Well, it happened. Elon bought Twitter. DOGE ripped higher in anticipation. And in spite of being the head of numerous companies, he’s been communicating with the public on Twitter. He’s taken some punches and done some solid trolling. There are lots of questions about what this will mean. 
mBridge transferring $22m in CBDCs cross-border is [BIG DEAL] in the payment world and most of the world slept through it! Sanctions will never be the same.
Payments giant Visa has filed two trademark applications covering a wide range of cryptocurrency products and services, including its own crypto wallet. The filings also mention crypto transaction management and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
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
Robby Yung, CEO Animoca Brands: ‘VR is a big distraction. There is no Metaverse without Web 3’
Decrypt | Stephen Graves | Nov 5, 2022
Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands. Image: Web Summit
Robby Yung took aim at Meta's focus on virtual reality for the metaverse, calling VR "a big distraction" and "a mistake."
Robby Yung, CEO Metaverse investment firm, Animoca Brands at a panel discussion at Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal:
There is no metaverse without Web3, because you need to have that transaction layer so that you have interoperability between content and you can bring it from place to place. We as an industry are working on setting standards for that. We've set up some various consortiums to try to address those issues.
See: Digital Identity Protection is Critical for Metaverse Innovation
My personal view is I think VR is a big distraction. VR is "just one platform" by which the metaverse can be accessed.
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
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
Will Elon’s Twitter Innovation Bolster Universal Crypto Adoption
For Bitvo by Tristram Waye | Nov 3, 2022
Well, it happened. Elon bought Twitter. DOGE ripped higher in anticipation. And in spite of being the head of numerous companies, he’s been communicating with the public on Twitter. He’s taken some punches and done some solid trolling. There are lots of questions about what this will mean.
- The crypto package is potent: You can use crypto as a speculative asset or a payment asset. You can use crypto as a value storage asset. You have the option of self-custody and the ability to be your own bank. You can use various crypto assets as a cost-effective and relatively fast payment rail or system to transfer value.
See: Elon Musk Owns Twitter Now –> What’s Next? | $8 Verification Service floated
- And the one area where crypto excels is censorship-proof exchange between individuals. Meaning, you can bypass the various toll booths in the financial system and deal directly with others. It has become a significant issue over the last three years.
- You can be unbanked as a result of legal activities that are unrelated to your payment activity. Economic and financial sanctions aren’t just being applied to nations. They are increasingly used on citizens for speech that is legal but otherwise unapproved by various so-called gatekeepers.
- PayPal recently revealed that they are willing to deduct money from your account if you violate their terms. What terms are they referring to? The use of misinformation and disinformation based on their judgment.
- Twitter could be the most powerful infrastructure on the planet
- Global Town hall: Twitter is referred to as social media and it is that. It’s a unique platform that brings together the broadest swath of society from around the world. There are few places where you can interact directly with celebrities, billionaires, everyday people, and everyone in between.
- It allows for the kinds of discussions you cannot find in the press these days.
- From open debate to censorship: At one time you could discuss almost anything. That was before things started getting weird. The platform eventually became infected with digital trolls, propaganda bots, and ideological litmus tests. It moved from a powerful platform of open debate and idea exchange to a cesspool of censorship.
- Global Town hall: Twitter is referred to as social media and it is that. It’s a unique platform that brings together the broadest swath of society from around the world. There are few places where you can interact directly with celebrities, billionaires, everyday people, and everyone in between.
See: Censorship: Vitalik Votes to Burn Staked Ethereum of Validators that Would Comply with Sanctions
- Twitter can become a censorship-proof alternative to the existing system. A peer-to-peer discussion board. Crypto, a peer-to-peer, censorship-proof payment option, can be involved in Twitter’s revival. And together, an emphasis on free expression and association can drive long-term use and adoption for both.
- Twitter could do this in part by becoming a powerful identity layer that remains unobtrusive and outside government control. The platform could provide the ability to support, encourage and reward content creators by facilitating micropayments.
- Expression as a core value: The world has changed a lot in the last three years. We are faced with numerous challenges, including rampant inflation, out-of-control unelected NGOs, failing economic decisions, the breakdown of democratic principles, and potentially the loss of sacred freedoms. At the core of these freedoms are those of speech, assembly, association, and bodily autonomy. And the challenge many are facing is that their elected representatives no longer seem to speak for them.
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
| | |
|---|---|---|
| | |
DeFi 2.0 Project Are Testing Liquidity Mining Alternatives
The Defiant | Owen Fernau | Oct 14, 2022
Image: https://www.olympusdao.finance/
Brace yourselves because here comes DeFi 2.0. What that term actually means is still in flux. While DeFi 2.0’s meaning is …
- While DeFi 2.0’s meaning is still congealing, the new crop of DeFi projects centers around the idea called protocol controlled liquidity (PCV). This entails projects acquiring funds to support their financial applications, rather than tapping users’ funds by enticing them with liquidity mining rewards.
- DeFi 2.0 is mostly about DAOs changing the relationship between capital providers and the protocol itself.“ Tyler Reynolds
- Problem: In a nutshell, liquidity mining involves protocols giving their native token to users in exchange for depositing assets that other users can borrow or trade. The problem is that protocols are watering down their token’s supply in exchange for capital deposits, which are often temporary. So come in, lend their assets to the protocol while milking its rewards, then leave with both the assets and rewards, leaving the protocol high and dry.
See: BoE Speech by Carolyn Wilkins on DeFi Governance Limits and Opportunities: Get Up, Stand Up!
- “Profit taking is expected, but when a giant player comes in and exclusively dumps the governance token, it creates a dynamic where all price appreciation is nullified,” Scoopy Trooples, the founder of Alchemix, the auto-paying loan app and critic of excessive liquidity mining, told The Defiant. “This depresses the community and convinces them to do the same or else they won’t ever be able to realize their gains.”
- There are countless examples of this phenomenon — a project called Big Data Protocol attracted over $6B in total value locked during a six-day stretch of liquidity mining rewards only to fall to a current level of only $3.1M, according to DeBank.
- Experimenting with alternatives: OlympusDAO sells its token at a discount in exchange for tokens like DAI, but also liquidity provider (LP) tokens which include OHM. So for example, a user could trade their OHM-DAI LP token, which represents a liquidity position in the decentralized exchange Sushiswap, for OHM. Olympus calls this mechanism a bond, because the discount is paid out over five days. Olympus has another innovative mechanism — a staking function which pays users in additional OHM tokens in exchange for locking the token up. This counteracts the sell pressure which comes from users’ ability to get OHM at a discount with bonds. Staking is working — over 90% of OHM is staked today according to the project’s primary dashboard.
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
| | |
|---|---|---|
| | |
Buffet-backed Nubank to Launch ‘Nucoin’ Loyalty tokens on the Polygon Blockchain
Cointelegraph | Ana Paula Pereira | Oct 19, 2022
Image: Nubank
Nubank, a fintech bank in Brazil, announced the creation of the Nucoin token on the Polygon blockchain on Oct. 19, paving the way for a rewards program for its 70 million clients across Latin America.
- Loyalty tokens: The company said that the token will be available in the first half of 2023, and will recognize customer loyalty and engagement with the bank products without cost or fees for its users. The tokens can be redeemed for perks and discounts on selected products.
- Crowdsourcing Web3 features with customers: As of this month, approximately 2,000 clients will be invited to participate in a discussion of the project details, including the decentralized process of product creation and its Web3 features. "We decided to bring a group of customers into this co-creation process precisely to refine our product ahead of the public launch, to ensure we get to a program that truly resonates with our customers' expectations and needs," noted Czapski.
See: Founded in Canada, Fintech NorthOne Closes CA$92.1 Million Series B to Serve Small Businesses in the U.S.
- Buffett-backed: Earlier this year, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway dumped a portion of its Visa and Mastercard holdings and increased exposure in Nubank, purchasing $1 billion worth of stocks after selling $3.1 billion worth of Visa and Mastercard stocks combined.
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
| | |
|---|---|---|
| | |
Rich Turrin: mBridge Pilot Demonstrates How CBDC Framework Can Avoid Sanctions (Part 1)
LinkedIn Newsletter - Cashless | Richard Turrin | Oct 30, 2022
mBridge transferring $22m in CBDCs cross-border is [BIG DEAL] in the payment world and most of the world slept through it! Sanctions will never be the same.
- mBridge is the largest cross-border CBDC pilot to date, with over US$ 12 M of CBDCs issued onto the platform, over US$ 22 M of payments, and FX PvP instantly settled across borders. Over 20 of the region’s largest commercial banks participated in settling REAL VALUE on behalf of corporate clients. The settlements were for international trade and interbank transfers. The countries represented, China, Hong Kong, UAE, and Thailand which represent 19% of global merchandise trade!
See: The Digital Dollar Project Launches Sandbox Program to Explore CBDC Solutions in the U.S.
- Sanctions: MBridge's biggest impact will be on sanctions, as it sets up a decentralized blockchain (DLT) system that is sponsored by the supporting central banks and is not responsible for sanctions enforcement.
- Each of the central banks supports a node on the platform and the platform simply transfers CBDCs between accounts. Sanctions are enforced by the individual commercial banks that use the system before they are put on the mBridge network. The users enforce sanctions, not the network.
- Compare this with SWIFT which enforces sanctions on all network participants. Sanctions are built-in to the network, unlike mBridge. This is a revolution in payment transfers as the network is politically neutral.
- Can mBridge by sanctioned by the US or EU?
- The decentralized nature makes the entity itself pretty much sanction-proof. What would you sanction? The bridge is decentralized and run by participating central banks, while it may have a small office, there is no massive presence to sanction.
See: HK Fintech Week 2022: Crypto-infused ‘Bang’: Retail Access for Virtual Assets
- Takeaways:
- MBridge is the most important piece of CBDC architecture being built today
- It shows us exactly how CBDCs will be used in cross-border transfers to reduce cost and increase speed and efficiency.
- MBridge is going into production look for it to go live end of 2023.
- Cross-border CBDC transfers are not 20 years away but 1-2, showing that the future is coming faster than you think
- Do you think the Fed still thinks there is no first-mover advantage in CBDCs?
Continue to the full article --> here
Download 50 page PDF mBridge project report on 'Connecting Economies Through CBDCs' --> 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
| | |
|---|---|---|
| | |
Arcane Research: Ahead of the Curve
Arcane Research | Nov 1, 2022
We're extremely proud to share the first edition of our new market report with you. Our goal is to make you prepared for tomorrow's price action through data-driven analysis, unique deep dives, and help you understand how macro events impact digital assets.
Enjoy this week's free access, and check out the report before it becomes a paid product.
Download the report --> Now
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
| | |
|---|---|---|
| | |
Visa Files 2 Crypto Trademark Applications Including Crypto Wallet
Bitcoin.com | Kevin Helms | Oct 27, 2022
Payments giant Visa has filed two trademark applications covering a wide range of cryptocurrency products and services, including its own crypto wallet. The filings also mention crypto transaction management and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
- Visa has filed two trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Mike Kondoudis, a USPTO-licensed trademark attorney, tweeted Thursday
- Visa has been active in the crypto space for several years. The company has partnered with more than 65 crypto firms, including exchanges and wallet service providers, to enable crypto payments at over 80 million merchants.
- Mainstream: In January 2021, Visa CEO Alfred Kelly revealed his company’s plan to enable crypto trading on its network. Anticipating crypto becoming “extremely mainstream,” he said Visa is diving into crypto “in a very, very big way.”
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
| | |
|---|---|---|
| | |
