landing pages. They are completely customizable so that they match the brand aesthetic, and you can directly tag your products in customer photos. Visitors who visit a photo that has been tagged and buy the product featured and leave the gallery.
In the Yotpo vs Pixlee comparison Yotpo's galleries have been designed to convert and include options like auto-play video, lightbox zoom, and mobile-responsive layouts. Yotpo also works for Google Shopping, allowing your visually based UGC to show up in advertising on the listing page.
Pixlee TurnTo:
Pixlee TurnTo vs Yotpo comparison, Pixlee TurnTo is renowned for its visually engaging galleries that showcase customer photos and videos in the Instagram-style feed. Pixlee TurnTo excels in designing community-driven displays that encourage social proof as well as user participation. The galleries of Pixlee TurnTo are available to embed on your site, within email messages, as well as on social media.
The platform offers shoppable features that allows customers to buy merchandise directly through UGC galleries. Pixlee TurnTo also offers influencer galleries that highlight content created by the brand ambassadors.
Winner: Yotpo for conversion-optimized shoppable galleries; Pixlee TurnTo for socially-driven visual feeds.
4. Influencer Management
Yotpo:
Yotpo Visual UGC does not provide specifically designed influencer management features. Its primary focus is collecting and publishing organic customer content rather than managing influencer relations paid for.
Pixlee TurnTo:
Pixlee TurnTo comes with powerful influencer management tools. The platform allows you to discover possible influencers, monitor results of campaigns, monitor relationships, and calculate the ROI of influencer-generated content.
This is what makes Pixlee TurnTo a better choice for brands that have actively engaged influencer marketing programs that need to grow beyond traditional relationship control.
Winner: Pixlee TurnTo for influencer management.
5. Integration Ecosystem
Yotpo:
Yotpo Visual UGC integrates deeply with the wider Yotpo ecosystem. It includes reviews, loyalty & referrals, as well as SMS marketing. It means that visually UGC could be integrated into your loyalty program. Customers receive points when they share pictures, and these images then increase sales.
Yotpo can also be integrated with other the most popular e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, BigCommerce, Adobe Commerce (Magento), and Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Yotpo is able to , TikTok Shop, and retail partners like Target and Walmart to allow multi-channel syndication.
Pixlee TurnTo:
Pixlee TurnTo integrates with Facebook Ads and Facebook Ads, which lets you target customers using UGC-powered ads. TurnTo also has connections to the most popular e-commerce platforms as well as marketing tools. However, the integration capabilities are more limited than that of Yotpo's.
Winner: Yotpo for broader integration ecosystem.
6. Analytics and Insights
Yotpo:
Yotpo Visual UGC provides analytics about the engagement of users, conversion rates, and the revenue that is generated by visual content. It is possible to see which images and videos are driving the greatest sales and help you improve your UGC strategy as time passes.
Pixlee TurnTo:
Pixlee TurnTo offers similar analytics that track engagement, as well as sales attribution from UGC galleries. This platform provides insight on the performance of influencers and content patterns.
Winner: The winner is tied. Both offer reliable analysis of visual content performance.
7. User Experience and Support
Yotpo:
Yotpo Visual UGC receives positive reviews for its simplicity to use as well as its integration into the wider Yotpo ecosystem. But some users point out that the complexity of the platform increases with the addition of additional modules. This requires the use of a dedicated time for management.
Pixlee TurnTo:
Pixlee TurnTo receives mixed reviews. The platform is praised for its simplicity of use as well as its capability to collect UGC on social networks. Reviews that praise the platform highlight how Pixlee "makes it easy to curate hashtags, location-based photos, and tagged photos for your business so you don't have to spend hours manually finding your customers' social media photos."
But the negative reviews highlight inadequate customer support and restrictive contracts as well as high prices. One reviewer reported that the "administration/moderation user interface on the back end is antiquated and not the most user-friendly." One reviewer noted that using it, the "Pixlee widget installed on the website would result in higher page load time."
Winner: Yotpo for more consistent assistance and an updated interface.
Conclusion
Yotpo Visual UGC and Pixlee TurnTo provide various visual commerce needs. Yotpo Visual UGC is designed to cater to e-commerce companies that require the convenience of a purchase-driven, automated visual content collection integrated with an entire ecosystem of retention. The ability to distribute UGC throughout Google Shopping, TikTok Shop as well as retail partners makes it essential for omnichannel brands.
See: Bluesky’s AI Launch Triggers User Backlash Over Data use
Pixlee TurnTo excels at social media content collection as well as influencer management. The price, which starts at $399 per month, is a reflection of its focus on specific areas, but users' reviews raise concerns regarding contract terms, customer support as well as pricing in relation with competitors.
Its Yotpo vs Pixlee comparison as well as Pixlee TurnTo vs Yotpo comparison illustrates that the best option is based on the visual commerce priorities. For omnichannel e-commerce brands needing integrated visual UGC, Yotpo delivers. If you are a brand that is that are focused on social aggregation as well as influencer marketing, Pixlee TurnTo could be worth looking into,
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, artificial intelligence, 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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