David Durand, Advisor, Innovation and Advocacy
September 9th, 2020
David Durand, LL.L., B.Sc. chem., – Founder and Managing Partner of Durand Lawyers – Lawyer (Québec)[...]
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare announced it is set to expand into Europe in Q4 2018
Betakit | | Aug 23, 2018
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare announced it is set to expand into Europe in Q4 2018.
Coinsquare customers in Europe will receive access to the company’s suite of cryptocurrencies, which includes bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ethereum, litecoin, XRP, dogecoin, and dash.
“Entering on a massive market like the EU is an exciting step closer to Coinsquare’s vision of becoming a global 21st century financial institution,” said Cole Diamond, CEO of Coinsquare. “Already the premier cryptocurrency exchange in Canada, we are careful in how we expand internationally to ensure we can offer the same high quality, secure service in every country we operate.”
See:
-
Coinsquare launches Coin Capital Investment Management Inc. to help Canadians invest in emerging technology
-
Coinsquare’s CEO Is Focused On Expanding Services While Gaining Public Trust
Coinsquare said the announcement marks its first international expansion under the Coinsquare brand; however, the company has previously entered the global cryptocurrency market through partnerships. In July, Coinsquare partnered with global blockchain investment bank DLTα 21 to launch a digital currency trading platform in Japan.
“Cryptocurrency investors globally want a platform they can trust,” said Thomas Jankowski, who joined Coinsquare as chief digital and growth officer last month. “Coinsquare is a regulated, fully-compliant trading platform and we’re thrilled to offer the European market the same secure and intuitive interface that we offer to Canadians.”
Last month, Coinsquare launched Coin Capital Investment Management (Coincapital), a new subsidiary dedicated to investment management in blockchain, AI, and other cryptocurrencies.
Continue to the full article --> here
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BIGG Digital Assets | Release | Sep 30, 2020 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIGG Digital Assets Inc. ("BIGG" or the "Company")(CSE: BIGG; OTCQB: BBKCF; WKN: A2PS9W), owner of Netcoins (Netcoins.ca) (“Netcoins”), the online cryptocurrency brokerage that makes it easy for Canadians to buy, sell, and understand cryptocurrency, is pleased to announce that it applied for registration from the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) and the Canadian Securities Administrators’ (CSA) regulatory sandbox which, if approved, would allow Netcoins to operate the first regulated open-loop crypto asset trading platform in Canada. The CSA Sandbox is an initiative of the CSA to support fintech businesses seeking to offer innovative products, services and applications in Canada, and allows firms to pioneer innovative ideas while tailoring unique regulatory requirements. See: BIGG Digital Assets Inc. subsidiary Blockchain Intelligence Group Signs CAD~$715,000 Contract with United States Federal Government Agency Netcoins has been working with the BCSC and the CSA to identify unique ways to address risks inherent in crypto asset trading platforms and to provide comfort to the regulators, and we expect this will further crypto adoption in Canada. Netcoins president, Mitchell Demeter, remarks, “There have been numerous high profile failures of ...
Read More
Singapore Straight Times | Sue-Ann Tan | Sep 30, 2020 SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has directed Wirecard entities here to cease their payment services in Singapore, it announced on Wednesday (Sept 30). It added that these entities have to return all customers' funds by Oct 14. "MAS has been monitoring the impact of Wirecard AG's insolvency on the ability of Wirecard SG to continue providing payment services in Singapore," it said. "MAS has also closely engaged Wirecard SG in recent months to safeguard the interest of Wirecard SG's customers. This includes requiring Wirecard SG to keep customers' funds in banks in Singapore and to assist customers to switch to alternative service providers." “MAS has assessed that it is in the interest of the public for Wirecard SG to cease its payments services and promptly return all customers’ funds,” it said. “This provides the greatest certainty to customers on their appropriate course of action, including seeking alternative service providers.” Wirecard, a German digital payments company, filed for bankruptcy in June after disclosing that €1.9 billion (S$3 billion) of cash, supposed to be in bank accounts in the Philippines, did not exist. See: Whistleblower warned EY of Wirecard ...
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WEF | Michael Spellacy, Alan McIntyre, and Derek Baraldi | Sep 28, 2020 The banking industry has to walk the tightrope of balancing relief with financial responsibility. Where private investors are unwilling to step in, governments are filling the void. Structured correctly, pension funds and other long-term investors might be the “patient capital” required to support local community businesses. The fallout from COVID-19 continues to challenge and disrupt economies around the world, but the banking and capital markets sectors can help steady the ship. Through new, innovative liquidity plays, they can support small and medium enterprises (SMEs), struggling industries, and emerging markets to ensure that all sections of the global economy emerge successfully on the other side of this crisis. Banks and capital markets firms need to play a leading role in the three distinct phases of this rescue effort – the sovereign phase, the debt phase, and the equity phase. Government support in many countries is likely to taper off this autumn, whereupon we will increasingly see economies transitioning into phases 2 (debt) and 3 (equity). During the debt phase, banks and fixed income investors will bear the primary burden of providing capital and liquidity. Whereas private investors and ...
Read More
Nuvei | Press Release | Sep 23, 2020 Philip Fayer took little time to celebrate after his Montreal payments company Nuvei Corp. closed its $833-million initial public offering, the largest the Toronto Stock Exchange has ever seen in the technology sector. "People will find this crazy, but I was online the next morning at 6 a.m. like I am every day," he said. "I always like to live forward, not backward … I am more excited about what's coming than what happened." The company he founded 17 years ago when looking for payment options for another business he was involved in raised aggregate gross proceeds of US$805 million — US$730 million for Nuvei and US$75 million for shareholder Novacap Management Inc. — from offering up more than 30 million subordinate voting shares at US$26 per share last week. Along with the IPO, Nuvei closed a direct private placement of more than 1 million subordinate voting shares, generating an additional US$28.4 million in gross proceeds. See: Ant Plans $17.5 Billion Hong Kong IPO, No Cornerstones Nuvei first hoped to raise US$600 million, but the IPO was oversubscribed by 20 per cent and then its 14 underwriters bought more than four million ...
Read More
Bitcoin.com | Kevin Helms | Sep 26, 2020 The Federal Reserve Board of Governors and several Federal Reserve Banks are actively working on the digital dollar. Legislation has proposed that each American could have an account at the Fed for transacting in the central bank digital currency. Several Digital Dollar Initiatives The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Loretta J. Mester, outlined the Fed’s work on the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) during a speech at the 20th Anniversary Chicago Payments Symposium on Wednesday. Noting that the experience with emergency payments led by the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the work in this area, Mester detailed: Legislation has proposed that each American has an account at the Fed in which digital dollars could be deposited, as liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks, which could be used for emergency payments. She added that “Other proposals would create a new payments instrument, digital cash, which would be just like the physical currency issued by central banks today, but in a digital form and, potentially, without the anonymity of physical currency.” Mester explained that some designs of the digital dollar allow the central bank to directly issue the CBDC into end ...
Read More
Bloomberg | Lulu Yilun Chen | Sep 23, 2020 Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. is seeking to raise $17.5 billion in its Hong Kong share sale and won’t seek to lock in cornerstone investors, confident there will be plenty of demand for one of the largest equity deals in the financial hub, according to people familiar with the matter. The fintech giant has assessed investor interest, betting it can pull off the Hong Kong portion of the initial public offering without cornerstone investors that are often needed for large deals, according to the people. Ant is leaning toward inviting these big investors for the Shanghai sale to mitigate price fluctuations, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The Hangzhou-based firm is planning to issue new stock equal to about 11% to 15% of the shares outstanding and split the float evenly between Hong Kong and Shanghai, the people added. Ant is mulling what could be the world’s largest IPO, seeking to raise about $35 billion in the dual listing at a valuation of about $250 billion, people familiar have said. See: Exclusive: Ant Financial shifts focus from finance to tech services: sources Plans are ...
Read More
OSFI | Release | Sep 15, 2020 OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 15, 2020 /CNW/ - Today the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) launched a three-month consultation with the publication of a discussion paper, Developing financial sector resilience in a digital world. The paper focuses on risks arising from rapid technological advancement and digitalization, as these trends impact the stability of the Canadian financial sector. This consultation supports OSFI's strategic objective to ensure that federally-regulated financial institutions and pension plans are better prepared to identify and develop resilience to non-financial risks before they negatively affect their financial condition. While technology is a key enabler for financial institutions and financial consumers, its widespread use and rapid adoption can pose risks in many different areas of the business if not properly understood and managed. See: Fintech & Cybersecurity: Key Risks and Solutions Cyberattacks now cost small companies $200,000 on average, putting many out of business Cybersecurity Body of Knowledge Understanding the financial sector's use of technology and how technology risks are managed is central to this consultation. OSFI's discussion paper focuses on the risk areas of cyber security, advanced analytics (artificial intelligence and machine learning), and the use of third party services ...
Read More
Wealth Professional | James Burton |Sep 23, 2020 Robo-advisor trumpets easy-to-use, transparent and safe product, which is now open to investors Weathsimple Crypto went live yesterday, with more than 130,000 Canadians having signed on to the waitlist since the product was announced last month. The digital platform is offering commission-free trading of the two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, through a mobile trading app. The robo-advisor believes it will make a largely complex and inaccessible asset class more inclusive and easy to use. There is no minimum account size, no charges for deposits or withdrawals, and no extra hidden costs. Wealthsimple CEO Mike Katchen told WP that its primary arim is to be simple and accessible. He said: “You don’t need to be an expert in cryptocurrency or blockchain to use this platform. It’s geared toward people who are interested in learning more or dipping their toes into crypto trading. The other big one is that the pricing is transparent. The price you see when you tap buy is what you pay — no extra hidden costs. There’s no minimum account size, and we don’t charge for deposits or withdrawals. Watch FFCON20 Video: Wealthsimple's Road to Regulatory Crypto Approval and What it Means ...
Read More
Global Risk Institute | Markos Zachariadis, University of Manchester | Sep 24, 2020 Executive Summary: Data-sharing frameworks in financial services: Discussing open banking regulation for Canada Data-sharing frameworks in financial services are becoming increasingly prevalent with the potential to shape drastically the future of banking and finance. As data assets are of strategic importance to financial institutions and central to their ‘datafication’ and digital transformation processes, sharing and accessing new data can alter the dynamics of competition and lead to the emergence of new players as well as nascent markets. Innovative technologies such as application programming interfaces (APIs) can help simplify data communication between systems and thus standardize the exchange of information between organizations allowing them to experiment with new, more open, business models. APIs also give the ability to effectively control openness and orchestrate ecosystems of third-parties that can add value to organizations’ supply chain and end users. Having said that, the deployment of open APIs in financial services raises numerous questions regarding the appropriate regulatory (or not) framework and infrastructure for opening up data in the banking sector. See: Open Banking – North American Style Explore Fintechs in Canada Sign-up for NCFA's Weekly & Insights Newsletter The current ...
Read More
Betakit | Meagan Simpson | Sep 23, 2020 Neo Financial, the new Canadian FinTech startup focused on challenging the status quo in banking, has begun rolling out its services in Western Canada. Neo Financial is a Prairies-based startup created by SkipTheDishes founders Andrew Chau and Jeff Adamson, alongside Kris Read. It is the newest challenger bank entrant into the Canadian financial market and is on a mission to re-imagine everyday banking. After spending the first year and a half of its existence building out its tech and banking infrastructure, Neo has officially brought its financial services offering to market. Over the last couple of weeks, Neo began offering its savings account, Mastercard, and merchant rewards program to a select number of individuals on its 30,000-plus waitlist. With a current focus on Western Canada, Neo hopes to have its products available across Canada later this year. See: Open banking would help the recovery Refusal to embrace open banking puts Canada behind yet another curve C.D. Howe Institute Report: Open Banking Holds Promise, Risks for Consumers Rebank Podcast: How to Build a Profitable Digital Bank with Tinkoff Chau, Neo’s CEO, recently spoke to BetaKit about the startup’s go-to-market strategy and its goal ...
Read More
BIGG Digital Assets | Release | Sep 30, 2020 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIGG Digital Assets Inc. ("BIGG" or the "Company")(CSE: BIGG; OTCQB: BBKCF; WKN: A2PS9W), owner of Netcoins (Netcoins.ca) (“Netcoins”), the online cryptocurrency brokerage that makes it easy for Canadians to buy, sell, and understand cryptocurrency, is pleased to announce that it applied for registration from the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) and the Canadian Securities Administrators’ (CSA) regulatory sandbox which, if approved, would allow Netcoins to operate the first regulated open-loop crypto asset trading platform in Canada. The CSA Sandbox is an initiative of the CSA to support fintech businesses seeking to offer innovative products, services and applications in Canada, and allows firms to pioneer innovative ideas while tailoring unique regulatory requirements. See: BIGG Digital Assets Inc. subsidiary Blockchain Intelligence Group Signs CAD~$715,000 Contract with United States Federal Government Agency Netcoins has been working with the BCSC and the CSA to identify unique ways to address risks inherent in crypto asset trading platforms and to provide comfort to the regulators, and we expect this will further crypto adoption in Canada. Netcoins president, Mitchell Demeter, remarks, “There have been numerous high profile failures of ...
Read More
Read More
Singapore Straight Times | Sue-Ann Tan | Sep 30, 2020 SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has directed Wirecard entities here to cease their payment services in Singapore, it announced on Wednesday (Sept 30). It added that these entities have to return all customers' funds by Oct 14. "MAS has been monitoring the impact of Wirecard AG's insolvency on the ability of Wirecard SG to continue providing payment services in Singapore," it said. "MAS has also closely engaged Wirecard SG in recent months to safeguard the interest of Wirecard SG's customers. This includes requiring Wirecard SG to keep customers' funds in banks in Singapore and to assist customers to switch to alternative service providers." “MAS has assessed that it is in the interest of the public for Wirecard SG to cease its payments services and promptly return all customers’ funds,” it said. “This provides the greatest certainty to customers on their appropriate course of action, including seeking alternative service providers.” Wirecard, a German digital payments company, filed for bankruptcy in June after disclosing that €1.9 billion (S$3 billion) of cash, supposed to be in bank accounts in the Philippines, did not exist. See: Whistleblower warned EY of Wirecard ...
Read More
Read More
WEF | Michael Spellacy, Alan McIntyre, and Derek Baraldi | Sep 28, 2020 The banking industry has to walk the tightrope of balancing relief with financial responsibility. Where private investors are unwilling to step in, governments are filling the void. Structured correctly, pension funds and other long-term investors might be the “patient capital” required to support local community businesses. The fallout from COVID-19 continues to challenge and disrupt economies around the world, but the banking and capital markets sectors can help steady the ship. Through new, innovative liquidity plays, they can support small and medium enterprises (SMEs), struggling industries, and emerging markets to ensure that all sections of the global economy emerge successfully on the other side of this crisis. Banks and capital markets firms need to play a leading role in the three distinct phases of this rescue effort – the sovereign phase, the debt phase, and the equity phase. Government support in many countries is likely to taper off this autumn, whereupon we will increasingly see economies transitioning into phases 2 (debt) and 3 (equity). During the debt phase, banks and fixed income investors will bear the primary burden of providing capital and liquidity. Whereas private investors and ...
Read More
Read More
Nuvei | Press Release | Sep 23, 2020 Philip Fayer took little time to celebrate after his Montreal payments company Nuvei Corp. closed its $833-million initial public offering, the largest the Toronto Stock Exchange has ever seen in the technology sector. "People will find this crazy, but I was online the next morning at 6 a.m. like I am every day," he said. "I always like to live forward, not backward … I am more excited about what's coming than what happened." The company he founded 17 years ago when looking for payment options for another business he was involved in raised aggregate gross proceeds of US$805 million — US$730 million for Nuvei and US$75 million for shareholder Novacap Management Inc. — from offering up more than 30 million subordinate voting shares at US$26 per share last week. Along with the IPO, Nuvei closed a direct private placement of more than 1 million subordinate voting shares, generating an additional US$28.4 million in gross proceeds. See: Ant Plans $17.5 Billion Hong Kong IPO, No Cornerstones Nuvei first hoped to raise US$600 million, but the IPO was oversubscribed by 20 per cent and then its 14 underwriters bought more than four million ...
Read More
Read More
Bitcoin.com | Kevin Helms | Sep 26, 2020 The Federal Reserve Board of Governors and several Federal Reserve Banks are actively working on the digital dollar. Legislation has proposed that each American could have an account at the Fed for transacting in the central bank digital currency. Several Digital Dollar Initiatives The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Loretta J. Mester, outlined the Fed’s work on the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) during a speech at the 20th Anniversary Chicago Payments Symposium on Wednesday. Noting that the experience with emergency payments led by the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the work in this area, Mester detailed: Legislation has proposed that each American has an account at the Fed in which digital dollars could be deposited, as liabilities of the Federal Reserve Banks, which could be used for emergency payments. She added that “Other proposals would create a new payments instrument, digital cash, which would be just like the physical currency issued by central banks today, but in a digital form and, potentially, without the anonymity of physical currency.” Mester explained that some designs of the digital dollar allow the central bank to directly issue the CBDC into end ...
Read More
Read More
Bloomberg | Lulu Yilun Chen | Sep 23, 2020 Jack Ma’s Ant Group Co. is seeking to raise $17.5 billion in its Hong Kong share sale and won’t seek to lock in cornerstone investors, confident there will be plenty of demand for one of the largest equity deals in the financial hub, according to people familiar with the matter. The fintech giant has assessed investor interest, betting it can pull off the Hong Kong portion of the initial public offering without cornerstone investors that are often needed for large deals, according to the people. Ant is leaning toward inviting these big investors for the Shanghai sale to mitigate price fluctuations, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The Hangzhou-based firm is planning to issue new stock equal to about 11% to 15% of the shares outstanding and split the float evenly between Hong Kong and Shanghai, the people added. Ant is mulling what could be the world’s largest IPO, seeking to raise about $35 billion in the dual listing at a valuation of about $250 billion, people familiar have said. See: Exclusive: Ant Financial shifts focus from finance to tech services: sources Plans are ...
Read More
Read More
OSFI | Release | Sep 15, 2020 OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 15, 2020 /CNW/ - Today the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) launched a three-month consultation with the publication of a discussion paper, Developing financial sector resilience in a digital world. The paper focuses on risks arising from rapid technological advancement and digitalization, as these trends impact the stability of the Canadian financial sector. This consultation supports OSFI's strategic objective to ensure that federally-regulated financial institutions and pension plans are better prepared to identify and develop resilience to non-financial risks before they negatively affect their financial condition. While technology is a key enabler for financial institutions and financial consumers, its widespread use and rapid adoption can pose risks in many different areas of the business if not properly understood and managed. See: Fintech & Cybersecurity: Key Risks and Solutions Cyberattacks now cost small companies $200,000 on average, putting many out of business Cybersecurity Body of Knowledge Understanding the financial sector's use of technology and how technology risks are managed is central to this consultation. OSFI's discussion paper focuses on the risk areas of cyber security, advanced analytics (artificial intelligence and machine learning), and the use of third party services ...
Read More
Read More
Wealth Professional | James Burton |Sep 23, 2020 Robo-advisor trumpets easy-to-use, transparent and safe product, which is now open to investors Weathsimple Crypto went live yesterday, with more than 130,000 Canadians having signed on to the waitlist since the product was announced last month. The digital platform is offering commission-free trading of the two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, through a mobile trading app. The robo-advisor believes it will make a largely complex and inaccessible asset class more inclusive and easy to use. There is no minimum account size, no charges for deposits or withdrawals, and no extra hidden costs. Wealthsimple CEO Mike Katchen told WP that its primary arim is to be simple and accessible. He said: “You don’t need to be an expert in cryptocurrency or blockchain to use this platform. It’s geared toward people who are interested in learning more or dipping their toes into crypto trading. The other big one is that the pricing is transparent. The price you see when you tap buy is what you pay — no extra hidden costs. There’s no minimum account size, and we don’t charge for deposits or withdrawals. Watch FFCON20 Video: Wealthsimple's Road to Regulatory Crypto Approval and What it Means ...
Read More
Read More
Global Risk Institute | Markos Zachariadis, University of Manchester | Sep 24, 2020 Executive Summary: Data-sharing frameworks in financial services: Discussing open banking regulation for Canada Data-sharing frameworks in financial services are becoming increasingly prevalent with the potential to shape drastically the future of banking and finance. As data assets are of strategic importance to financial institutions and central to their ‘datafication’ and digital transformation processes, sharing and accessing new data can alter the dynamics of competition and lead to the emergence of new players as well as nascent markets. Innovative technologies such as application programming interfaces (APIs) can help simplify data communication between systems and thus standardize the exchange of information between organizations allowing them to experiment with new, more open, business models. APIs also give the ability to effectively control openness and orchestrate ecosystems of third-parties that can add value to organizations’ supply chain and end users. Having said that, the deployment of open APIs in financial services raises numerous questions regarding the appropriate regulatory (or not) framework and infrastructure for opening up data in the banking sector. See: Open Banking – North American Style Explore Fintechs in Canada Sign-up for NCFA's Weekly & Insights Newsletter The current ...
Read More
Read More
Betakit | Meagan Simpson | Sep 23, 2020 Neo Financial, the new Canadian FinTech startup focused on challenging the status quo in banking, has begun rolling out its services in Western Canada. Neo Financial is a Prairies-based startup created by SkipTheDishes founders Andrew Chau and Jeff Adamson, alongside Kris Read. It is the newest challenger bank entrant into the Canadian financial market and is on a mission to re-imagine everyday banking. After spending the first year and a half of its existence building out its tech and banking infrastructure, Neo has officially brought its financial services offering to market. Over the last couple of weeks, Neo began offering its savings account, Mastercard, and merchant rewards program to a select number of individuals on its 30,000-plus waitlist. With a current focus on Western Canada, Neo hopes to have its products available across Canada later this year. See: Open banking would help the recovery Refusal to embrace open banking puts Canada behind yet another curve C.D. Howe Institute Report: Open Banking Holds Promise, Risks for Consumers Rebank Podcast: How to Build a Profitable Digital Bank with Tinkoff Chau, Neo’s CEO, recently spoke to BetaKit about the startup’s go-to-market strategy and its goal ...
Read More
Read More
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