Paul Schulte, Advisor, Banking and Financial Services
August 22nd, 2019
Paul Schulte is the Founder and Managing Editor of Shulte Research based in Singapore. Paul's roles[...]
Entrepreneurs who use Utility Tokens to reduce CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) will create the most valuable Security Tokens
Daily Fintech | | Apr 13, 2019
This post is an update to the chapter on Investing in Utility Tokens in The Blockchain Economy digital book.
This post describes:
- The SEC rules governing Utility Tokens.
- Laws change over time and vary by jurisdiction.
- Four reasons why other jurisdictions will probably follow the SEC rules.
- Utility Tokens can be used to improve CAC/LTV, which is a critical metric driving valuation.
- Invest in Security Tokens of ventures that offer great Utility Tokens.
- Two ways that a Utility Token is different from a traditional crowdsale.
- The future cryptocurrency landscape will have 4 different types of assets.
See: A Regulation Revolution In Financial Services
The SEC rules governing Utility Tokens
The SEC rules were analysed in Ilias Louis Hatzis’s Daily Fintech post on Monday. For convenience the key rules (defined in a No Action letter for the Utility Token of a company called TJK) are copied below:
- “Token holders won’t be granted an ownership stake in the company.
- Any funds raised from the token sale will not be used develop the platform or app.
- When the tokens are sold, they must be usable immediately for their intended functionality.
- Transfers of the TKJ tokens are restricted only to TKJ wallets. External wallets are not allowed.
- TKJ tokens will be priced at 1 USD per token. Each token will essentially function as a pre-paid coupon for TurnKey’s air charter services. If TurnKey wants to buy back the token (coupon), it must do so at a discount (less than 1 USD).
- The token must be marketed in a way that emphasizes its functionality, and not its potential to increase in value, over time.”
Laws change over time and vary by jurisdiction
The Legacy Finance world has Debt and Equity. The Blockchain Economy has Utility and Security Tokens. You can tokenise Debt (just like you can tokenise Equity or any other asset) but that does not change the fundamental characteristic of that asset.
See: The Security Token Field – The Next Step After the ICO Annihilation?
Debt is illegal in Islamic Finance (for more please read this). There are workarounds that dress up debt to look like equity, just like there are workarounds that ICOs used to dress up a security to make it look like a utility token. This perspective is useful when you look at the legality of Security vs Utility tokens ie laws change over time and vary by jurisdiction.
Four reasons why other jurisdictions will probably follow the SEC rules
Yes, the SEC only has jurisdiction over one market – America, but here are the four reasons why other jurisdictions will probably follow the SEC rules:
- America is still the biggest single market.
- SEC is known as a tough regulator that is not afraid to take cross border action.
- SEC has defined some clear rules. So entrepreneurs can plan around these rules.
- There is no single regulatory market in Asia, which is the growth engine of the 21st century.
There will be minor markets that differentiate by being easier on Utility Tokens, but unless they also offer a large investor pool, that will be “noise on the line”. Europe’s legislation/regulation will be interesting to watch. Unless Europe takes a differentiated position soon, the market will follow the SEC rules.
Utility Tokens can be used to improve CAC/LTV, which is a critical metric driving valuation
CAC/LTV = Customer Acquisition Cost/Life Time Value.
You can use this to evaluate the value of both Banks and Fintechs, as we described in this post from 2015. In fact just about any company can be evaluated using CAC/LTV.
Both CAC and LTV are complex in their own right, but it is the interaction between the two that is so often confusing or difficult.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the metric to evaluate Marketing efficiency.
See: TokenFunder announces Canada’s first Security Token Exempt Market Dealer
Churn is the kryptonite of Superman Marketing. The problem with Churn it is not directly under the control of Marketing. This is where Product is key. Another way of saying Churn is “if customers think the product sucks, all that expensive Marketing is wasted”. Churn means customers cancel the service and then Marketing have to win new customers, which is far more expensive than retaining them.
Life Time Value is not static. LTV is all about getting the balance right between cross selling, upselling and low churn – too much selling to customers may increase churn. If LTV goes down, you have to reduce CAC. Product strategy, pricing, marketing, customer service all have to be in alignment.
The story of Banking in the 20th century can be summed up as Low Churn. We are statistically more likely to get divorced than change banks. There was no point in changing Banks, because the difference between banks was marginal. The Fintech disruption changes that. Now customers have more real choice and regulation is seeking to protect consumers from lock-in strategies that make it hard for them to switch.
Crowdsales are a great way for companies to sell a service aka reduce CAC. It is Internet Marketing 101. Crowdsales have been around for a while, but Utility Tokens enable Crowdsales on steroids.
Two ways that a Utility Token is different from a traditional crowdsale.
- The buyer has the comfort that if they no longer want to use the service they can sell their Utility Tokens. If everybody wants to sell their Utility Tokens because their service is no good, token holders will lose. If the service is great but the token holder’s life situation changes they can sell their Utility Tokens.
- The buyer feels more committed to the success of the venture. Some of that commitment is psychological and some of it is quite practical. A Utility Token is like a Loyalty Coin (more than it is like a Security) but it is a Loyalty Coin with some fungibility (you can sell it for cash if the venture/service is a success and demand exceeds supply).
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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Raconteur | Marylou Costa | May 28, 2020 Often seen as a nice-to-have, workplace learning and professional development are now gaining importance as organisations’ best shot at retaining happy staff and staying competitive The idea of working from home may conjure up images of dishevelled, tracksuited executives. But the home has actually become the epicentre of a reskilling revolution that may just save businesses from a coronavirus-induced collapse. Corporate learning providers such as LinkedIn Learning, Circus Street and Hive Learning are all reporting a spike in usage, as an overwhelming array of new business challenges puts pressure on teams to embrace remote training methods and professional development. On LinkedIn Learning, more than four million hours of content was consumed globally in March alone. Hive Learning has seen a 20 per cent increase in logins since lockdown began Circus Street has noted not just a 64 per cent increase in weekday learning, but an unprecedented 500 per cent increase on Saturdays Skills gaps that the World Economic Forum had already outlined a need to bridge, such as digital and data literacy, have now become unnegotiable. Meanwhile ecommerce and digital marketing tactics like search engine optimisation and pay-per-click advertising have risen to ...
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NCFA Canada | Craig Asano | May 27, 2020 NCFA SUBMISSION TO CSA ON PROPOSED HARMONIZED RULES FOR START-UP SECURITIES CROWDFUNDING (NI 45-110) The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) are seeking comments on proposed harmonized rules for start-up securities crowdfunding by 27 May 2020. The National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) welcomes this initiative. The following addresses the specifics of the proposed rules, but please see our previous submissions on crowdfunding in Canada on our website in the advocacy section for more details – https://ncfacanada.org/advocacy/. 1. Harmonization NCFA has argued for many years that CSA crowdfunding rules are unduly constraining, and this enhanced harmonization will enable a greater use of crowdfunding across Canada, help to fill a funding gap, and allow more retail investors to invest in businesses whose purpose they support. 2. Impact of the pandemic on fundraising Today, early stage Ventures are the most likely not to get funded as they lack established relationships with banks (including BDC) and they have been amongst the hardest hit by the pandemic. Many VC funds are moving towards growth equity (later stage) investing and foreign investors mainly invest at later stages. 3. Funding cap While the maximum total amount ...
Read More
Sifted | Tim Smith | May 26, 2020 As coronavirus has forced classrooms around the world to move online, kids are getting creative in trying to sabotage lessons Georgina Farnham, a Barcelona-based English literature and language teacher, was just getting used to the transition to online teaching when, one day, she thought the internet trolls had parked their tanks on her lawn. Farnham was making use of Kahoot!, the Norwegian educational games app, when the sabotage struck. “We were playing a game and it kept just crashing and not giving kids time to answer the questions, and on the leader board, all of these ridiculous names that hadn’t been entered into the game as players were coming up: ‘gayboy27’, ‘Covid-19’ — offensive names,” she explains. See: 58 Must-Read Remote Work Resources | 50 Great Remote Working Resources The kids said it was nothing to do with them, and Farnham got worried: “I thought someone had hacked into our game and was watching us, and I was worried for our cyber security.” Farnham quickly contacted the Kahoot! customer service team to find out what was going on. But the culprits, as it turned out, were closer to home than she had ...
Read More
Koho Release | Brittany Bell | May 27, 2020 TORONTO, May 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KOHO, Canada’s leading challenger bank, today announced it is piloting a new Early Payroll feature that will help those under financial strain pay their bills and make ends meet. KOHO’s Early Payroll pilot will grant users free access to $100 of their CERB payment before the scheduled payday. KOHO will not charge fees or interest. The company hopes this will provide a cushion that many Canadians could use right now to help pay bills and necessary expenses, and avoid harmful loan alternatives. “The economic impact of COVID was not equally distributed,” said Daniel Eberhard, Founder and CEO of KOHO. “A lot of lower and middle income Canadians are vulnerable right now. The KOHO team did an amazing job putting this together so quickly. We hope it helps.” In 2016 the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada released a report on payday loans that revealed the average cost of a $300 loan (for two weeks) is $63. That means 21% of the money you borrow is automatically eaten up by fees. See: Shopify Balance Brings Banking and Cash Flow to Merchants In March, KOHO partnered with ...
Read More
May 27, 2020 As real estate prices keep rising, the practice of crowdfunding your workplace — especially if you're independently funded — has never been more critical. When you crowdfund your workplace, you preserve your independence while also giving your workers and all interested stakeholders a better opportunity to mobilize and commit to the project. Community Mobilization As evidenced by the success of coworking space co.up, which has managed to crowdfund €7,950 to build a new top floor and renovate their current building, crowdfunding is an innovative and practical way to meet your business requirements for coworking space. It has demonstrated that workers and business owners can make use of the enthusiasm of workers and coworkers to "succeed through support of other communities already wishing to benefit from this extra space," according to Alex, the community manager. His confidence is understandable; Co.up was able to double its size thanks to crowdfunding. It may be easy to consider this feat as a one-off, but other projects have shown that it is possible to raise a significant amount of money by ensuring community participation in crowdfunding. See: SEC Gives Break on Crowdfunding Rules for Some Small Firms For example, organizations such as ...
Read More
Greater Capitalism: How the pandemic is currently reshaping America’s economic system for the better
Forbes | Randall Lane | May 26, 2020 In a matter of weeks, Covid-19 spurred seismic shifts in how we work, learn and transact, and it helped usher in a new era that is smarter and fairer. The surreal year 2020 produces a personal Groundhog Day effect. The clock moves at one-quarter speed as the time-numbing diversions and necessities of a century ago, from jigsaw puzzles to yeast, fly off the virtual shelves. Simultaneously, though, the world is transforming at a pace unlike any experienced since World War II. In a matter of weeks, seismic, permanent shifts have occurred in how we work, learn and transact. The most significant shift is taking place in our economic system itself. See: OpEd: IT’S TIME TO BUILD Capitalism, the greatest engine for prosperity and innovation ever created, was already under strain before the coronavirus pandemic. Despite a decade of impressive economic growth and job creation, a plurality of Americans still reported feeling as though the system was rigged, that hard work and playing by the rules no longer ensured success. “It is scary when you had the lowest unemployment, the lowest African-American unemployment, the lowest Hispanic unemployment, the lowest women’s unemployment,” says Michael Milken, ...
Read More
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Read More
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Read More
Raconteur | Marylou Costa | May 28, 2020 Often seen as a nice-to-have, workplace learning and professional development are now gaining importance as organisations’ best shot at retaining happy staff and staying competitive The idea of working from home may conjure up images of dishevelled, tracksuited executives. But the home has actually become the epicentre of a reskilling revolution that may just save businesses from a coronavirus-induced collapse. Corporate learning providers such as LinkedIn Learning, Circus Street and Hive Learning are all reporting a spike in usage, as an overwhelming array of new business challenges puts pressure on teams to embrace remote training methods and professional development. On LinkedIn Learning, more than four million hours of content was consumed globally in March alone. Hive Learning has seen a 20 per cent increase in logins since lockdown began Circus Street has noted not just a 64 per cent increase in weekday learning, but an unprecedented 500 per cent increase on Saturdays Skills gaps that the World Economic Forum had already outlined a need to bridge, such as digital and data literacy, have now become unnegotiable. Meanwhile ecommerce and digital marketing tactics like search engine optimisation and pay-per-click advertising have risen to ...
Read More
Read More
Forbes | Glenda Toma | May 28, 2020 Last December, language-learning app Duolingo surpassed the $1 billion valuation mark, becoming the fifth company on last year’s Next Billion-Dollar Startups list to do so. “Once we closed the funding round, a few of us early employees went for drinks and we just remembered all the early days where we had no idea where we were going to go, and we had no idea if this was even going to work out,” Duolingo CEO and cofounder Luis van Ahn tells Forbes in a video interview. Not only did it work out, but Duolingo has been among the companies that have been gaining during the coronavirus pandemic as bored Americans take to learning Spanish, French or the 34 other languages that it offers. Since Forbes published its 2019 Next Billion-Dollar Startups list last summer, 6 out of the 25 companies on the list, including design-software firm Figma, fintech Dave, e-commerce startup Grove Collaborative, as well as Duolingo, have reached a $1 billion valuation. Last December, language-learning app Duolingo surpassed the $1 billion valuation mark, becoming the fifth company on last year’s Next Billion-Dollar Startups list to do so. “Once we closed the funding round, ...
Read More
Read More
TFI and InvestHK | May 27 Toronto Finance International (TFI) would like to invite the Canadian FinTech ecosystem to join a presentation with InvestHK and RaceCapital to learn more about funding opportunities, new trends, and market entry to Asia in a post-COVID-19 world. Event Details Date: Thursday, June 11th, 2020 Time: 3:00pm to 4:15pm Location: Video Conference Speakers Chris Chen Head of Investment Promotion - Canada, InvestHK Michal Kaczmarzki Senior Manager, FinTech, InvestHK Edith Yeung General Partner, RaceCapital Agenda: - 3:05 - 3:30pm: Presentation: “Fundraising & governmental support for Fintechs entering Hong Kong” with Chris Chen, Head of Investment Promotion - Canada, InvestHK - 3:30pm-4:00pm: Discussion: Trends & opportunities in Hong Kong, in the post-COVID-19 era with Michal Kaczmarski, Senior Manager, Fintech, InvestHK, and Edith Yeung, General Partner, RaceCapital. Moderated by Chris Chen, Head of Investment Promotion - Canada, InvestHK Q&A to conclude. Register for this free event --> 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 ...
Read More
Read More
NCFA Canada | Craig Asano | May 27, 2020 NCFA SUBMISSION TO CSA ON PROPOSED HARMONIZED RULES FOR START-UP SECURITIES CROWDFUNDING (NI 45-110) The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) are seeking comments on proposed harmonized rules for start-up securities crowdfunding by 27 May 2020. The National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) welcomes this initiative. The following addresses the specifics of the proposed rules, but please see our previous submissions on crowdfunding in Canada on our website in the advocacy section for more details – https://ncfacanada.org/advocacy/. 1. Harmonization NCFA has argued for many years that CSA crowdfunding rules are unduly constraining, and this enhanced harmonization will enable a greater use of crowdfunding across Canada, help to fill a funding gap, and allow more retail investors to invest in businesses whose purpose they support. 2. Impact of the pandemic on fundraising Today, early stage Ventures are the most likely not to get funded as they lack established relationships with banks (including BDC) and they have been amongst the hardest hit by the pandemic. Many VC funds are moving towards growth equity (later stage) investing and foreign investors mainly invest at later stages. 3. Funding cap While the maximum total amount ...
Read More
Read More
Sifted | Tim Smith | May 26, 2020 As coronavirus has forced classrooms around the world to move online, kids are getting creative in trying to sabotage lessons Georgina Farnham, a Barcelona-based English literature and language teacher, was just getting used to the transition to online teaching when, one day, she thought the internet trolls had parked their tanks on her lawn. Farnham was making use of Kahoot!, the Norwegian educational games app, when the sabotage struck. “We were playing a game and it kept just crashing and not giving kids time to answer the questions, and on the leader board, all of these ridiculous names that hadn’t been entered into the game as players were coming up: ‘gayboy27’, ‘Covid-19’ — offensive names,” she explains. See: 58 Must-Read Remote Work Resources | 50 Great Remote Working Resources The kids said it was nothing to do with them, and Farnham got worried: “I thought someone had hacked into our game and was watching us, and I was worried for our cyber security.” Farnham quickly contacted the Kahoot! customer service team to find out what was going on. But the culprits, as it turned out, were closer to home than she had ...
Read More
Read More
Koho Release | Brittany Bell | May 27, 2020 TORONTO, May 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KOHO, Canada’s leading challenger bank, today announced it is piloting a new Early Payroll feature that will help those under financial strain pay their bills and make ends meet. KOHO’s Early Payroll pilot will grant users free access to $100 of their CERB payment before the scheduled payday. KOHO will not charge fees or interest. The company hopes this will provide a cushion that many Canadians could use right now to help pay bills and necessary expenses, and avoid harmful loan alternatives. “The economic impact of COVID was not equally distributed,” said Daniel Eberhard, Founder and CEO of KOHO. “A lot of lower and middle income Canadians are vulnerable right now. The KOHO team did an amazing job putting this together so quickly. We hope it helps.” In 2016 the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada released a report on payday loans that revealed the average cost of a $300 loan (for two weeks) is $63. That means 21% of the money you borrow is automatically eaten up by fees. See: Shopify Balance Brings Banking and Cash Flow to Merchants In March, KOHO partnered with ...
Read More
Read More
May 27, 2020 As real estate prices keep rising, the practice of crowdfunding your workplace — especially if you're independently funded — has never been more critical. When you crowdfund your workplace, you preserve your independence while also giving your workers and all interested stakeholders a better opportunity to mobilize and commit to the project. Community Mobilization As evidenced by the success of coworking space co.up, which has managed to crowdfund €7,950 to build a new top floor and renovate their current building, crowdfunding is an innovative and practical way to meet your business requirements for coworking space. It has demonstrated that workers and business owners can make use of the enthusiasm of workers and coworkers to "succeed through support of other communities already wishing to benefit from this extra space," according to Alex, the community manager. His confidence is understandable; Co.up was able to double its size thanks to crowdfunding. It may be easy to consider this feat as a one-off, but other projects have shown that it is possible to raise a significant amount of money by ensuring community participation in crowdfunding. See: SEC Gives Break on Crowdfunding Rules for Some Small Firms For example, organizations such as ...
Read More
Read More
Greater Capitalism: How the pandemic is currently reshaping America’s economic system for the better
Forbes | Randall Lane | May 26, 2020 In a matter of weeks, Covid-19 spurred seismic shifts in how we work, learn and transact, and it helped usher in a new era that is smarter and fairer. The surreal year 2020 produces a personal Groundhog Day effect. The clock moves at one-quarter speed as the time-numbing diversions and necessities of a century ago, from jigsaw puzzles to yeast, fly off the virtual shelves. Simultaneously, though, the world is transforming at a pace unlike any experienced since World War II. In a matter of weeks, seismic, permanent shifts have occurred in how we work, learn and transact. The most significant shift is taking place in our economic system itself. See: OpEd: IT’S TIME TO BUILD Capitalism, the greatest engine for prosperity and innovation ever created, was already under strain before the coronavirus pandemic. Despite a decade of impressive economic growth and job creation, a plurality of Americans still reported feeling as though the system was rigged, that hard work and playing by the rules no longer ensured success. “It is scary when you had the lowest unemployment, the lowest African-American unemployment, the lowest Hispanic unemployment, the lowest women’s unemployment,” says Michael Milken, ...
Read More
Read More
The Globe and Mail | Patricia Chisholm | May 22, 2020 The emerging use of artificial intelligence (AI) to support or even replace human financial advisors is attracting the attention of regulators – mainly in Britain but also in Canada. While they’re broadly supportive of AI as a cost-efficient tool to broaden the reach of financial advice, they’re also monitoring the potential risks and challenges, trying to ensure that this advice remains both suitable and transparent for clients. The current crisis is certainly putting the usefulness of the new technology to the test. Tony Vail, chief advice officer at Wealth Wizards, a fwell-known provider of AI-assisted financial advice in Britain, says: “We’re finding increasing demand for our technology solutions [as a result of the crisis]. For example, our digital financial advisor, MyEva, had an unprecedented response to an [online] nudge offering help and guidance with finances related to the impacts of COVID-19.” See: WealthBar rebrands as CI Direct Investing Given the increased attention on AI-assisted advice, Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is taking a proactive approach on the matter. Last autumn, the FCA and the Bank of England conducted a survey of more than 100 financial services firms on their ...
Read More
Read More
Wealth Professionals | David Kitai | May 21, 2020 CEO tells WP why the firm is rebranding and what new opportunities lie in the company's future Robo-advisor WealthBar is rebranding as CI Direct Investing with parent company CI financial increasing their ownership stake from 75 per cent to 100 per cent. Tea Nicola, founder and CEO of WealthBar, says that in terms of day to day operations nothing will change for their advisors and their clients. While she admits a bit of melancholy saying goodbye to the brand she built, she accepts that this is the logical next stage for her company and looks forward to the new challenges and opportunities she and her team will be taking on as CI Direct Investing. WealthBar will eventually be combined with Virtual Brokers, CI’s discount broker. See: Why Partnerships Are the Future for Fintech “We're currently not making any major changes aside from the rebrand itself,” Nicola says. “We're simply fully focused on supporting our customers, growing with the current demand we're seeing and launching this rebrand.” Nicola explained that the rebrand fits in a wider strategy on the part of CI financial, unifying their group of companies under a shared banner ...
Read More
Read More
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