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FINTECH FRIDAY$ (EP.12-Oct 5): Building Blockchain Products & Decentralized Solutions for Enterprise and Startups with Mathieu Glaude, President and CEO of Northern Block
NCFA Canada | Oct 5, 2018
Ep12-Oct 5: Building Blockchain Products & Decentralized Solutions for Enterprise and Startups
About this episode: On this week's episode of the Fintech Friday$ podcast our host Manseeb Khan sits down with Mathieu Glaude the CEO and president of Northern Block. They talk about having a sovereign digital identity, the excitement behind stable coins and why supply chain in blockchain shouldn't be overlooked. Enjoy!
Host: Manseeb Khan, NCFA, Fintech Fridays show host
Guest: MATHIEU GLAUDE, President and CEO, Northern Block (LinkedIn)
Bio: Mr. Glaude is the President and CEO of Northern Block, a Toronto-based blockchain product development company building decentralized applications, enterprise solutions and developer tools for blockchain ecosystems. Mr. Glaude brings extensive expertise to product development in the enterprise technology space. Prior to Northern Block, he worked for Capital One Bank where he led many large scale customer-facing software development initiatives. Additionally, he owns a private equity fund focused on making early stage investments in the blockchain and emerging technology sectors.
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Transcription of Interview
Manseeb Khan: Hey this is Manseeb Khan and you are tuning into a brand-new episode of fintech Fridays.
Manseeb Khan: Today I have an amazing guest today. I got Matt Glaude from Northern Block. Matt thank you so much for sitting down me today. I know like every entrepreneur your days slammed packed. So, thank you for taking time out of your super hectic schedule to make it.
Mathieu Glaude: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Manseeb Khan: Absolutely. So, Matt could you just for the audience give us a little bit of who you are and a little bit of who and what Northern Block is?
Mathieu Glaude: Sure. So, my name is Mathieu Glaude. I'm a CEO, president of Northern Block, Northern Block is Toronto based Blockchain product development shop focused on building enterprise Blockchain solutions. So, we've been around for just over a year now. We're still a small team just under 25 employees but we're dabbling in all sorts of areas, so we're doing a bunch of interesting projects in the supply chain space and the identity space building tools and developer tools for writing smart contracts and doing a lot of cool stuff in the space working with many different clients in the business verticals.
Manseeb Khan: you have worked with some of the past bigger enterprises and now you guys are moving to smaller enterprises. Could you talk a little bit more of the challenges, trials, and tribulations you have had experience implementing blockchain technology into a bigger enterprise.
Mathieu Glaude: Yes sure. So just a bit of a background on when we first started Northern Blocks so my co-founder Sasha and myself have experience working both startups and larger enterprises. But prior to northern block we were both Capital One Bank building digital products for them. So, I personally was a product manager working on a bunch of different products. For example, the online banking space and payment infrastructure, some Agent desktop servicing and my co-founder Sasha was Agile coach grand master and we were partners the other they're executing on a lot of cool projects. so, when we first started getting into block chain technologies when we were still working on capital when we were looking in the enterprise space because that's where we were at the time that's what we were trying to investigate just specifically for the firm. We were out at the time if there was any applicability of these technologies so when we first started getting into it we were taking the lens of how you make this work within a larger enterprise right. So, once we finally decided that we saw enough of the market to go out there and there was room for a service shop because we really felt that there was a lack of execution in the enterprise block chain space. When we left Capital One we really took that approach of how we could build stuff internally and inside the larger enterprises. So, when we made that leap we got a few contracts with some larger firms, so some stock exchanges some consulting firm’s government agencies as well built a bunch of different projects. It wasn't us. There was some overlap and some of the stuff we're doing but they're very different verticals very different products. But I mean you were good at building products, so it doesn't really matter what industry we're in. I mean we work well with the clients that know their industry and know their stuff and we're good on just building products and executing so doesn't matter. But anyways all that to say that's when we started we were doing larger enterprise work I guess pretty rapidly. We found that it was difficult to get stuff beyond a certain point. We knew that right coming from larger enterprises. I don't know what drove us to go back there. But yeah there's a lot of barriers that we can get into those. But you know we really wanted to take stuff to production. We really saw the disruption that this technology could actually bring to the various industries and to the world itself and the benefits it has to the end user and returning the control of that ownership back to the end user. And we really didn't feel like this vision and these goals that we had to try to achieve this by taking stuff to production was the easiest to do within the larger enterprise. So that's when we kind of switched. switched our route and focused more on building outside.
Manseeb Khan: Blockchain all everything, that you hear in the news either positive or negative a little bit more positively skewed. Is that how incredible blocking technology is and like how incredible and beneficial it would be to I guess enterprises and just like big conglomerates. Do you see any disadvantages, enterprises be medium or big size integrating with block chain technology?
Mathieu Glaude: Yes. Not necessarily a disadvantage. There's a lot of proven use cases. If you look at the most popular things that are being worked on. This was from a Deloitte survey. Either this or last year. It seems like most large enterprises are doing something in blockchain right whether it's just building a proof concept or trying to do a pilot seems like over 80 percent of executives in these large companies I think are with over 500 companies surveyed are doing something so people are learning people are investigating. People are dabbling with it. I don't think there's a lack of use cases and I think there are tremendous advantages of building these solutions. I think the difficulty of getting past a certain barrier to implement is just the products that you build using blockchains are totally different than any existing product. If I'm if I'm a bank and I see that I could potentially leverage block sharing technologies for KYC for example to store customers data on there and there might be an advantage to share this customer data amongst a consortium of other banks. But it sounds like a good idea. But you know it's that there's a lack of economic incentive for them past a certain point to even want to do that. So, one thing is like the learning to get up to speed with this stuff and see what the advantages are. But these people know that you know they're smart people they know what advantages these things could bring but there's a lack of incentive to want to follow through with these programs. Often, we see that you know these large enterprises already have existing businesses that are doing very well and they're very profitable for them. So why would they want to build something totally new totally disruptive that would disrupt their existing moneymaking either. Exactly their current moneymaker. To do this new thing. Right so it's a big gamble and obviously seen as a gamble. There's a lack of success stories and stuff but it's definitely one of the big difficulties we're seeing is just like the incentive to go on to do with the economics.
Manseeb Khan: Yeah, I mean that seems to make sense right because it's a very you see with a lot of the bigger corporations a lot of the bigger conglomerates the current way of doing things the best way to make the money. And it's very hard to say if it's going to be disruptive how things are currently happening and flowing why would we want to do that. I wouldn't invest millions if not billions of dollars into this new thing that's going to destroy what I currently have going on. This is amazing. I'm comfortable doing this.
Mathieu Glaude: And at the same time when these large enterprises the number one risk factor is cyber security. Yes. And like you're seeing repeatedly all these hacks happening there was just last week that massive Facebook when it's nonstop and like the ones we're seeing in the news are only the ones that are being broadcast. Exactly and to you most.
Manseeb Khan: Yeah there's so many of them that none of the companies that want any publicity behind right.
Mathieu Glaude: Right. So, it's a big factor as well. If I'm an executive driving blockchain technologies or driving innovation within my firm. I if I was going to say OK let's invest in this product. I think we're going to be able to create a competitive advantage by doing this and create a good business model on top of this. Well then watch right. I'm going to build this decentralized ledger technology or whatever I'm doing and then like every other piece of technology inside my company I'm going to need to wrap it up with a thousand layers to make sure.
Manseeb Khan: That it's all secure it's good to go. Yeah.
Mathieu Glaude: So, you know back to that incentive why would I spend. Call it a few millions on this one I'm going to have to spend ten on top just to secure its rights. Yeah exactly. So, a lot of these things really impact why you know what we're not seeing things progressed as fast as we would like. It's really not. It's really not a lack of technology it's really one of the big things. So, a couple of times there's is just incentive to one.
Manseeb Khan: Yes absolutely. Absolutely. So, you did mention on the top of the episode that one of the things that Northern Block does focus on is supply chain. I think one of the big parts that a lot of media coverage is not getting behind is how important supply chain is in the aspect of block chain. So, could you share a little bit on your opinion on why we think supply chain is very important. And I guess some use cases for it.
Mathieu Glaude: Sure. Yes, it was. We have a couple supply products that were building back by block chain technologies. A lot of the stuff we do is I mean we dabble with public block chains depending on the use case and the business requirements. You can make a distinction, right? between the public watching and permissions or consortium or even private auctions. A lot of the stuff that our partners and our clients want to build require consortium style. So that means identifying a bunch of parties that want to partner together to share data or share assets between themselves on an open ledger between themselves between the whole world just between them. So if you're saying I want to do a supply chain solution if you imagine McDonald's for example wanting to do a block chain based supply chain solution to track the quality of their ground beef or their meats through the whole supply chain from time the cow was born to someone who consumes a hamburger you know you probably wouldn't put that on a public block chain like Ethereum or Bitcoin or you know whatever. I don't necessarily need the whole world to see how the access to even though you can encrypt stuff to have access to you know the patterns and data and what's happening so maybe in that case I have a let’s call it a hundred different parties. Probably more complicated than we think it interacts with you know from cow to hamburger. So as an end user it would be important for me to know that what I'm eating is actually what it is exactly. I've seen more and more of this stuff especially in the social conscious stuff like I want to know that what I'm getting is what it really is and so then that really comes down to how are you able to properly track the provenance of whatever good or whatever you're consuming. So back to that McDonalds example if I have 100 people in the supply chain then potentially there is all these touch points where people are interacting with the product or whatever the product is at that point. I might want to capture datapoints though might want to capture it you know, and it could be data points from an actual person that's touching it, or it could be data points from an IoT device or sensors or whatever for example that temperature controlling or whatever you know whatever success metrics we have for this product. So, get McDonald's I want to build the solution that every single person is going to use at the same time. It's hard to do.
Manseeb Khan: It's like No absolutely especially like we talked about McDonald's it's a huge franchise such a huge company it can be very hard to implement block supply chain solution for hamburgers or even French fries.
Mathieu Glaude: And then do they want it to do they want. At the same time if now I'm implementing this solution on creating a lot more audit ability and visibility into what's happening in the supply chain through all the different members want that's some of them are probably making a decent living there and maybe they're not bringing as much value to this whole thing but they're making money out of it so why would they want everyone else to see that exactly. So, there's an incentive there as well. But you can imagine if someone like McDonald's tried to implement all these people are most likely so dependent on that client they would have to buy into that. Yeah but so these are some of the types of things that we're doing is that we're building these consortium networks of parties for specific processes that we could go capture and we're very aware how hard it is to you know scale something that size that example we just gave. So what we do is with our partners in the industries that we're working in we really try to get a specific slice of that supply chain and we try to get everyone on their approved the concept do a pilot run it's successful with them once we've proven that there's enough value for the users and everyone involved and that's when we can start kind of expanding it in whatever direction we want to.
Manseeb Khan: Yeah absolutely. So, it's important to have a niche target base. And speaking of all this McDonalds is getting a little a little hungry. So, you did also mention that northern block is doing some work in the digital identity space. Could you talk a little bit more about I guess in your terms what digital identity is and the advantages of implementing digital identity.
Mathieu Glaude: Yeah sure that's one of those big problems that a lot of different people are trying to solve. Back to the Facebook example it's like Facebook owns all their user’s data so their users are their product, or their site and they use that data to make money. So, the promise of digital identity is back to the fact that you can return data ownership to the user. So, you have this thing called sovereign identity as an individual I should own who I am. And so, what I interact with different people whether it's at the airport taking a flight and I need to show ID or I'm at the LCBO trying to buy a bottle of wine and then to verify my age or whatever it is that people need access to my personal information. I should be able to choose exactly what I shared with these people without them having access to all my information not just decentralizes the process right. Instead of all these different parties having their own databases that are vulnerable to attacks with my personal information on it which could harm me instead I have my identity and my personal information stored in a decentralized manner and then I could who's who I share it with. And, what you share essentially with who. Right exactly. And so, like I mentioned that there's a bunch of different people that are trying to do stuff in that space. I mean you hear about the Uport or civic and those are some of the leaders in the space right now. We haven't seen much adoption yet. Of course, this is indicative of the whole space. So, what we're doing is, so we had worked on a couple of concepts. So, we got familiar with the topic how can we use the benefits of it since Northern Block builds decentralize applications, identity is a big factor for every single one. Identity is at the center of every single application. And so, if I want to for example in my supply chain solution if it's decentralized enough I want to make sure that the data that is being provided is coming from a certain person. I want to verify it's coming from that person. I want to know that it's that person driving the data. So, it's clean data. There's no applicability there. If I have trade financing tool or asset trading or whatever you need to know who the person is right based on whatever jurisdiction you're operating in they're making or rules or regulations whether you need to be accredited whether KYC has to be done to be able to transact. So all these things could potentially be decentralized so we could actually stop having hundreds and thousands millions of companies just hoarding everyone's personal data and you really return ownership of the owner which is the user which is yourself and then you could actually just control we share it with and who sees it and you know how it's being used and you could potentially imagine a future where you could actually make money out of sharing that stuff right if you want and share it.
Manseeb Khan: Yeah absolutely. A very interesting use case and everybody gets to be like their own influencer in the sense of like oh hey this Car company has tried to target me. Ok cool I'll share this information, so they know that I want a minivan or what have you. Right.
Mathieu Glaude: Yeah and then imagine like every time you go online now you're seeing all these websites that tell you that there are other browsing the cookies. And so, what if you had a decentralized browser and then your identity is attached to your usage right. So instead of all these websites taking cookies your taking the cookies and then if they want the cookies and they could ask you for it and then you could start creating markets like that. Right. So more. It's just that it's a win for the user for people.
Manseeb Khan: Yeah absolutely. And it goes back to like what we started with is like it comes down to reclaiming who you really are and your sovereign identity and just taking it from there right like you have ownership of who you are. Ideally you want to have the exact same ownership in a digital space.
Mathieu Glaude: And it removes friction like you don't have to do all the repetition everywhere. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Every time you need to consume a product or service the same thing you're providing the same information. So, it removes friction for you and ultimately back to this whole incentive thing but ultimately it will be cost savings for all these companies as well having to manage and secure your private data. They would own it
Manseeb Khan: Or even like personally like I know. I can count the number of times I forgot my ID and I go to bar, and they ask for my ID. Like just Google my name. I've pretty good SEO behind name, you can just Google me. I'm who I am.
Mathieu Glaude: If the data is as trust it's trustworthy enough that's what we're trying to get like authentic data that people trust is accurate then you could start getting in situations where I don't even need to share like a certain piece of information if they need it. If another trusted party let's call it a bank for saying a bank is trusted enough to make an attestation that I am who I am, I live at this address and whatever right. So potentially you could limit the amount of information that's being shared. If people are trusting what other people have said about you.
Manseeb Khan: Yeah exactly. That's a cool concept. Yeah that's like that's exactly what going to touch a little bit more next if there's more than enough opportunity of people becoming trusting parties like trusting party don't necessarily have to be institutions or an organization they can just they can't even be individuals of like yeah this is. That's him that's my little goofball boom.
Mathieu Glaude: And you know if you're storing all that data all these transactions on an immutable ledger one could think that there are projects in space as well and I think this is going to be huge. It's the whole status of reputation side of things that now it could actually create a standard for a status or reputation of someone that impacts what these people are allowed to do or potentially if these people are interacting with other people and impacts the quality of the data they're testing to something that I know there a reputable person and I know they're a reputable person because they've done all these things and it can start screening business logic around the stuff and you know really decentralized it no longer I can actually focus on the bank or exactly realty companies.
Manseeb Khan: And it's more power to the individual right. It goes down to back having sovereign identity and just having even more validation in I guess the blockchain ecosystem or what have you. Exactly. So other than supply chain and having a digital identity what else excites you about the blocking space?
Mathieu Glaude: There's a lot of cool things that have a lot of potential. Just starting in the public space taking a step out of the enterprise where like the enterprise you talk about supply chain stuff and IoT stuff, identity stuff we could get back to. But some of the some of the things that we're seeing that are really exciting in the public blockchain space. One is the decentralized exchanges. Once the hit once they get it right and you're able to do a true peer to peer exchange of assets and you're able to create a market that's going to be very powerful. So, we're excited about the decentralized exchanges. Stable coins have been a huge topic of discussion. Basically, a stable home just a better asset to trade because it just holds its value. Whereas people aren't comfortable right now using a lot of the crypto assets as a leverage or to move around just because of the fluctuation in prices right.
Manseeb Khan: So, a stable coin be something like an asset that is like I guess tied down with gold or like a legit like physical commodity or?
Mathieu Glaude: Yeah there's a bunch of different ways to do it. It could be tied to a commodity it could be tied to the U.S. dollar right. Or it could be tied to a bucket of crypto assets. There's a bunch of difference approaches there and what we're seeing all these different things take a couple of weeks ago the exchange Gemini's and the U.S. exchange owned by the Winklevoss twins. Right. Right. Those two, the Facebook guys. So, they launched the stable coin pegged to the U.S. dollar. So you know if I think about a used case that I want to do cross-border remittances it might not be the greatest right now with the current market conditions tend to use ether or use lite coining or to use bitcoin just because if you know from the time I send it and then the time it gets to a place in this transaction someone else that value fluctuates so much and so people are looking to solve that problem of how could you use distributed ledgers for these transactions that are pegged to something more stable or if it's fiat or a bucket of crypto.
Manseeb Khan: Right. Right. if I accidentally send somebody even more money than I should I get pissed. Like I couldn't imagine sending somebody the exact Ethereum that they requested like oh it's a skyrocket 15 percent, like god.
Mathieu Glaude: Yeah, it's just that it's not usable in the real world. Absolutely. Absolutely. You can scale that business. So yeah, it's an interesting space as well that there's a bunch of stuff that is super exciting that people are working on in the public space. I mean there was a personally in Northern Block we're working on a lot of developer tools. so the technology is still very early on and depending of where you're building on what the block chain you're building you're not necessarily going to get the same help from tools and documentation and stuff like that which makes it easier to develop which in a lot of you know software development outside of outside of smart contracts and blocking technologies like it's more mature. So, you have that subsets of developer that there are less barriers to execute and implement stuff whereas if you're smart contract developer the time you'll have is probably developing on Ethereum just because they're the most mature platform and mature block chain and set of tools right. I mean even at a lot of the tools are very fragmented and need to go all over the place right. What we're doing and what we're trying to help the developers because you know that's been a big pain point for us trying to build this stuff. Yeah how can we bring everything together to make it super easy to rights to deploy smart contracts to test that trust us networks to the point nodes to deploy API is all the stuff that there's a lot of commonalities for any developer that's trying to do this or trying to build blockchain products. so, we're implicated in that space as well and we're happy a few team members of ours are going to San Francisco on Friday this week actually. To participate in San Francisco Ethereum hackathon so exciting to see just what the people are working on and trying to move forward.
Manseeb Khan: Yes. No absolutely. I mean I'm very excited to see you creating a I guess central hub with all the developer tools for everybody out there like that be. That's got to be more than more than valuable to everybody.
Mathieu Glaude: Ultimately, it's the developers that choose where things are being built. Exactly. It's not the business of the business as have other requirements and everything but at the end of the day it's a developer that pulls the trigger on it. Yeah. If you could give them proper toolkits to be able to execute better. Yeah, I think that that's it's a win for everyone right. And so, us being a first user of that it's really helpful building and because we're building it for ourselves and we're using it ourselves. And we're looking forward to growing that product into the market.
Manseeb Khan: So, Matt if people want to get in touch with you or Northern Block or even one of the amazing devs that you're sending are San Francisco will be the best way to contact you guys would it be to Twitter or Snapchat you. How do we. Well the best way to get touch with us.
Mathieu Glaude: We're not on snapchat but you could just Google US Northern block online. Northernblock.ca or on most social channels. We're active on Twitter LinkedIn so you could find us pretty easily there and that but please reach out if you have any questions. We love talking to people about this stuff.
Manseeb Khan: Well Matt thank you so much for sitting down with me today. I learned way more about supply chain and blockchain than I ever would have even. I'm very excited about having a sovereign identity and I'm very excited to see what's more in store. Other than the developer tools and just the amazing work that you do in Northern Block. I can't wait to have you on the show again.
Mathieu Glaude: Thank you. I appreciate you have a me. This was a fun conversation.
End of Podcast
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November 11, 2026 | NCFA Story Intelligence | Competition And Market Structure, Wealthtech Investing And Trading, Regulation And Policy Canada is cutting bank fees and switching barriers after years of weak competition, high concentration and poor productivity. On November 7, 2026, the federal government proposed something Canadian investors have complained about for years. Banks would no longer be allowed to charge most investment account transfer fees, which typically cost about $150 per account. Ottawa also wants clearer transfer information and tighter timelines for moving investments to another financial institution. The fee matters because leaving can already be slow and frustrating. Receiving firms often reimburse the outgoing charge to win the account. That means a fee collected by the institution losing the customer can become part of the acquisition cost for the institution trying to win that customer. Canada's six largest banks hold roughly 93% of banking assets. The Competition Bureau was warning about barriers facing fintech competitors in 2017. Ottawa began reviewing open banking in 2018. A federal advisory committee later recommended an operating system by January 2023 and warned that government should not delay. January 2023 came and went. Real Time Rail also slipped years beyond its first expected ...
November 10, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Insight | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Capital Markets Infrastructure And Funding, Regulation And Policy Funds, Collateral And Settlement Lead Canada’s Near Term Tokenization Opportunity On November 10, 2026, the Canadian Securities Administrators published its Project Tokenization Phase 1 findings, setting out where Canadian market participants see the strongest commercial opportunities for tokenization and what regulators plan to test next. The report draws on 233 organizations, 21 bilateral meetings and 80 survey responses, along with workshops attended by 281 people in Calgary and 491 in Toronto. Participants put investment funds, private assets, collateral, treasury and settlement infrastructure ahead of public stocks as the strongest near term opportunities. The report also cuts through one of tokenization’s biggest sales pitches. Blockchain can change how an asset is recorded, transferred or settled, but it doesn't automatically create liquidity, investor demand, broader eligibility or stronger ownership rights. Those outcomes still depend on the product, market, legal structure and infrastructure around it. The CSA now plans to take specific projects into Phase 2 through a 120 day public call for proposals. Firms may be able to use existing regulatory processes, tailored regulatory treatment or bounded testing in a ...
Nov 11, 2026 A positive work environment is key for any team that wants to succeed. Team morale is crucial for productivity, motivation, and job satisfaction. Engaging in activities that lift spirits and strengthen connections can lead to great results. Creating a positive team environment requires creativity, engagement, and some fun. Each activity can strengthen connections, boost motivation, and improve workplace dynamics. When teams focus on strategies to boost morale, they work toward shared success. These activities can lead to lasting memories and help build a stronger team culture. Here are some fun strategies to help improve your team's morale and make the workplace livelier. Fun at the Arcade Visiting an arcade spot is a great way to enjoy time together and build teamwork. Imagine your team facing challenges with various games. Whether it's racing or playing team games, the arcade encourages friendly competition and bonding. These fun experiences can help reduce stress and improve relationships among coworkers. Arcades offer many options to suit diverse interests and skill levels. The lively atmosphere invites everyone to relax and take a break from their daily tasks. Shared laughter and enjoyment can lead to better communication and teamwork when you return to the ...
November 10, 2026 | Market Activity | Fundraising, Investing, Trading, Leadership, Competition, Human Capital, Health A Brokerage Race Beyond $0 Commissions On November 10, 2026, Webull Canada added Nasdaq Basic Canada, giving clients free real time Level 1 quote and trade data across Canadian listed equities. The feed provides best bid, best offer and last sale information for stocks listed on the TSX, TSX Venture, CSE and Cboe Canada. Nasdaq says its consolidated feed can reduce Level 1 market data costs by more than 60% compared with traditional Canadian data packages. Webull isn't first to give Canadian investors free real time information. The more interesting story is how quickly another paid feature is becoming part of the basic brokerage account. Wealthsimple helped normalize $0 trading in 2019, Questrade followed in 2025 and Webull dropped its own commissions in April 2026. With the headline trading fee largely gone, brokers now need other reasons for investors to move money and keep it on the platform. Who Led Canada’s Race To $0 Trading And Free Market Data Wealthsimple Trade launched nationally on March 13, 2019 with $0 commissions on Canadian and U.S. stocks and ETFs. Questrade removed commissions on listed stocks and ETFs ...
November 10, 2026 | Market Activity | Artificial Intelligence And Data, Capital Markets Infrastructure And Funding A Toronto Fintech Riskfuel Analytics Brings AI Pricing Into BBVA’s Global Markets Workflow On November 10, 2026, BBVA deployed Riskfuel Analytics' neural pricing technology inside the pre-trade structuring workflow for autocallable products on its ePricer platform. Riskfuel is a Toronto fintech founded in 2019 that builds AI models for derivatives pricing. BBVA is a global bank with a large corporate and investment banking business. The deployment puts Canadian built AI directly into the calculations used to design complex structured products at a major global bank. Riskfuel's model is trained on BBVA's own pricing engine and uses more than 4,000 market and product inputs. The company says the surrogate was tested against more than 100,000 trades and can evaluate thousands of candidate structures in under a minute. BBVA had already added AI generated investment ideas to ePricer in September. Riskfuel goes further into the workflow by speeding up the numerical pricing work while BBVA's own model remains the reference. How Riskfuel Speeds Up BBVA's Autocallable Pricing Autocallables can depend on volatility, interest rates, dividends, maturity, coupon levels and several barrier conditions. Autocallables are structured investments ...
Nov 12, 2026 Buying a Canadian money services business starts with identifying what the buyer will acquire: a legal entity, a registration history, contracts, records and possibly an active operation. The value of that package depends on whether it supports the services the new owner intends to provide. A FINTRAC registration entry is an important starting point. It does not establish the company’s financial condition, the quality of its compliance programme or the availability of banking relationships after an acquisition. A payment business may also need a separate assessment under the Retail Payment Activities Act, or RPAA. For investors evaluating a Canadian MSB company for sale, due diligence should connect registration status, actual activities, transaction structure and financial evidence before the parties agree a completion timetable. Verify the Canadian MSB registration and legal entity Begin with the target’s exact legal name, incorporation details, registration number and current status. Match the entity in the corporate documents to the entity in FINTRAC’s Money Services Business Registry. FINTRAC explicitly states that registration does not mean it endorses or licenses a business. It also states that it does not issue licences or certificates of registration. A sales presentation using the phrase “FINTRAC licence” should ...
November 12, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Insight | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Capital Markets Infrastructure And Funding, Wealthtech Investing And Trading Strategy still runs a software business, but Bitcoin now dominates its assets and capital raising. MSCI no longer treats that balance as an index eligible operating company. November 11, 2026, MSCI confirmed Strategy’s removal from the MSCI USA and MSCI World indexes after the November 30 close under its new methodology for non operating companies. MSCI is one of the world’s largest index providers, and its benchmarks are followed by funds investing across global equity markets. Japan’s Metaplanet is also being removed from an MSCI index. MSCI has decided that Strategy no longer qualifies for its equity indexes because Bitcoin now dominates its assets and much of its capital raising. Strategy still sells software and reports operating revenue, but MSCI is drawing a line between a business that holds investment assets and one where those assets have become the main financial story. Why Is MSCI Removing Strategy From Its Indexes? MSCI first looked at a rule aimed specifically at digital asset treasury companies. It later dropped that proposal and change it's methodology to cover companies whose finances ...
Nov 12, 2026 Crypto market cap is calculated by multiplying an asset's reference price by its circulating supply. A token priced at $2 with 50 million units circulating has a market cap of $100 million. The calculation estimates the value of that supply at the reference price; it does not total the money investors deposited. To understand a change in the ranking, examine both inputs and the provider's definitions. A larger number can result from price changes, supply changes, or revised reporting. Establish what the two inputs represent The arithmetic is simple, but neither input is self-explanatory. “Price” may be a reference assembled from selected trading pairs and venues, rather than the last transaction on the exchange you use. A provider may exclude observations or convert quote currencies. Two services can publish different estimates because their source selection and methods differ. Circulating supply is an estimate of units treated as available in the market under a provider's rules. It may differ from the number minted, the total recorded by a contract, or the maximum permitted under a protocol's current design. Locked balances, treasury allocations, burns, and scheduled releases require interpretation. A transparent methodology matters because identical arithmetic can still use ...
November 11, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Insight | Artificial Intelligence And Data, Capital Markets Infrastructure And Funding, Risk Compliance And Regtech Financial firms are putting AI agents into production well before giving them broad financial authority. That creates time to set identity, permissions and transaction controls before autonomous execution becomes common. On November 11, 2026, Bank of England Financial Policy Committee external member Jonathan Hall used his final FPC speech to examine what happens when AI agents get more authority inside financial firms. A Bank of England and FCA survey of 196 firms found that 80% already deploy AI agents and another 14% plan to within 12 months. Only 2% reported agents with broad autonomy, and none of those were in trading and payments. Finance is adopting agents quickly, but firms are still keeping people and hard limits around the decisions that can change money, positions or customer outcomes. AI Agents Are In Finance But They Are Not Trading Alone The 2026 Bank of England and FCA survey separates four levels of authority: Decision support lets an agent recommend an action while a person decides and executes it. Constrained execution lets the agent act inside preset rules. Conditional autonomy ...
November 10, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Insight | Capital Markets Infrastructure And Funding, Entrepreneurs Startups Small Businesses, Equity Crowdfunding And Alternative Funding A small group of large rounds is carrying Canadian venture totals while deal count and growth stage financing remain well below recent norms. On November 10, 2026, the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association published its Q3 2026 venture capital report. Canadian companies raised $4.3 billion across 397 deals through September, only 1% less capital than a year earlier. But 23 rounds of $50 million or more represented just 6% of disclosed deals and absorbed 58% of all venture capital invested. Deal count has also fallen every year since 2021. The national total is holding up far better than the number of companies getting financed. Six Big Rounds Carried 59% Of Q3 Venture Capital Q3 produced $1.35 billion across 129 deals. Capital was 1% higher than Q2, but deal count fell 15%. Six rounds above $50 million accounted for $793 million, or 59% of the quarter’s capital. That's a decent quarter for the companies that closed those rounds, but a weak quarter for everyone else. Mega rounds above $50 million totalled $2.5 billion across 23 transactions ...
November 11, 2026 | NCFA Story Intelligence | Competition And Market Structure, Wealthtech Investing And Trading, Regulation And Policy Canada is cutting bank fees and switching barriers after years of weak competition, high concentration and poor productivity. On November 7, 2026, the federal government proposed something Canadian investors have complained about for years. Banks would no longer be allowed to charge most investment account transfer fees, which typically cost about $150 per account. Ottawa also wants clearer transfer information and tighter timelines for moving investments to another financial institution. The fee matters because leaving can already be slow and frustrating. Receiving firms often reimburse the outgoing charge to win the account. That means a fee collected by the institution losing the customer can become part of the acquisition cost for the institution trying to win that customer. Canada's six largest banks hold roughly 93% of banking assets. The Competition Bureau was warning about barriers facing fintech competitors in 2017. Ottawa began reviewing open banking in 2018. A federal advisory committee later recommended an operating system by January 2023 and warned that government should not delay. January 2023 came and went. Real Time Rail also slipped years beyond its first expected ...
November 10, 2026 | NCFA Fintech Market Insight | Digital Assets Blockchain And Tokenization, Capital Markets Infrastructure And Funding, Regulation And Policy Funds, Collateral And Settlement Lead Canada’s Near Term Tokenization Opportunity On November 10, 2026, the Canadian Securities Administrators published its Project Tokenization Phase 1 findings, setting out where Canadian market participants see the strongest commercial opportunities for tokenization and what regulators plan to test next. The report draws on 233 organizations, 21 bilateral meetings and 80 survey responses, along with workshops attended by 281 people in Calgary and 491 in Toronto. Participants put investment funds, private assets, collateral, treasury and settlement infrastructure ahead of public stocks as the strongest near term opportunities. The report also cuts through one of tokenization’s biggest sales pitches. Blockchain can change how an asset is recorded, transferred or settled, but it doesn't automatically create liquidity, investor demand, broader eligibility or stronger ownership rights. Those outcomes still depend on the product, market, legal structure and infrastructure around it. The CSA now plans to take specific projects into Phase 2 through a 120 day public call for proposals. Firms may be able to use existing regulatory processes, tailored regulatory treatment or bounded testing in a ...
Nov 11, 2026 A positive work environment is key for any team that wants to succeed. Team morale is crucial for productivity, motivation, and job satisfaction. Engaging in activities that lift spirits and strengthen connections can lead to great results. Creating a positive team environment requires creativity, engagement, and some fun. Each activity can strengthen connections, boost motivation, and improve workplace dynamics. When teams focus on strategies to boost morale, they work toward shared success. These activities can lead to lasting memories and help build a stronger team culture. Here are some fun strategies to help improve your team's morale and make the workplace livelier. Fun at the Arcade Visiting an arcade spot is a great way to enjoy time together and build teamwork. Imagine your team facing challenges with various games. Whether it's racing or playing team games, the arcade encourages friendly competition and bonding. These fun experiences can help reduce stress and improve relationships among coworkers. Arcades offer many options to suit diverse interests and skill levels. The lively atmosphere invites everyone to relax and take a break from their daily tasks. Shared laughter and enjoyment can lead to better communication and teamwork when you return to the ...
November 10, 2026 | Market Activity | Fundraising, Investing, Trading, Leadership, Competition, Human Capital, Health A Brokerage Race Beyond $0 Commissions On November 10, 2026, Webull Canada added Nasdaq Basic Canada, giving clients free real time Level 1 quote and trade data across Canadian listed equities. The feed provides best bid, best offer and last sale information for stocks listed on the TSX, TSX Venture, CSE and Cboe Canada. Nasdaq says its consolidated feed can reduce Level 1 market data costs by more than 60% compared with traditional Canadian data packages. Webull isn't first to give Canadian investors free real time information. The more interesting story is how quickly another paid feature is becoming part of the basic brokerage account. Wealthsimple helped normalize $0 trading in 2019, Questrade followed in 2025 and Webull dropped its own commissions in April 2026. With the headline trading fee largely gone, brokers now need other reasons for investors to move money and keep it on the platform. Who Led Canada’s Race To $0 Trading And Free Market Data Wealthsimple Trade launched nationally on March 13, 2019 with $0 commissions on Canadian and U.S. stocks and ETFs. Questrade removed commissions on listed stocks and ETFs ...
November 10, 2026 | Market Activity | Artificial Intelligence And Data, Capital Markets Infrastructure And Funding A Toronto Fintech Riskfuel Analytics Brings AI Pricing Into BBVA’s Global Markets Workflow On November 10, 2026, BBVA deployed Riskfuel Analytics' neural pricing technology inside the pre-trade structuring workflow for autocallable products on its ePricer platform. Riskfuel is a Toronto fintech founded in 2019 that builds AI models for derivatives pricing. BBVA is a global bank with a large corporate and investment banking business. The deployment puts Canadian built AI directly into the calculations used to design complex structured products at a major global bank. Riskfuel's model is trained on BBVA's own pricing engine and uses more than 4,000 market and product inputs. The company says the surrogate was tested against more than 100,000 trades and can evaluate thousands of candidate structures in under a minute. BBVA had already added AI generated investment ideas to ePricer in September. Riskfuel goes further into the workflow by speeding up the numerical pricing work while BBVA's own model remains the reference. How Riskfuel Speeds Up BBVA's Autocallable Pricing Autocallables can depend on volatility, interest rates, dividends, maturity, coupon levels and several barrier conditions. Autocallables are structured investments ...
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