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)[...]
FaceCoin: Here’s What Facebook Could Build In Blockchain And Cryptocurrency
CB Insights | April 30, 2019
Could blockchain be an answer to scandal-plagued Facebook?
While a “Facecoin” might not lay the company’s many controversies to rest, it could potentially address everything from centralized single sign-on to cheaper payments processing. A variety of different signals point to Facebook getting serious about blockchain and digital currency.
For one, in January 2018, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned cryptocurrency when disclosing his annual project for 2018:
“There are important counter-trends to [the rise of Big Tech] — like encryption and cryptocurrency… I’m interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects.”
Since then, the company has created a formalized group dedicated to exploring blockchain.
However, using the CB Insights platform, we learned Facebook has been experimenting with digital currency tech for quite some time.
See: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say
From a new org structure to patent trends, we used the CB Insights platform to highlight Facebook’s blockchain ambitions and the possibility of a Facebook cryptocurrency — FaceCoin.
Timeline of major events
- November 2017 — Early publicity about Russian election interference using Facebook
- Jan 2018 — Zuckerberg’s personal goal for “Fixing Facebook” mentions experimenting with cryptocurrency and encryption
- March 2018 — NYT and the Guardian publish coverage on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, working with Christopher Wylie
- May 2018 — Facebook announces its largest reorganization ever, creating the blockchain group run by former Messenger boss (and ex-PayPal president) David Marcus, while also moving Instagram VP of Product Kevin Weil to the project
- June 2018 — Facebook reverses ban on cryptocurrency ads
- August 2018 — David Marcus steps down from the Coinbase board, citing a conflict of interest
- December 2018 — Bloomberg reports that Facebook is developing a stablecoin, or a cryptocurrency pegged to a basket of currencies, for transfers within its WhatsApp service
- March 2019 — Facebook acqui-hires Chainspace, which focused on smart contracts and payments, in its first blockchain acquisition
- April 2019 — Sources say Facebook is meeting with VCs to raise as much as $1B for its cryptocurrency initiative, which could help present the project as more decentralized
See: Eastern Caribbean Central Bank to Issue World’s First Blockchain-Based Digital Currency
What FB could build with blockchain and digital assets
As Facebook looks to redefine itself and expand its offerings, blockchain could be a significant lever to pull. Among many possibilities, tech commentators have theorized Facebook could build:
- Coin incentives for e-commerce
- Micropayments for services and content creators
- Banking apps
- Exchanges (competing with the likes of Coinbase)
- Identity tech
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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FCAC | March 2021 Overview The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) is a federal financial sector regulator, which oversees federally regulated financial entities’ compliance with consumer protection measures, promotes financial education, and raises consumers’ awareness of their financial rights and responsibilities. In addition, FCAC is responsible for monitoring and evaluating trends and emerging issues that may have an impact on consumers of financial products and services, as well as providing timely and objective information and tools to help consumers navigate financial products and services. The Advisory Committee on Open Banking (the Committee) shared consultation materials with interested stakeholders, including the FCAC, in fall of 2020. FCAC welcomes the opportunity to participate in the development of a uniquely Canadian open banking solution that prioritizes the right of the consumer to control their financial data and puts in place safeguards to ensure they are protected from financial and non-financial harm. This submission has been submitted to the Committee for their consideration in the context of their consultations. See: NCFA OpEd: Canada’s Open Banking Consultations: Let’s Get it Done! FCAC is broadly supportive of a hybrid model for open banking that carves out specific roles for government and industry and sets out ...
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KABN (LQID) | Cara Buckspan | March 1, 2021 Liquid Avatar name and symbol change better reflects Company's corporate branding TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / March 1, 2021 / KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp. (CSE:KABN)("KABN" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has changed its name from KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp. to Liquid Avatar Technologies Inc. (www.liquidavatartechnologies.com) and its ticker symbol from KABN to LQID. Subject to approval by the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE"), the Company expects the name and symbol change to take effect for trading purposes on March 3, 2021 when its common shares will begin trading on the CSE under the new name, CUSIP number and new ticker symbol. On February 18, 2021, the Company launched the first phase of its flagship product, the Liquid Avatar (www.liquidavatar.com) app in the Apple Store and Google Play. Like search, online communications and browser usage, digital identity is addressable to up to 100% of the online market and is a very early-stage market opportunity, with the potential to reach up to 400 Million people in North America and over 5 Billion people online globally. See: KABN North America Launches Liquid Avatar App in the Apple Store and ...
Read More
Bull Blockchain Law LLP via Mondaq| Andrew Bull and Tyler Harttraft | Feb 22, 2021 In broad terms, which legislative and regulatory provisions govern virtual currencies in your jurisdiction? In the United States, federal and state regulations and laws govern virtual currencies. While the US Congress has proposed federal legislation over the last two years, Congress has yet to pass any form of legislation directly addressing virtual currencies. Instead, governmental agencies – such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) – provide guidance through reports and administrative decisions. See: Lagarde Says Her ‘Hunch’ Is That ECB Will Adopt Digital Currency Additionally, US federal courts continually create precedent by applying traditional authoritative statutes through judicial determinations regarding virtual currencies. Overall, a significant portion of the regulatory provisions governing virtual currencies in the United States are from: guidance released by a governmental agency; case-by-case administrative decisions by a governmental agency; and federal and state court rulings. Which legislative and regulatory provisions govern entities that provide services relating to virtual currencies? Must they be registered or licensed by a regulatory authority? Companies ...
Read More
The Finanser | Chris Skinner Chris Skinner: Traditional banks tend to push products through channels to get greater share of wallet and cross sell. Whereas, digital banks start with the customer journey and need, and then build the user experience to be part of a relationship interaction digitally, rather than trying to actually sell them anything. James Robert Lay: Greetings and hello. I am James Robert Lay and welcome to the 67th episode of the Banking on Digital Growth podcast. Today’s episode is part of the Exponential Insight series, and I’m excited to welcome Chris Skinner to the show. Chris is an author, speaker, and troublemaker, according to his LinkedIn profile. I like that. And Chris has written 14 books, most recently Doing Digital: Lessons from Leaders. He also writes a daily blog and consults about the future of banking. Hello, Chris, and welcome to the show. Chris Skinner: Hi, James. Thanks for inviting me. Great to be here. James Robert Lay: Yeah. And I think you mentioned before you do a lot of thinking about the future and when we think about the future, particularly through the lens of financial services, it can be hard to let go of ...
Read More
Finextra | Feb 22, 2021 Former governor of the bank of England Mark Carney has joined the Board of directors of hot Web payments firm Stripe. Ten years since launching, Stripe’s infrastructure powers hundreds of billions of euros of payments for businesses in over 140 countries and territories around the world. The company, which last raised a $600 million series G in mid-2020, is currently contemplating an IPO that would give it a valuation of $105 billion. Says Carney: “The very nature of commerce has changed over the past decade. Stripe has been at the forefront of enabling this new digital economy, providing innovative and resilient global payment solutions to businesses large and small. In the process, Stripe has been breaking down barriers to global trade and accelerating economic output.” The former governor of the Bank of England is currently playing a key role in the battle against global warming as the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action. See: You knew it was coming: Climate Fintech Brookings Event: Climate change and financial market regulations: Insights from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro Stripe says it expects to benefit from Carney’s leardship role in sustainable finance as ...
Read More
Gemini | Feb 18 2021 We are thrilled to announce the launch of Cryptopedia, a free resource that provides open-access, high-quality crypto education to the world. Our mission at Gemini is to empower the individual through crypto and we believe that journey begins with understanding. We know that the lack of comprehensive education around crypto is one of the main barriers to entry and adoption for consumers — which is where Cryptopedia can help. See: Toronto-based DeFi fintech, Ledn, closes 3rd seed round $3.4 million CAD to scale its Bitcoin-backed lending platform Cryptopedia caters to all levels of knowledge and interest — from the crypto-curious to the crypto-native. You can get started with the fundamentals of Bitcoin, take a deep dive into the hottest projects in DeFi, explore how trading and investing concepts apply to cryptocurrency, or learn about cybersecurity best practices to keep your crypto safe. 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 ...
Read More
Scott Galloway | Feb 26, 2021 “The task is...not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.” ― Erwin Schrödinger Just as life is not about what happens to you, but about how you respond to what happens to you, insight is not a function of data, but of how you perceive the data. Plotting data in different ways is illuminating, even fun, and it can lead one to discover stories. And while “stories” often connotes fiction, stories can also be true, and can even create truth. The best way to predict the future is to make it. And, just as history is the stories we (i.e., the victors) tell ourselves, stories can shape the future by giving people a path, an inspiration, or a goal. One inspiration for those stories is data … and different ways of looking at the data. Just read the last paragraph and it’s clear I’m insecure re my intellect, or have an edible hangover. The answer is yes. See: The Enterprise Automation Imperative—Why Modern Societies Will Need All the Productivity They Can Get Anyway, I love 2x2 matrices, and ...
Read More
Stats Canada | Huju Liu | Feb 24, 2021 Introduction While Canada has embraced digital technologies rapidly and broadly over the past two decades, there is no doubt that the adoption of digital technologies has been amplified and accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. A massive number of people have transitioned to remote work. Consumers have had to turn to online platforms to purchase merchandise. Business have had to use online platforms to sell their products and services and serve their customers facing mobility constraints. Wide digital adoption has leaped forward several years in a matter of weeks during the COVID-19 crisis (Baig et al. 2020), and these changes are likely here to stay even after the pandemic (UNCTAD 2020; Bloom 2020). Economic performance associated with digitalization The digitally intensive sector experienced higher growth in labour productivity over the past two decades than the non-digitally intensive sector (Chart 1) From 2002 to 2019, labour productivity grew 22.1% cumulatively in the digitally intensive sector, compared to 6.3% in the non-digitally intensive sector. During the first decade up to 2009, labour productivity grew modestly in the digitally intensive sector, by about 6%, while it basically remained flat in the non-digitally ...
Read More
Financial Post | Joe O'Connor | Feb 24, 2021 Anthony Di Iorio, co-founder of Ethereum, is plotting a way out of cryptocurrency to tackle a project he hopes will help change the world for the better Anthony Di Iorio wears the same thing every day, call it his uniform: a white t-shirt, which he orders in bulk at $10 a pop, blue jeans and white sneakers. The outfit isn’t a fashion statement, rather, it’s a time-saving measure, since he tends to have a million thoughts reeling through his mind when he wakes up in the morning and the last thing he needs to worry about is figuring out what to wear. So, a white t-shirt and jeans it is. As for those morning thoughts, numbered among them lately are being sure to visit regularly with his 70-year-old-plus parents, Lino and Lynne, pondering how to fix corporations that only care about the bottom line, occasionally fretting about his own personal safety and working on his “white paper,” which he plans to have peer reviewed. The paper details Di Iorio’s next big idea. It is something the 46-year-old is not ready to discuss quite yet, but he hints that the project to ...
Read More
The Verge | Nick Statt | Feb 23, 2021 3,319 coins at an average price of $51,236 per coin Square has just made another colossal investment in bitcoin, more than tripling its last investment in the cryptocurrency with a $170 million purchase of tokens. The digital payments company, which is run by vocal bitcoin advocate and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, disclosed the investment in its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday. See: TESLA Coin Now Appears on CoinMarketCap. Is Elon Revving the Engine Up? The company purchased about 3,318 bitcoins at an average price of $51,236, which signals remarkable confidence in bitcoin as it reaches record heights and invites renewed skepticism about its stability. “Aligned with the company’s purpose, Square believes that cryptocurrency is an instrument of economic empowerment, providing a way for individuals to participate in a global monetary system and secure their own financial future,” reads the company’s press release announcing the purchase. “The investment is part of Square’s ongoing commitment to bitcoin, and the company plans to assess its aggregate investment in bitcoin relative to its other investments on an ongoing basis.” Square first announced a major bitcoin investment in October of last year when it purchased $50 ...
Read More
FCAC | March 2021 Overview The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) is a federal financial sector regulator, which oversees federally regulated financial entities’ compliance with consumer protection measures, promotes financial education, and raises consumers’ awareness of their financial rights and responsibilities. In addition, FCAC is responsible for monitoring and evaluating trends and emerging issues that may have an impact on consumers of financial products and services, as well as providing timely and objective information and tools to help consumers navigate financial products and services. The Advisory Committee on Open Banking (the Committee) shared consultation materials with interested stakeholders, including the FCAC, in fall of 2020. FCAC welcomes the opportunity to participate in the development of a uniquely Canadian open banking solution that prioritizes the right of the consumer to control their financial data and puts in place safeguards to ensure they are protected from financial and non-financial harm. This submission has been submitted to the Committee for their consideration in the context of their consultations. See: NCFA OpEd: Canada’s Open Banking Consultations: Let’s Get it Done! FCAC is broadly supportive of a hybrid model for open banking that carves out specific roles for government and industry and sets out ...
Read More
Read More
KABN (LQID) | Cara Buckspan | March 1, 2021 Liquid Avatar name and symbol change better reflects Company's corporate branding TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / March 1, 2021 / KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp. (CSE:KABN)("KABN" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has changed its name from KABN Systems NA Holdings Corp. to Liquid Avatar Technologies Inc. (www.liquidavatartechnologies.com) and its ticker symbol from KABN to LQID. Subject to approval by the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE"), the Company expects the name and symbol change to take effect for trading purposes on March 3, 2021 when its common shares will begin trading on the CSE under the new name, CUSIP number and new ticker symbol. On February 18, 2021, the Company launched the first phase of its flagship product, the Liquid Avatar (www.liquidavatar.com) app in the Apple Store and Google Play. Like search, online communications and browser usage, digital identity is addressable to up to 100% of the online market and is a very early-stage market opportunity, with the potential to reach up to 400 Million people in North America and over 5 Billion people online globally. See: KABN North America Launches Liquid Avatar App in the Apple Store and ...
Read More
Read More
Bull Blockchain Law LLP via Mondaq| Andrew Bull and Tyler Harttraft | Feb 22, 2021 In broad terms, which legislative and regulatory provisions govern virtual currencies in your jurisdiction? In the United States, federal and state regulations and laws govern virtual currencies. While the US Congress has proposed federal legislation over the last two years, Congress has yet to pass any form of legislation directly addressing virtual currencies. Instead, governmental agencies – such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) – provide guidance through reports and administrative decisions. See: Lagarde Says Her ‘Hunch’ Is That ECB Will Adopt Digital Currency Additionally, US federal courts continually create precedent by applying traditional authoritative statutes through judicial determinations regarding virtual currencies. Overall, a significant portion of the regulatory provisions governing virtual currencies in the United States are from: guidance released by a governmental agency; case-by-case administrative decisions by a governmental agency; and federal and state court rulings. Which legislative and regulatory provisions govern entities that provide services relating to virtual currencies? Must they be registered or licensed by a regulatory authority? Companies ...
Read More
Read More
The Finanser | Chris Skinner Chris Skinner: Traditional banks tend to push products through channels to get greater share of wallet and cross sell. Whereas, digital banks start with the customer journey and need, and then build the user experience to be part of a relationship interaction digitally, rather than trying to actually sell them anything. James Robert Lay: Greetings and hello. I am James Robert Lay and welcome to the 67th episode of the Banking on Digital Growth podcast. Today’s episode is part of the Exponential Insight series, and I’m excited to welcome Chris Skinner to the show. Chris is an author, speaker, and troublemaker, according to his LinkedIn profile. I like that. And Chris has written 14 books, most recently Doing Digital: Lessons from Leaders. He also writes a daily blog and consults about the future of banking. Hello, Chris, and welcome to the show. Chris Skinner: Hi, James. Thanks for inviting me. Great to be here. James Robert Lay: Yeah. And I think you mentioned before you do a lot of thinking about the future and when we think about the future, particularly through the lens of financial services, it can be hard to let go of ...
Read More
Read More
Finextra | Feb 22, 2021 Former governor of the bank of England Mark Carney has joined the Board of directors of hot Web payments firm Stripe. Ten years since launching, Stripe’s infrastructure powers hundreds of billions of euros of payments for businesses in over 140 countries and territories around the world. The company, which last raised a $600 million series G in mid-2020, is currently contemplating an IPO that would give it a valuation of $105 billion. Says Carney: “The very nature of commerce has changed over the past decade. Stripe has been at the forefront of enabling this new digital economy, providing innovative and resilient global payment solutions to businesses large and small. In the process, Stripe has been breaking down barriers to global trade and accelerating economic output.” The former governor of the Bank of England is currently playing a key role in the battle against global warming as the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action. See: You knew it was coming: Climate Fintech Brookings Event: Climate change and financial market regulations: Insights from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro Stripe says it expects to benefit from Carney’s leardship role in sustainable finance as ...
Read More
Read More
Gemini | Feb 18 2021 We are thrilled to announce the launch of Cryptopedia, a free resource that provides open-access, high-quality crypto education to the world. Our mission at Gemini is to empower the individual through crypto and we believe that journey begins with understanding. We know that the lack of comprehensive education around crypto is one of the main barriers to entry and adoption for consumers — which is where Cryptopedia can help. See: Toronto-based DeFi fintech, Ledn, closes 3rd seed round $3.4 million CAD to scale its Bitcoin-backed lending platform Cryptopedia caters to all levels of knowledge and interest — from the crypto-curious to the crypto-native. You can get started with the fundamentals of Bitcoin, take a deep dive into the hottest projects in DeFi, explore how trading and investing concepts apply to cryptocurrency, or learn about cybersecurity best practices to keep your crypto safe. 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 ...
Read More
Read More
Scott Galloway | Feb 26, 2021 “The task is...not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.” ― Erwin Schrödinger Just as life is not about what happens to you, but about how you respond to what happens to you, insight is not a function of data, but of how you perceive the data. Plotting data in different ways is illuminating, even fun, and it can lead one to discover stories. And while “stories” often connotes fiction, stories can also be true, and can even create truth. The best way to predict the future is to make it. And, just as history is the stories we (i.e., the victors) tell ourselves, stories can shape the future by giving people a path, an inspiration, or a goal. One inspiration for those stories is data … and different ways of looking at the data. Just read the last paragraph and it’s clear I’m insecure re my intellect, or have an edible hangover. The answer is yes. See: The Enterprise Automation Imperative—Why Modern Societies Will Need All the Productivity They Can Get Anyway, I love 2x2 matrices, and ...
Read More
Read More
Stats Canada | Huju Liu | Feb 24, 2021 Introduction While Canada has embraced digital technologies rapidly and broadly over the past two decades, there is no doubt that the adoption of digital technologies has been amplified and accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. A massive number of people have transitioned to remote work. Consumers have had to turn to online platforms to purchase merchandise. Business have had to use online platforms to sell their products and services and serve their customers facing mobility constraints. Wide digital adoption has leaped forward several years in a matter of weeks during the COVID-19 crisis (Baig et al. 2020), and these changes are likely here to stay even after the pandemic (UNCTAD 2020; Bloom 2020). Economic performance associated with digitalization The digitally intensive sector experienced higher growth in labour productivity over the past two decades than the non-digitally intensive sector (Chart 1) From 2002 to 2019, labour productivity grew 22.1% cumulatively in the digitally intensive sector, compared to 6.3% in the non-digitally intensive sector. During the first decade up to 2009, labour productivity grew modestly in the digitally intensive sector, by about 6%, while it basically remained flat in the non-digitally ...
Read More
Read More
Financial Post | Joe O'Connor | Feb 24, 2021 Anthony Di Iorio, co-founder of Ethereum, is plotting a way out of cryptocurrency to tackle a project he hopes will help change the world for the better Anthony Di Iorio wears the same thing every day, call it his uniform: a white t-shirt, which he orders in bulk at $10 a pop, blue jeans and white sneakers. The outfit isn’t a fashion statement, rather, it’s a time-saving measure, since he tends to have a million thoughts reeling through his mind when he wakes up in the morning and the last thing he needs to worry about is figuring out what to wear. So, a white t-shirt and jeans it is. As for those morning thoughts, numbered among them lately are being sure to visit regularly with his 70-year-old-plus parents, Lino and Lynne, pondering how to fix corporations that only care about the bottom line, occasionally fretting about his own personal safety and working on his “white paper,” which he plans to have peer reviewed. The paper details Di Iorio’s next big idea. It is something the 46-year-old is not ready to discuss quite yet, but he hints that the project to ...
Read More
Read More
The Verge | Nick Statt | Feb 23, 2021 3,319 coins at an average price of $51,236 per coin Square has just made another colossal investment in bitcoin, more than tripling its last investment in the cryptocurrency with a $170 million purchase of tokens. The digital payments company, which is run by vocal bitcoin advocate and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, disclosed the investment in its quarterly earnings report on Tuesday. See: TESLA Coin Now Appears on CoinMarketCap. Is Elon Revving the Engine Up? The company purchased about 3,318 bitcoins at an average price of $51,236, which signals remarkable confidence in bitcoin as it reaches record heights and invites renewed skepticism about its stability. “Aligned with the company’s purpose, Square believes that cryptocurrency is an instrument of economic empowerment, providing a way for individuals to participate in a global monetary system and secure their own financial future,” reads the company’s press release announcing the purchase. “The investment is part of Square’s ongoing commitment to bitcoin, and the company plans to assess its aggregate investment in bitcoin relative to its other investments on an ongoing basis.” Square first announced a major bitcoin investment in October of last year when it purchased $50 ...
Read More
Read More
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