Report Executive Summary
More than 350 fraudulent cryptocurrency tokens were created per day this year, defrauding millions of investors, according to blockchain risk monitoring firm Solidus Labs.
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Web3, Decentralization, DAOs
How will Web3 affect businesses?
Jan 2, 2023
Image: Unsplash/Shubham Dhage
The influence of the internet on the world cannot be understated. And in recent years, we’ve seen that influence take society to new heights. With the introduction of web 3.0, society became aware of the decentralized system. This was due to the introduction of cryptocurrencies which are changing how we conduct business and transact online. We are also eager to see how web 3.0 will impact the gambling sector since you can use cryptocurrencies when gambling online. And in that breath, let’s look at how web 3.0 will affect businesses.
What is web 3.0?
There are some arguments over the introduction of web 3.0, whether it was in 2001 or 2014, but essentially, web 3.0 is the next generation of the web. In this generation, users will be connected by a decentralized system. We are already seeing increasingly more each day, and 2022 was a roller-coaster year for decentralization, which will only take off even more in future.
How companies are using web 3.0
The benefits and effects of web 3.0 on businesses are astounding. It is profoundly changing the way we interact and transact. Consumers are the ones who benefit the most since a significant focus is on easier transactions without sharing personal information. A massive thing for businesses right now is connecting with their customers directly, so let’s look at that.
Image: Unsplash/Shubham's Web3
Eliminating third-party involvement
Whether it’s a small or large business, connecting to customers and protecting their data is paramount in building the two-way trust needed to maintain customer satisfaction. Web 3.0 will help enterprises to support that trust. And it’s done by eliminating third-party data companies. In many cases, businesses simply don’t have the time to store and sift through large data sets and leave it up to third-party companies. Many have reported that these data sets are largely inaccurate. And the service fee is often exorbitant.
Web 3.0 has a simple solution, blockchain. We can use cryptocurrency as an example here. Transacting with crypto eliminates traditional banks because it's decentralized, essentially cutting out the go-between if you will. And this is precisely how it will work for businesses with web 3.0. It will remove third-party data brokers altogether and enable P2P connections. This will decentralize the system and allow companies to connect to their customers directly.
Improved cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a major concern regardless of the business you have, especially if you work online. Again, this boils down to a decentralized system that web 3.0 offers. Let’s unpack it to understand how it works. On a decentralized blockchain network, each member of that network has a copy of the same data, called a ledger. If the ledger becomes corrupt for any reason, it will be rejected by all members. So here is where businesses can capitalize. By shifting their business to a decentralized system, they can offer so much more in cyber security and protect their customer’s personal information like never before. This is particularly important for online gambling services; players want to know their data is protected at all costs.
Improve customer satisfaction
While a massive emphasis is placed on protecting the data of your customers, web 3.0 does also make it easier for you to access customer data. Data and marketing go hand in hand to deliver superb customer satisfaction.
See: Incubella Publishes Research on the 2022 Canadian Web3 Landscape
For most marketers, it’s challenging to create marketing campaigns since accessing their customer data is limited. With web 3.0, businesses, specifically their marketing teams, can solve this problem since information will be more readily available. And not in the sense that people may think. Your data will still be protected; however, it will only be shared with companies when you have given strict permission.
The supply chain will work better
In the past couple of years, we’ve seen a massive backlog of certain types of technology, mainly microchips, which are used in almost every piece of technology. This has led to businesses closing or massively reducing their production output. Another factor to consider is that companies often don’t have a full view of their supply chain. With web 3.0, businesses can fully view their distribution data. This will help preempt delays, reduce costs, and even increase relevant supply chains.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Digital Assets Research: Blockchain Accounting and Tax Solutions
FT Partners | Steve McLaughlin | Dec 27, 2022
Report Executive Summary
- Growing demand for accounting/tax tools: As digital assets became more widely accepted, the need for corresponding tooling to meet accounting, reporting and tax requirements of both individuals and corporate users grew.
- Following a long period in which cryptocurrency traders and participants in the broader ecosystem were largely left to their own devices, tax authorities now apply increasingly elevated levels of scrutiny and enforcement action.
- In response, consumers and enterprises seek the means to both reactively and proactively ensure compliance with tax regimes.
- Recent market turbulence as the consequence of FTX's failure further underlines and incentivizes the need for appropriate accounting tools and procedures, whether for risk management, reporting purposes, or tax loss harvesting.
See: According to a Group of Economists, Unregulated Wash Trading is Impacting Tax Revenue
Key discussion topics of the report include:
- An overview of solutions designed to help meet reporting and tax obligations across a range of jurisdictions, including both general accounting and tax-reporting specific solutions targeting individuals, organizations, and tax professionals
- A detailed landscape of companies in the space
- A proprietary list of financing transactions
- Exclusive interviews with executives from eight leading companies
- Profiles of 30 highly relevant companies in the space
Access the 96 page report hosted on DocSend --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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B.C. Government Temporarily Suspends Requests for Electricity Connections from Crypto Miners
Today in BC | Canadian Press | Dec 21, 2022
Image: Unsplash/Fré Sonneveld
18-month suspension to give province and BC Hydro time to engage with industry and First Nations
- The British Columbia government is temporarily suspending requests for electricity connections from cryptocurrency mining operations, saying the decision is aimed at preserving the power supply while supporting climate action and economic goals.
- A statement from the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation says 21 cryptocurrency projects are requesting a total of 1,403 megawatts, enough to power about 570,000 homes per year, or 2.1 million electric vehicles.
- It says the 18-month suspension will give the province and BC Hydro time to engage with industry and First Nations as a permanent framework for cryptocurrency operations is developed.
See: Canada: Release Of Draft Tax Legislation For Consultation including GST/HST for Crypto Mining
- B.C.’s electricity is generated almost entirely by hydropower, and the province says it has attracted “unprecedented interest” from cryptocurrency miners.
- The statement says seven operational cryptocurrency mining projects and six more projects that are well advanced in the connection process won’t be affected by the suspension. Their consumption totals 273 megawatts.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Linklaters: Crypto and DeFi: Understanding the Risk Landscape and Tackling the Shifting Outlook
Linklaters | Martyn Hopper | Dec 20, 2022
Credit: Linklaters
The digital asset market as a whole is experiencing turbulence. In the past year institutional investors have increasingly embraced crypto and other digital assets in their portfolios. As is often the case in distressed markets, there are now signs of a “flight to quality”.
- The decentralised finance (DeFi) space remains nascent, and faces challenges to be addressed over time.
- In light of some of the recent disruptive market events and apparent frauds involving arguably trusted, centralised crypto projects and entities, some point to DeFi’s potential for transparency and disclosure as a potential bright spot for the industry.
See: BoE Speech by Carolyn Wilkins on DeFi Governance Limits and Opportunities: Get Up, Stand Up!
- In this report, our global fintech team:
- Focuses on three significant jurisdictions in the global digital asset market – the U.S., the EU and the UK.
- Looks at the key legal risks associated with dealing with cryptoassets and decentralised networks.
- Explores the destabilising impact of key market events including insolvencies in 2022, which have in part arisen from well documented issues in the crypto and DeFi markets, and which have created a situation of heightened risk.
- Sets out the matrix of players, products and services in the mainstream and emerging finance markets.
- Considers how risks can play out in terms of increased regulatory scrutiny and enforcement and increased litigation.
- Suggests some practices for achieving and embedding a good legal risk management strategy for players in these markets.
Continue to the full article --> here
Download the 36 page PDF report --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Solidus Labs Research: 350 New ‘Scam Tokens’ Created Daily in 2022
Cointelegraph | Jesse Coghlan | Dec 18, 2022
More than 350 fraudulent cryptocurrency tokens were created per day this year, defrauding millions of investors, according to blockchain risk monitoring firm Solidus Labs.
- From the start of the year to Dec. 1, 117,629 “scam tokens” were deployed, according to Solidus’ 2022 “Rug Pull Report.”
- That’s a 41% increase from the nearly 83,400 scam tokens that Solidus detected in 2021.
- The report claims that BNB Chain harbors the greatest number of scam tokens, with 12% of all BEP-20 tokens being fraudulent.
- The Ethereum network was second, with a purported 8% of ERC-20 tokens alleged to be scams.
See: Trust Fallacy: 75% of Payment Fraud in Crypto is Carried Out by KYC-verified Accounts
- The most popular type of scam token was a “honeypot," which is a token smart contract that doesn’t allow buyers to resell.
- The most prolific “honeypot” in 2022 was the $3.3 million Squid Game (SQUID) token scam which grew 45,000% in a few days before anonymous founders apparently ran off with investor funds
- Centralized exchanges (CEXs) are also affected by rug pulls, as many behind these malicious tokens use them to fund their fraudulent project and cash out the ill-gotten gains.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Major PoR Auditor, Mazars, Temporarily Halts All Crypto Work
Time | Emily Nicolle | Dec 16, 2022
Mazars Group, the accounting firm used by crypto giant Binance Holdings Ltd. and other big players in the to vouch for their assets held in reserve, has halted all work for crypto clients, dealing a major blow to an industry seeking to shore up confidence in the wake of FTX’s collapse.
- The French firm [temporarily] suspended work for cryptocurrency firms because of indications that markets haven’t been reassured by the “proof-of-reserves” reports it had published so far, according to an email from the firm seen by Bloomberg News.
- The firm was also concerned about intense media scrutiny, the email said.
- Paris-headquartered Mazars has been at the forefront of the crypto industry’s rush to conduct proof-of-reserves reports for the likes of Binance and other large exchanges, including Crypto.com and Kucoin.
- Proof-of-reserves reports have faced scrutiny as they are not comparable to a full audit, in that they only show a firm’s assets, not its liabilites, and instead serve as snapshots in time that say information provided by clients broadly checks out.
See: Is Binance’s Proof-of-Reserves Pointless Without Liabilities?
- Binance spokesperson: “Mazars has indicated that they will temporarily pause their work with all of their crypto clients globally. Unfortunately, this means that we will not be able to work with Mazars for the moment."
- Critics have pointed out that, while it may be challenging, it is not impossible for cryptocurrency companies to secure full audits.
- Coinbase, the US-based publicly-listed exchange, works with Deloitte for its annual audited statements.
Simon Taylor, head of strategy and content at crypto startup Sardine:
“It is unclear how far the solvency contagion could run, and proof of reserves is not the same as proof of solvency. The issue with FTX was that while it had reserves, those reserves were massively over valued relative to their risk in a bank run scenario.”
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Goldman Sachs Report: Future of Digital Assets and Crypto Winter’s Discontent
Goldman Sachs | Dec 13, 2022
In the wake of FTX's rapid demise, crash of Terra's Luna stablecoin and the failure of Celsius crypto lending platform, questions about regulatory oversight of digital assets, where the ecosystem goes from here, and potential spillover risks to the financial system and the real economy are Top of Mind.
See: Canadian Securities Regulators: Crypto Trading Platform Enforcement Coming
For answers, we turn to former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, former CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad, One River’s Marcel Kasumovich, Yale’s Gary Gorton, and GS traders, strategists, and economists.
Download the 25 page PDF report --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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