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

Cryptoassets as National Currency? A Step Too Far

July 30, 2021

IMF Blog | Tobias Adrian and Rhoda Weeks-Brown | Jul 26, 2021 New digital forms of money have the potential to provide cheaper and faster payments, enhance financial inclusion, improve resilience and competition among payment providers, and facilitate cross-border transfers. But doing so is not straightforward. It requires significant investment as well as difficult policy choices, such as clarifying the role of the public and private sectors in providing and regulating digital forms of money. Some countries may be tempted by a shortcut: adopting cryptoassets as national currencies. Many are indeed secure, easy to access, and cheap to transact. We believe, however, that in most cases risks and costs outweigh potential benefits. Cryptoassets are privately issued tokens based on cryptographic techniques and denominated in their own unit of account. Their value can be extremely volatile. Bitcoin, for instance, reached a peak of $65,000 in April and crashed to less than half that value two months later. See:  Ripple Pilots a Private Ledger for Central Banks Launching CBDCs And yet, Bitcoin lives on. For some, it is an opportunity to transact anonymously—for good or bad. For others, it is a means to diversify portfolios and hold a speculative asset that can bring ...
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European Government Funds May Get Distributed by European Crowdfunding Platforms

July 30, 2021

Crowdfund Insider | JD Alois | Jul 26, 2021 Recently, a report was published regarding the European Commission distributing European (ESIF) funds through European crowdfunding platforms. Obviously, if this occurs it will be a boon for both platforms and issuers. The report was written by Karsten Wenzlaff, Ana Odorovic and Ronald Kleverlaan, along with consulting firm PwC. The authors are well known in the European Fintech and crowdfunding sectors. Crowdfund Insider connected with the authors of the report. Wenzlaff told CI: “The Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) are the main instrument for the European Union to create long-term growth and cohesion and achieve the policy objectives – it is a huge budget which has increased again for the next budget period 2021-2027. The way it works is that each country gets a certain amount and then the so-called Managing Authorities (MAs) are in charge of distributing the funds according to guidelines by the European Commission. These Managing Authorities are often Ministries for Infrastructure or Development Agency. The vast amount of funds is distributed through grants.” Wenzlaff explained that the breakthrough of this report is because, for the first time, the European Commission has created templates for the collaboration between the MAs ...
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The London Hard Fork is a big step towards Ethereum 2.0’s major upgrade

July 29, 2021

Financial Post | Amy ter Haar | Jul 29, 2021 The London Hard Fork represents a big step toward an overarching upgrade of the network known as Ethereum 2.0 The Ethereum network is one of the most established and probably the most used blockchains today. Its toolkit of functions has enabled it to become the home for multiple stablecoins, countless NFTs (non-fungible tokens), dapps (decentralized applications) and DeFi projects (decentralized finance projects). Moreover, its native digital asset, ETH (Ether), holds the position of second-largest cryptocurrency value by market cap. However, Ethereum’s explosive growth over the past six years has resulted in an energy intensive, expensive and inefficient blockchain that must now overcome some of these pain points. Enter, the London Hard Fork. On Aug. 4 at block 12,965,000, the London Hard Fork will go live on the Ethereum main network when a series of five protocol updates called EIPs (Ethereum Improvement Proposals) are deployed. See:  Ethereum cryptocurrency to slash carbon emissions The series of EIP upgrades require miners and nodes to update their software in order to keep interacting with Ethereum’s blockchain. Since the upgrade is not backward-compatible, it is known as a ‘hard fork’ — if a node doesn’t ...
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Trullion Platform Review: A Reliable Software to Automate Your Lease Accounting Process

July 29, 2021

Guest Post | Jul 29, 2021 Sticking to manual lease accounting processes and compliance with relevant standards can be a huge nightmare. The solution? Use Trullion, a dependable software that uses AI to automate and simplify your lease accounting workflows and compliance processes. In this review, we’ll look into how Trullion can help you establish seamless lease accounting processes and make complying with the required standards more efficient. What is Trullion? Trullion is an Artificial Intelligence or AI-powered Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that automates lease accounting workflows for auditors, Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), and accountants. The platform combines the structured and unstructured aspects of accounting by reading Excel and PDF files and turning them into financial workflows,   revenue recognition and lease accounting. Trullion is designed to provide a solution to accounting process silos most Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and accounting firms often fail to address. See:  Top 12 AI Use Cases: Artificial Intelligence in FinTech It can give you a 360° real-time view of your financial data, extract information from source documents and connect them to your audit trail, and speed up your ASC 842, IFRS 16, GASB 87 compliance process. Main features and functionalities Essentially, Trullion ...
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LendingClub Reports Strong 2nd Quarter Results, Shares Rise Dramatically

July 29, 2021

Crowdfund Insider | JD Alois | Jul 28, 2021 LendingClub (NYSE:LC), a Fintech that started as a peer-to-peer lender and now operating as a digital bank, has posted strong 2nd quarter results that easily topped expectations. LendingClub finally turned the corner on profitability shredding guidance that had expected a loss. Shares moved considerably higher in after-hours trading during a crowded earnings announcement day. At the start of 2021, LendingClub completed the acquisition of Radius Bank thus entering the red hot digital banking sector. This quarter is the first earnings round as a nationally chartered digital bank. According to LendingClub sequential revenue increased by 93%, driven by growth in marketplace lending revenue and increased net interest income from the retained portfolio of consumer loans. Total revenue was $204.4 million, almost double the previous quarter, with net income jumping to $9.4 million – in stark contrast to the $47.1 million loss delivered in Q1. See:  Why LendingClub’s Acquisition Of Radius Bank Is A Smart Deal The fact that LendingClub will now be able to hold deposits as a bank means a lower cost of funding for its online lending segment. LendingClub CEO Scott Sanborn, issued the following statement: “Our first full quarter ...
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Biden’s ‘Antitrust Revolution’ Overlooks AI—at Americans’ Peril

July 28, 2021

Wired | Bhaskar Chakravorti | Jul 27, 2021 A handful of companies have outsize influence on the world’s artificial intelligence. Policymakers must act now to stem the rise of powerful monopolies. Without intervention, AI could also help undermine democracy–through amplifying misinformation or enabling mass surveillance. The past year and a half has also underscored the impact of algorithmically powered social media, not just on the health of democracy, but on health care itself. The overall direction and net impact of AI sits on a knife's edge, unless AI R&D and applications are appropriately channeled with wider societal and economic benefits in mind. How can we ensure that? A handful of US tech companies, including Amazon, Alibaba, Alphabet, Facebook, and Netflix, along with Chinese mega-players such as Baidu, are responsible for $2 of every $3 spent globally on AI. They’re also among the top AI patent holders. Not only do their outsize budgets for AI dwarf others’, including the federal government’s, they also emphasize building internally rather than buying AI. Even though they buy comparatively little, they’ve still cornered the AI startup acquisition market. See:  Nobel-winning Psychologist: ‘Clearly AI is going to win. How people are going to adjust is a ...
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Request for Comments by Oct 26, 2021: Canadian securities regulators propose streamlined capital raising option for Canadian-listed issuers

July 28, 2021

CSA | Jul 28, 2021 Vancouver – The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) is proposing to introduce a new prospectus exemption for issuers listed on a Canadian stock exchange that is expected to provide a more efficient way for them to raise capital. “We’ve heard from market participants that the time and cost to prepare a short form prospectus is a barrier to capital raising for many smaller issuers,” said Louis Morisset, CSA Chair and President and CEO of the Autorité des marchés financiers. “The proposal would reduce regulatory burden, while maintaining robust investor protection.” The proposed Listed Issuer Financing Exemption is expected to reduce costs for issuers raising smaller amounts of capital through the public markets. It would also allow smaller issuers greater access to retail investors and provide retail investors with a broader choice of investments. The prospectus exemption would not be available to issuers that have been a reporting issuer for less than 12 months, nor to issuers that have not filed all continuous disclosure documents required under Canadian securities legislation. Eligible issuers would file a short offering document and the securities they issue would be freely tradeable. Under the proposed exemption, issuers could raise up to the greater ...
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What Is The Fastest Way To Raise Your Credit Score To Buy A House

July 28, 2021

Guest Post | Jul 28, 2021 Image:  Pixabay When buying a home, there are plenty of important factors a lender will consider when deciding whether or not to give you a mortgage. They will think about your income, your down payment, your other debts, and of course, your credit score. Your credit score is essentially a snapshot of your history as a borrower. The higher the score, the less risky you are to lend money to, in most cases. While most with an average credit score or above average will be fine, those who are below might experience a bit more trouble. But thankfully, you aren’t doomed to have a bad credit score forever. Read on as we go over some of the best ways to quickly raise your score to buy a home. Remove Negative Items on Your Credit Report Perhaps the fastest and most affordable way to raise your credit score is to remove negative items from your credit report. These generally include collections and inquiries. While each one might only hurt your credit a bit, if they pile up, it can have a major impact. Be sure to go through your report and ensure you do all ...
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How to Reduce Your Business Costs

July 28, 2021

Guest Post | Jul 28, 2021 Over 80% of enterprises fail due to cash flow problems. The figure is a dead giveaway of why you need to minimize your expenses. After all, reducing your business costs has a direct impact on your cash flow. Not only does it help you pocket more money, but it also bolsters your business financially. If you’re looking for tried and tested tips to reduce your business costs, consider following the tips below. 1. Invest in preventive measures Risks are inevitable for businesses, and when they happen, they often eat up a considerable chunk of your profits. To avoid experiencing the financial nightmare that comes from unforeseen threats, you must set preventive and protective measures to mitigate risks. For instance, if you invested in creating an app for your business, you need to ensure your critical business codes are protected against system failure or cybercriminals. An effective way of doing this is to back up your codes regularly. To avoid spending countless hours running your backups, which increases your business cost, run automatic DevOps backups. That way, your backups are done with very little to no workforce hours needed, and you know your code is ...
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Goldman Sachs Files Defi ETF Application

July 28, 2021

Bitcoin.com  | Sergio Goschenko | Jul 27, 2021 Goldman Sachs, one of the biggest banking institutions in the world, has filed an application to offer an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) linked to the performance of decentralized finance (defi) companies. The instrument, if approved, would help institutions and retail investors gain exposure to defi assets with the help of a regulated bank like Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs Proposes Defi ETF Goldman Sachs, one of leading commercial banks in the world, has introduced an application to the SEC to offer a defi-linked ETF. The defined ETF is called “Goldman Sachs Innovate Defi and Blockchain Equity ETF,” and it would seek to provide exposure to these technologies for regulated institutions. The performance of the fund would be linked to the Solactive Blockchain Technology Performance-Index. See:  10 Highlights From Goldman Sachs’ June 2021 Digital Asset Thought Piece This index follows a portfolio of tech industries that are invested in blockchain technologies. The index includes companies like Nokia, Alphabet, IBM, Microsoft, and Overstock. This would be the first ETF that aims to capitalize on the popularity that the defi sector has experienced this year. As Bitcoin.com News reported in June, Goldman Sachs has been courting ...
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