NCFA Canada | Mar 1, 2019

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Transcription of Interview

Intro: Welcome fintech Friday's a weekly podcast brought to you by the National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada and partners.Covering all things fintech block chain be AI and alternative finance.

Manseeb Khan : Thank you so much for sitting down with me today. I'm super excited to jump right into today's topic.

Shidan Gouran: Great. So am I Manseeb.

Manseeb Khan : Awesome. So, could you just before the audience that may not know essentially who you are and the amazing work that your company is doing could you just give us a quick rundown?

Shidan Gouran: Yeah. So many. My name is Shidan Gouran. I'm the CEO of Global Blockchain technologies and a few other companies from the blockchain space. Global Blockchain technologies  recently merged with a gaming company created by. Noel Bushnell who is the founder of Atari and that's called Global Gaming now. Global Gaming Technologies. And separate to that I'm an investor in the space. I've invested in a lot of game related startups and it's an area that I'm very bullish on for the future.

Manseeb Khan : Awesome. So, I'm going to try to dig a little bit more into this so how did this whole like gaming initiative really start. Was it like I mean like where you a huge fan of Atari growing up and then now you get that kind of work with the actual like the creator over like how? like what's really the story behind you getting into the gaming industry?

Shidan Gouran: Yeah. So, I was a huge fan of Atari. Like everybody else my age practically. And you know so it was thrilling to meet Nolan and you know learned that he started a company back then in the blockchain space and blockchain the fight for the gaming industry. And that's an area that I  thought was a perfect fit. It's like a glove for a hand. It's blockchain can really change that industry dramatically because it brings fairness to keeping score. It allows trading of digital assets. And it allows trading of games and whatnot. All these things. A small independent. Publisher can do just as well as the largest publishers. Through these technologies. Right. Right. If a small publisher who you know. Three people working. Let's say 12 hours a day on a game. In their basement. They're not going to have the opportunity to really architect and build an in-game economy. They'll build an in-game wallet system for trading these things and the customer support that comes with it. Just  doing multiplayer game, simple casual multiplayer games is very difficult over the Internet without partnering with a large portal. All these kinds of things can be. Solved through these technologies that make commerce and trading things very easy and allows anybody to create a solution like. A. PayPal let's say. Well in theory there's still I mean  I'm talking about digital assets here  not fiat currency obviously. But to build something infrastructure that that's not robust that not secure and allows trading of these things and keeping track of things. Allowing games to federate with each other so you could have a group of games that decide to federate and use. One In-game currency or one matchmaking service that's not owned by any particular person. But all of them together. All these kinds of things are possible through blockchain technologies. They're different things. But I think I think they're going to be having a dramatic impact on the sector.

Manseeb Khan : Just I mean like just sticking with the whole merchant aspect or just you know just like being able to like buy and sell and trade games and just have like in the indie game creators kind of just all like jump in and just like stand like just federate together and stand behind like a token or coin or what have you. I mean that that that in and of itself is very interesting because now with I mean as a gamer myself I'm sorry.

Shidan Gouran: It's not just standing behind a token it is standing behind one database   right so what it would mean. They can share the same users the same ranking of the users the same token you know the digital assets everything. Right. If it becomes it becomes a social network for them essentially that they can tap into and use. So, it's not just Facebook but they have their own users on the platform that is theirs and the people that are federated with it. So that's  a really big deal right now. Right now, we're not seeing where we're actually seeing decentralized social networking really gain more steam than anywhere else. It's in games that it's not on clones of Facebook or YouTube or anything like that but it's all these publishers were building their solutions on one common block chain infrastructure with one game and there's many of it. Right now, the two contenders are EOS and Ethereum and it looks like EOS is leading the pack. We've we started an initiative there as well and we we're working on it prior to the crash of the markets. We still have great partnerships there and are looking to see how we sit in this ecosystem as it builds up. So, you know this this is an area that that we're extremely interested in. It's very early days. What are you What are you what I can also tell you is for example a lot of small really artistic and talented groups are forming around? Recently I met with somebody from a company called blockade games. They've taken something like crypto kitties and really taken that to videogames on a level that I've only seen a few other startups do. But they are popping up so you can each clothing each item is actually represented as a token. It's all stored on the block chain. It's all accounted for there the wallet is there and they're tradable between people without these people being involved in any way shape or form. So, it is it is really interesting how the space is evolving. Interactive Media! Interactive Media is becoming a lot easier. So, you saw Bandersnatch you saw a bunch of other things come out this year like Resident Evil  who's doing a movie that's you know interactive in the sense of decide how it evolves and everything. These things are being dignified and prizes are going to be a big part of it. So gaming is changing rapidly. You see what's happening with Esports it's becoming more popular than. Traditional sports.

Manseeb Khan : Yes, they're getting very competitive there. They're starting to worry competitive I feel like Olympic a lot like Olympic numbers now like EA Sports is getting massive which is just incredible.

Shidan Gouran: It is it is. And all of this together I mean I mean EA Sports you win prizes. The game there's betting involved all these kinds of things tie into block chains and the digital assets. Economy worlds and gaming. It's going to be a huge driver for her retail I.T. it for this decade. So, 2020 to me is a big year for gaming, I think it's going to be. Personally, I think it's going to be bigger than cannabis actually real. That's what millennial's do. I mean I mean right now the most popular stock. On Robinhood is Aphria Right. So, they smoke pot and they play video games. You talk to a millennial.  That's what they do and that's why this is gonna be so important. Facebook and companies like that  their biggest threat in my opinion the gaming worlds that let you do social networking and do everything. I think we realize that and Just with the way everything is going this new culture that's being built up around them it's a really important space thing that's been good, I think.

Manseeb Khan : Yeah, I agree with you. I think it’s kind of makes sense why Facebook way back when decided to buy Oculus right because they knew VR gaming is going to be the next frontier that they really have to capitalize on. Right. Like you said like 2020. Yeah. Because like now we have like if you get an iPhone you go on the app store like the 8th and if you go into like the little categories AR gaming right. Augmented reality gaming is huge right. This explains the whole like Pokémon Go. It blew up overnight because it's just it's interactive and like this is just going to be the first of many. Right.

Shidan Gouran: Yeah absolutely right.

Manseeb Khan : So I mean like this is just this conversation is actually very interesting because like now with blockchain what it really is  it's starting to create an actual true community for gamers for not only gamers but like for creators for designers for everybody is kind of creating this whole, this union because right now I mean I guess the only way people can kind of like the closest thing like an actual community would be either if you go on twitch and you watch a famous streamer or if you can go on Discord watch your famous or just you know  go on chat. So, I mean yeah how else is blockchain gonna just radically change like gaming scene. Aside from just creating this amazing community?

Shidan Gouran: Well the community the most important thing. So, I don't think it necessarily needs to revolutionize it in any other ways. Do I. Do I think Discord is going to be replaced by a decentralized platform anytime soon? No, I don't. But do I think a platform like Discord will come by that you know relies on ideas and user it's being stored on a block chain but it's still a centralized service that those users have to you know sign up too much in the same way that you sign up too many services using your Facebook ID. But no. You can do that without Facebook. And I think what will be attached to that is also your tokens your holdings your scores certain things which can be put on a block chain but certain things that you're not going to replace all the centralized features of a death squad or YouTube in the next decade probably but you are bit by bit going to have more of it decentralized and solutions are going to come by that that use though. So very interesting is what Mark Zuckerberg has recently been saying about block chain technology because he actually I just discovered this recently agrees with me on this and for somebody like that who's an incumbent to say this is the future and this is what we're looking to do. We're trying to figure this out ourselves. It's a huge deal because he doesn't need to, but you know Facebook does it and doesn't need to compete to compete with blockchain at this point. It is the incumbent in the world that he doesn't need to compete with anybody and yet it seems that this is going to be disruptive and this is the future. He makes it very clear that that he believes decentralized identity is a very important area for Facebook and he believes. Blockchains are a major potential solution here. So, bit by bit you are going to see blockchain become the database of everything and where it's going to start is with identity and you know accounting for things like value transfers and eventually it's going to be everything right. This will be the back end of everything, and everything will be an app on your kind of commons just  like other commons we had in the world like the park or anything right. So, it's but that's I think the promise of block chain and that's how they're evolving. You're not going to get the TV industry adopting it you're going to get small gamers. Yeah and people like. You know were able to see farther in the future like Mark Zuckerberg who says yeah you know what. We're not going to compete with that.

Manseeb Khan : We're gonna join it. Now I agree with you I mean just harping on what you just said like the whole TV industry. You're not going to see them or even the movie industry adopt it anytime soon you to some small renegade you're going to see gaming communities you going to see like other small little pocket ecosystems really fully adopt and  really take advantage of it and then sooner or later like this is probably what 2030, 2035 TV might start considering or even if it's still around.

Shidan Gouran: I absolutely I was very surprised to hear Mark Zuckerberg recent opinions on this space because so many of his initiatives rate his initiatives are really amazing in this space. You know I can see that coming from a telegram game I can see it coming from an indie game developer. But to see a major incumbent say that this is the way we're going. We haven't seen that from Google for example Google is doing nothing in this space because you know common. Sense tells you this is eating their own lunch at the end of the day. It gets rid of platforms right. It doesn't get rid of publishers, but this space can get rid of platforms and you know. At the same time, you are seeing some major game developers and you are seeing as I said parties like from major, I guess the largest platform in the world for social interaction kind of saying yeah, we're exploring the space too it's not just these small companies.

Manseeb Khan : Yeah I mean if anything this kind of gives all this gives a lot of market validation right because like just like not only the work that you're doing in the blockchain gaming space but like just what the other it like the other guests that I had on the show that are doing other aspects that that also involved blockchain like the fact that like you having  Mark Zuckerberg like a we're kind of like saying like hey you know this is something we're looking into this is like Okay thank god this is like a breath of fresh air that like hey you know we're not crazy like we told you this is coming. This is the amazing work that we're doing now. The fact that he has a validation this is only going to like to propel this until another into the stratosphere.

Shidan Gouran: Yeah. I mean I mean just to give you an example of the kinds of people working on applying blockchain to gaming. Right now, you have. Fortnight's founder who is who is developing solutions around the states and very much involved and passionate about it for example. He is developing Tim Sweeney. Developing solutions on the EOS blockchain. And you have people like Again Nol Bushnell either the list can go on and on. It's absolutely amazing. How strongly the gaming industry has embraced these technologies these decentralized technologies. I mean it kind of does make sense because they are the best developers actually somebody who is you know built an A.I. engine or is very good at computer graphics. It's much easier for them to pick up any technology because they're already at the forefront of as far as skill sets. They have been you know even in the 90s they were somebody who understands computer graphics from back then is a very good developer. Blockchains are still not very user friendly. I need somebody who can who can you know dive under the hood and understand how the code works. You can't hire your average web developer and expect them to take a blockchain technology and build solutions for you. Because cookie cutter templates and frameworks haven't really been developed yet. You are yet to actually understand the protocols. You have to actually understand how the technology works and the low-level details become much more important. So that's maybe one reason why people in the gaming world are adopting it more than people. You know your average web site entrepreneur for example because for them it's too difficult. Well for the people in the gaming world they already are so technical It's actually an easier challenge to approach.

Manseeb Khan : Yeah, I mean it's light like you mentioned. It's taking away platforms and it makes sense like gamers or game developers and gaming entrepreneurs are it makes sense that they'd take on blockchain a little bit more openly because they are on the forefront of these kind of technologies right. I mean like sooner or later like just a fortnight example right you're going to see them probably building and not build an A.I. that's going to probably just make the game that much more fun than before interactive and just have like you know, now at Right now you have a creative mode right. Like if I just took over creative mind just having all these cool little missions and adventures and everything, I just like its endless fun. It really is endless an endless adventure.

Shidan Gouran: Already a lot of the AI machine learning and more traditionally AIs and gaming it's the science actually one of the areas that that's always been at the forefront of that. And I think I think as the solutions increase yeah, you're going to see a lot more of that you're going to see a lot more bots. So, I think and independent agents in these games for sure that you don't have today just look at how much chat bots have improved in quality since Siri came out right. It's still not really commercially viable that. But there was a little hype bubble in the chat bot space because people were amazed that these things are so much better. Right. It was just a few years ago you couldn't call into a phone number into an IVR. You know one of these phone menus. And have somebody ask you what you are looking for and be able to directly properly. These are things that the people are kind of not realizing how much they've improved. Right. So, I am very bullish on A.I. and in gaming and I think that's a very interesting area as well.

Manseeb Khan : A little bit more of a tangible example. I mean what this could is more of a hypothetical question right. I mean like I guess how radical of a change would block chain bring to say a game like Fortnight.

Shidan Gouran: Well it'd be incredible, I think. And you know so. One thing is again you would have an independent user base where people from fortnight to play in other places and maybe even characters could grow in other worlds other games maintain their digital identity maintain their assets. Trade their assets very easily fortnight as recently getting into the e-sport space then people mistakenly think that fortnight is not a good platform for E-Sports. But you know it's the early days it takes a while to build technologies and platforms to make sports interesting for the I mean a game like fortnight interesting to the youth sports world. Right. So, betting on a fortnight for example is can be immensely popular because all sorts of rich events you know you're not just winning you're losing how you kill somebody, what you do, what weapon you use, all these kinds of things are all betting events it becomes very rich. And you're seeing solutions where you can focus on a certain number of players and you know again some very creative people coming by with methods, you're just seeing this pop up now where you can follow a fortnight game and it's very entertaining. I myself don't enjoy it. I enjoy watching video games, but I am very bullish on where this is going because I see that a lot of people do and fortnight actually some of these technologies which I can't talk about too much because they're not public yet public knowledge and I'm involved with as an investor you know they're making a game like Fortnight. Really interesting to watch actually. And I think that's going to be what's really interesting when you have E-sports that don't look like traditional sports, but you can do even more with it right. When the web came out everybody was trying to replicate the piece of paper as far as there you know cognitive understanding goes. But it's grown to be a lot more than that. And the same thing is going to happen with these sports. Right now, it's mimicking regular sports and the same way of watching it. But people are going to make it much easier to watch and be entertained by something like fortnight as well. So, it's not just like DOTA for the future it's also games like Fortnight that are going to have a huge viewership I believe.

Manseeb Khan : Yes, I agree. I think it should be interesting of like right now E-Sports is again just to harp on what you said just that it really is trying to mimic regular sports. I think it's going to take off and just form and become its own animal in and of itself. I mean I'm a not a huge fan of really watching gaming videos or anything but like that's like my 10-year-old brother is the first thing he does like I remember when I was his again, I would watch my cartoons. He comes on and he just has like a list of like all these favorite streamers and he's like arcades and watch Ninja first then he's going to watch like Mr .Beast and goes down his list. It's incredible.

Shidan Gouran: This was exactly you talk to your average 10-year-old and this is what they do. This is what they loved doing. Oh yeah. It's all about games. They live in games and in the gaming,  industry is already much larger than the music and video industry put together. Oh yeah. And This is just going to increase. I mean. The whole thing is going to get blurred. Video and gaming are going to get blurred for sure. And that's why interactive video to me is very interesting Sure.

Manseeb Khan : I think like even taking it one step further like you did you did touch on digital identities. I mean sooner or later you're gonna have like the digital like your digital persona and your real persona that's gonna start getting pretty blurred to at some point right. Because you'll be spending too much time and energy creating, I guess like the best example would be like if you had like a second like us you can't get on Second Life persona online Absolutely yeah.

Manseeb Khan : Look I mean so I guess what the audience can. I mean what can fans of Atari what can we really expect from X games like what is what is something that I mean like you mentioned you are investor a lot of companies or you're very heavily invested in the gaming industry. What is something that I like I can  touch back on my comebacks on this episode of kind of like hey Shidan the things that you said like  what's the news? what are the updates?

Shidan Gouran: Yeah. So, look X2 is an amazing company because it has a really wide spectrum of areas that it's working in. It has a blocking division where they're doing stuff with gaming and block chain that consortium, I told you about that that we were involved with for over a year there. They're still partners with everybody there as far as friendships go and whatnot and good things will come out of it eventually. They have an in-game wallet that they can license to so many game producers and whatnot a game some of these small independent operators that need games and very large operators as well because obviously they're a very connected team right in the center of the gaming universe which is Los Angeles. Really that's one aspect of this blockchain aspect but that's not even the major aspect of it. That's one spectrum. The other is that they're coming out with game after game and they're coming out with an area that I'm very excited about the game which is that interactive video area and other interactive content that's not traditional you know DOTA like gaming or Fortnight like gaming it's much more casual so they're coming out with a board game where you have an interactive bot voice narrative that goes with it. You can make decisions and it's also integrated with mobile so it’s the first of its kind. I think Amazon should be very excited about what they're doing, and I see them you know they're there they're always invited to these conferences with Amazon and whatnot because it is an Amazon Alexa based product. I think when that comes out it's going to be a whole new way a whole new type of game a whole new media essentially right? So that's really exciting to me because it's something completely new. It's not something better. It's something completely new and they're coming up with a number of productions like this. And I think that's really where global gaming is going to shine in the future. Personally. Yeah. So, I mean I mean that's I think really for it for especially the retail audience. I think it's important that they realize that this is a very risky space and working with a company that has. A wide spectrum of projects is really to their benefit for startup

Manseeb Khan : Right now, I agree with you I mean the gaming space is very new it's I mean I mean it's not really volatile. But it's very new it's emerging it's up and coming so yeah, I'm excited for this whole Alexa thing that's there should be a I can't I can't wait for that. So Shidan. To wrap this up what with the best way for our fellow gamers to contact you would it be through email, Snapchat. I mean is there Discord chat we can jump in with you, would it be raven?

Shidan Gouran: Yeah. So maybe my Twitter handle is Shidan and you can always follow me there and reach out to me I'm very happy to speak with everybody there you can email me shidan@forkcsc.com  Yeah that's probably the best email that's global block mining technologies which I'm still running myself and I think I think those are the two best methods.

Manseeb Khan : Awesome. Thank you so much for sitting down with me today and I'm super excited for all your incredible projects to really revolutionize and take over the gaming industry.

Shidan Gouran: Yeah likewise. Thanks very much for having me Manseeb I enjoy your podcast in general

Manseeb Khan : Thanks so much.

Outro : you've been listening to fintech Fridays brought to you by NCFA and partners. Tune in weekly for the latest fintech Friday podcast by subscribing to this channel. The National crowdfunding and FinTech Association of Canada is a non-profit actively engaged with social and investment fintech sectors around the globe and provide education research industry stewardship services and networking opportunities to thousands of members and subscribers. For more information please visit and see if a Canada dot org. Oh yea.

End of Podcast

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Sep 14, 2026 Industrial machinery is essential in the manufacturing, construction, processing, agriculture, energy production, and other industries. Unexpected machine failures can have more than repair costs. Production can be halted, deadlines can be missed, workers can face safety hazards, and businesses can suffer financial losses. By knowing the common causes of machinery failure, operators and maintenance staff can identify problems early and take preventive action. Industrial machinery failure can have many causes. Why Industrial Machinery Fails By determining the root cause, businesses can avoid the same issue, minimize downtime, and extend the useful life of valuable industrial equipment. Here are 10 of the most common reasons for industrial machinery failure. Poor maintenance One of the biggest causes of equipment failure is poor maintenance. A machine has many moving parts and interdependent components that must be inspected, cleaned, adjusted, and serviced regularly. Small issues can turn into big ones if they aren't addressed during routine maintenance. A preventive maintenance schedule can help to detect worn components and other issues before they lead to unexpected failures. Inadequate lubrication Moving parts need proper lubrication to minimize friction and heat. Insufficient lubrication, improper lubricants, or not lubricating parts as recommended can cause faster ...

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NCFA Weekly Fintech Intelligence Sep 5-11, 2026

September 11, 2026

Sep 5, 2026 | Last Updated Sep 14, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Whisperer | Payments Infrastructure And Money Movement, Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Digital Identity And Trust, Cybersecurity Fraud And Financial Crime, Digital Banking And BaaS, Capital Markets Infrastructure And Funding, Artificial Intelligence And Data, Cross Border Payments And FX, Wealthtech Investing And Trading, Embedded Finance, Insurance And Insurtech, Lending Consumer Credit And BNPL, Open Banking Open Finance And Data Sharing, Risk Compliance And Regtech, Treasury Liquidity And Cash Management, Regulation And Policy, Data Privacy And Governance 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, ...

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Canada Reviews AI Transparency and Agent Governance

September 11, 2026

September 11, 2026 | NCFA Regulatory Insight | Artificial Intelligence And Data, Regulation And Policy, Risk Compliance And Regtech AI Literacy, Transparency and Agent Governance On September 9, 2026, the Government of Canada launched a National AI Literacy Initiative with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute. The $13 million partnership is expected to reach up to 1 million post secondary students and more than 50,000 K to 12 educators, alongside free learning for workers and other Canadians. The program sits under Canada's AI for All strategy and focuses on helping people understand AI, use it responsibly and recognize risks such as bias, misinformation and privacy loss. Ottawa is working on the governance side at the same time. Its AI transparency consultation remains open until September 23 and asks whether Canada needs stronger ways to identify AI generated content, tell people when they are interacting with AI, explain system capabilities, track serious incidents and record what AI agents actually do. The consultation paper says 19.2% of Canadian companies used AI to produce goods or deliver services in the second quarter of 2026, up from 12.2% a year earlier and three times the 2024 level. The federal government has already been working through ...

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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada non-profit actively engaged with cryptocurrency, blockchain, crowdfunding, alternative finance, fintech, P2P, ICO, and online investing stakeholders globally. NCFA Canada provides education, research, industry stewardship, services, and networking opportunities to thousands of members and subscribers and works closely with industry, government, academia, community and eco-system partners and affiliates to create a strong and vibrant crowdfunding and fintech industry. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: ncfacanada.org

Mondaq | Christine Leung (Hesketh Henry) | May 2, 2018

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA), New Zealand's regulator for financial services, has released a guidance note to licensed peer-to-peer (P2P) lending services, licensed crowdfunding services for fair dealing in advertising and communicating offers of financial products or services.

The FMA's media release and guidance note is available here and here.

Who is this guidance for?

• The FMA addressed the guidance note to P2P lending services and crowdfunding services, but it is useful for anyone who is promoting or advising others about these services (i.e marketing teams, investment bankers, lawyers).
• The fair dealing expectations stretch beyond New Zealand's borders, so they apply to people overseas. Anyone who acts in relation to, or makes an offer of financial products or services in New Zealand should take note.
• The guidance note is applicable to any media channel that businesses use to communicate and advertise their financial products and services (be it snail-mail or social media).

What points are made in the guidance note?

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All important facts should be laid out clearly in an advertisement

• Warnings, disclaimers and qualifications (fine print) should be seen clearly or heard at a comprehensible speed.
• If an advertisement includes fees and costs, it should be an accurate estimate of what the customer will pay in total.

The information given to consumers should be consistent

• If an advertisement is published on multiple media channels, they should all contain the same information.
• The meanings for phrases and terms used across advertisements should stay consistent.
• The same terms should be used for information targeted towards investors and issuers.

Nothing should confuse, deceive or mislead people

• The context of statements and the way the advertisement presents information should not be confusing, misleading, or deceiving:
  • if terms or conditions might change, the fact that they could change should be noted; and
  • terms and phrases should be used in a way they are commonly understood.
• If a business is only licensed for some of the financial services it offers, it should make clear which services it is licensed for.
• If a service or product is limited to a certain type of customer, an advertisement should state this.
• A third-party's logo or motifs should only be used with the owner's consent. Nothing should imply a service or product is endorsed when it is not.

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The information given should be balanced

• Important information (particularly about risk) must be included. The emphasis on risk and reward should be balanced so that a consumer's impression on a product or service is not biased.
• When making comparisons with competitors, the platform should compare services which are alike, and not make irrelevant comparisons just to make itself look good:
  • The advertiser should identify the differences and explain why their product or service is superior.
• Advertisements should state past performance only predicts, but does not indicate future performance. To give consumers adequate information to make a decision, the predictions should not be based on:
  • unreasonable assumptions;
  • selectively favourable information; or
  • a short timeframe or a volatile time period in the market.

Stick to facts—no puff pieces

• Statements should be based on facts and backed up with sources and not opinions.
  • Testimonials or reviews should only be used sparingly if at all. They must be genuine and relevant to the service or good offered.
• Advertisers should give informative links to consumers so they can find out more if needed.
• Flowery and descriptive phrases should be amended. Avoid:
  • phrases like "rigorous checks" unless information is given on how the checks are rigorous;
  • terms such as "inflation proof"; they can make consumers believe their investments are guaranteed; and
  • saying an offer has "limited availability" if the offer is not actually limited.

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BDO Canada | March 15, 2018

We live in a digital age — information is transferred and transactions are completed at a speed that past generations never thought possible. We have seen some amazing innovations in the last decade. One is the creation of digital currency, or cryptocurrency, the best-known of which is Bitcoin. While it sometimes seems that tax authorities play catch-up to technology’s latest advances, not much escapes the scrutiny of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Cryptocurrencies have moved into the mainstream. More and more, we hear of people who not only transact with and trade cryptocurrency, but who also “mine” it. Mining cryptocurrency involves solving increasingly complex mathematical problems that are meant to protect cryptocurrency transactions from becoming vulnerable to hackers. In exchange for solving these equations, the miner is rewarded with cryptocurrency coins or tokens. The increased frequency of cryptocurrency transactions, along with the recent volatility in the value of cryptocurrencies, has left many people who have traded, earned or transacted using cryptocurrency wondering whether income tax reporting obligations apply.

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The CRA has provided general, and rather limited, guidance about the taxation of transactions carried out using cryptocurrency. While the CRA acknowledges that cryptocurrencies can be used to buy and sell goods or services over the Internet, cryptocurrencies are not recognized as legal tender in Canada. As a result, the rules governing barter transactions will apply where cryptocurrency is used to purchase or sell goods or services. In addition, the CRA maintains that cryptocurrencies should be treated like a commodity when bought or sold in return for traditional currency, or transferred from one person to another.

It appears unlikely that the CRA will make significant changes in the near future to its position on cryptocurrency. This is largely because the federal government believes the existing tax rules are sufficient to address the tax implications of transactions involving cryptocurrency. In January 2018, Finance Minister Morneau commented that there are no plans to make changes to existing tax legislation to include specific rules dealing with cryptocurrency.

Using cryptocurrency to buy or sell goods or services

It is the CRA’s position that where cryptocurrency is used to pay for goods or services from a vendor or service provider carrying on a business, that vendor or service provider is considered to have provided a taxable good or service. However, unlike a similar transaction carried out using traditional currency, a transaction using cryptocurrency is subject to the barter rules for income tax purposes. As such, it will be necessary to put a Canadian dollar value on the business transaction for tax purposes. Once a value has been established, the vendor or service provider will then be considered to have received that dollar value for the sale of the good or the service rendered.

Consider the example of a car mechanic who accepts payment in cryptocurrency for a routine maintenance check. For tax purposes, the mechanic is considered to have received a payment equal to the value of the vehicle maintenance service provided. This value will generally be the same amount as would have been charged to a customer paying for the same service in Canadian dollars. It follows that this value will be included in the mechanic’s income for tax purposes.

The same principle applies where goods, rather than services, are exchanged for cryptocurrency. The Canadian dollar value of those goods will similarly be brought into the taxpayer’s income where the transaction is business related. For example, if a consumer electronics store accepts cryptocurrency in exchange for a computer, the retail value of that computer in Canadian dollars will be included in the store’s income for tax purposes.

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Similarly, where a taxpayer uses cryptocurrency to purchase services or goods for their business, the CRA seems to hold that the value of the services or the goods purchased in Canadian dollars would become the amount the taxpayer must use to record their costs or expenses for tax purposes. This is due to the fact that, where the goods given up (i.e., cryptocurrency) cannot readily be valued but the goods or services received can, the CRA’s position has been that, in a barter transaction, it will normally accept the value of the latter as being the price at which the transaction took place if the parties were dealing at arm's length.

In the early days of cryptocurrency, determining the value of the cryptocurrency being exchanged for goods or services at a point in time would have likely been difficult. In such a case, the value of the good or service being exchanged would have been used to assign a price to the transaction for tax purposes. However, with the technology currently available, it is now much easier to quickly and accurately determine the Canadian dollar equivalent of most cryptocurrencies. As such, it may generally become more practical for the taxpayer using cryptocurrency to purchase goods or services to value the transaction based on the fair market value of the cryptocurrency given as consideration.

Trading cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency can also be bought or sold. In this regard, the CRA has specifically stated that cryptocurrency is to be treated as a commodity for income tax purposes and any resulting gains or losses arising from the trading of cryptocurrency will be taxable in the same manner as any other commodity.

Whether such gains or losses are taxable as income or capital will depend on the facts surrounding the transactions. Similar to transactions involving other types of commodities, the tax consequences of realizing any resulting gains or losses would be determined by considering a variety of factors, including the intention of the taxpayer, as well as both the nature of and the frequency of the transactions. Other factors to consider could also include the following:

• the period of ownership
• the taxpayer’s expertise and knowledge of cryptocurrencies
• the relationship, if any, between the cryptocurrency transactions and the taxpayer’s ordinary business
• the time spent engaged in cryptocurrency activities
• the type of financing that is required to support the taxpayer’s cryptocurrency activities
• whether the taxpayer has advertised or otherwise made it known that they are engaged in this activity.

In most cases, the courts and the CRA have relied on a combination of these factors when determining whether a taxpayer’s activities are on account of income. For instance, a taxpayer who actively and regularly speculates in cryptocurrency, such as a day trader, will be more likely to be taxed on income account, whereas a taxpayer who buys cryptocurrency infrequently with the intention of holding it as an investment will be more apt to have such transactions taxed as capital in nature.

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There may be some uncertainty, however, as to whether transactions arising from the mining of cryptocurrency are on account of income or capital. Consider that cryptocurrency mining can be a complex undertaking that generally involves the use of highly specialized and powerful computer equipment that consumes an almost astronomical amount of electricity. In this case, where a taxpayer mines cryptocurrency in a commercial and business-like manner, the value of the cryptocurrency coins mined would be included in the miner’s income for tax purposes. However, the upshot of this position would be that any outlays to purchase computing equipment or expenses incurred for electricity could likely be claimed to reduce the net amount of mining income included in taxable income. Conversely, it may be possible that in some circumstances the mining of cryptocurrency could be treated as a hobby or a personal endeavour (and not subject to income tax).

Finally, the CRA takes the position that the foreign reporting requirements extend to cryptocurrencies that are situated, deposited or held outside of Canada. This means that Canadian taxpayers who hold cryptocurrency outside of Canada with a cost that exceeds CDN$100,000 at any time during the year, either directly or indirectly through funds, that is not used or held exclusively in the course of carrying an active business, will have an obligation to file Form T1135 to report the property.

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