Paul Schulte, Advisor, Banking and Financial Services
August 22nd, 2019
Paul Schulte is the Founder and Managing Editor of Shulte Research based in Singapore. Paul's roles[...]
How AI and Blockchain Have Changed Canada’s Business World
Guest post | Marie Fincher | Oct 26, 2018
The international business market is filled with the implementation of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. Professionals trained in their industries fear the day when AI will be sufficiently developed to swap places with them.
Canada is a powerhouse in this regard and given the nature of government and organizational legislations already in place, pieces are slowly falling into place. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how AI and blockchain technologies have changed the face of Canada’s business world and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
The State of AI and Blockchain
Before we introduce the potential of these technologies in perspective to Canada’s growth, let’s clear them up a bit. Artificial intelligence represents a step towards a utopian future where people focus on personal and professional development, while automated machines do the rest for them. We see this trend in factory manufacture, web development and even GPS systems. It is most commonly seen in social media and other internet platforms in a form of a chatbot, a constantly-learning algorithm capable of customer support and rudimentary communication.
See: Cannabis & blockchain: Bad romance or a perfect match?
In terms of blockchain, the technology is widely used to track cryptocurrency exchange across the public and dark web. It was introduced in necessity and with noble intent. This initial role was quickly transcended when businesses saw the potential of tracking their own, internal data with blockchain. Soon the proverbial cloud was filled with financial documents, business reports and HR paperwork. The technology continues to provide a cleaner, quicker and cheaper way of doing business for willing participants. But how do these technologies fare in terms of Canadian economy and business industry?
AI in Canada’s Business Development
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have become a mainstay in numerous industries. Things such as AR apps, chatbots and self-driven vehicles are not a thing of hypothesis anymore. Canada’s own development in that respect has received global praise, given the open nature of their dealings.
Foreign investors continue to add their contributions to the proverbial table and continue to accelerate Canada’s AI breakthroughs. With the USA and China and their continuous inward spiral, Canada is poised to emerge as the leader in terms of technological development and infrastructural expansion across the globe.
As global support continues to rise for the North American country, so does the government and union support. Canada’s lawyers association expressed their thoughts on the potential of both AI and blockchain in the country’s economic development. With this level of support, both small startups and large enterprises are encouraged to seek new innovations.
The Blockchain Aspect of Canada’s Development
Even though blockchain started as a means to track cryptocurrency exchange, its presence and potential cannot be overstated. The technology can now be applied to financial tracking, maintaining of documents as well as networking between companies. This opens the door for international partnership opportunities which were impossible only a few years ago. Canada’s numerous industries, including renewable energy, have already expressed their interest and desire for blockchain implementation.
See: How Blockchain Can Help Marketers Build Better Relationships with Their Customers
This mentality serves to prove the open-minded nature of Canada’s CEOs towards pioneering new ways of doing business. Imagine a Canada in which law enforcement, formal education and even home security are all interconnected through blockchain technologies. The safety of individual citizens as well as their professional development potential would effectively skyrocket as a result. However, such an endeavor would mean a nation-wide effort, both from government and private sectors. Whether or not this is the blockchain future we will see in the coming years remains to be seen.
What the Future Holds (Conclusion)
It’s hard to talk about the future and AI development without sounding too optimistic. Global initiatives based in Canada have already begun developing joint technology based on AI and blockchain. This tech aims to improve the business decision-making and development of the consumer loans market across Canada.
Toronto’s stock exchange has already seen a surge in popularity of blockchain when it comes to public stock trade. The aim is to have this technology present in everyday stock trade in order to streamline the processes and ensure that more exchange takes place each day. Businesses and stock owners have responded positively to this change of pace, which bodes well for blockchain in Canada’s trade scene.
See: Why FinTech needs 5G
Make sure to keep an eye out for announcements, news coverage and social media reception of Canada’s business world to AI and blockchain. No matter where you stand personally in regards to autonomous technologies in public use, fact of the matter is that Canada is leading the charge. The country has seen a spike in popularity both from overseas investors and ambitious youth ready to disrupt the industry and bring about a technological change. All that is left is to wait for the inevitable country-wide implementation of blockchain technology and AI to gauge the public interest and utility of the project.
* * *
Marie Fincher is a content writer at Trust My Paper with a background in marketing, technology and business intelligence. She frequently writes about data science, BI, new marketing trends and branding strategies. Marie gradually changed her focus from working in marketing to writing about it.
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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Decrypt | Andrew Hayward | May 27, 2020 First came CryptoKitties, and now Dapper Labs is launching a licensed hoops game with potentially massive mainstream appeal In brief NBA Top Shot, a blockchain-based collectibles game, is lauching in closed beta. The licensed game is developed by Dapper Labs, the studio behind CryptoKitties. Top Shot features tokenized NBA highlights and also pairs with a mobile hoops game. CryptoKitties developer Dapper Labs is going big for its latest project: NBA Top Shot, an officially licensed, blockchain-driven collectible game featuring tokenized highlights from basketball’s greatest stars. See: How the Pandemic Is Pushing Blockchain Forward It will be available to play next week, at least to those who registered interest and receive an invitation to the soon-to-be-released closed beta test. “What Top Shot does is it allows fans to buy a piece of the on-court action, actually own it, and then be able to sell it,” Dapper Labs VP of Marketing and Partnerships Caty Tedman told Decrypt. “It creates a new economy around the sport that’s never existed before that we’re particularly excited about.” The tokenized moments arrive as interactive “snapshots of a moment in time,” explained Tedman. They’re multi-faceted, animated widgets of sorts ...
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Sifted | Tim Smith | May 26, 2020 As coronavirus has forced classrooms around the world to move online, kids are getting creative in trying to sabotage lessons Georgina Farnham, a Barcelona-based English literature and language teacher, was just getting used to the transition to online teaching when, one day, she thought the internet trolls had parked their tanks on her lawn. Farnham was making use of Kahoot!, the Norwegian educational games app, when the sabotage struck. “We were playing a game and it kept just crashing and not giving kids time to answer the questions, and on the leader board, all of these ridiculous names that hadn’t been entered into the game as players were coming up: ‘gayboy27’, ‘Covid-19’ — offensive names,” she explains. See: 58 Must-Read Remote Work Resources | 50 Great Remote Working Resources The kids said it was nothing to do with them, and Farnham got worried: “I thought someone had hacked into our game and was watching us, and I was worried for our cyber security.” Farnham quickly contacted the Kahoot! customer service team to find out what was going on. But the culprits, as it turned out, were closer to home than she had ...
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Greater Capitalism: How the pandemic is currently reshaping America’s economic system for the better
Forbes | Randall Lane | May 26, 2020 In a matter of weeks, Covid-19 spurred seismic shifts in how we work, learn and transact, and it helped usher in a new era that is smarter and fairer. The surreal year 2020 produces a personal Groundhog Day effect. The clock moves at one-quarter speed as the time-numbing diversions and necessities of a century ago, from jigsaw puzzles to yeast, fly off the virtual shelves. Simultaneously, though, the world is transforming at a pace unlike any experienced since World War II. In a matter of weeks, seismic, permanent shifts have occurred in how we work, learn and transact. The most significant shift is taking place in our economic system itself. See: OpEd: IT’S TIME TO BUILD Capitalism, the greatest engine for prosperity and innovation ever created, was already under strain before the coronavirus pandemic. Despite a decade of impressive economic growth and job creation, a plurality of Americans still reported feeling as though the system was rigged, that hard work and playing by the rules no longer ensured success. “It is scary when you had the lowest unemployment, the lowest African-American unemployment, the lowest Hispanic unemployment, the lowest women’s unemployment,” says Michael Milken, ...
Read More
Decrypt | Andrew Hayward | May 27, 2020 First came CryptoKitties, and now Dapper Labs is launching a licensed hoops game with potentially massive mainstream appeal In brief NBA Top Shot, a blockchain-based collectibles game, is lauching in closed beta. The licensed game is developed by Dapper Labs, the studio behind CryptoKitties. Top Shot features tokenized NBA highlights and also pairs with a mobile hoops game. CryptoKitties developer Dapper Labs is going big for its latest project: NBA Top Shot, an officially licensed, blockchain-driven collectible game featuring tokenized highlights from basketball’s greatest stars. See: How the Pandemic Is Pushing Blockchain Forward It will be available to play next week, at least to those who registered interest and receive an invitation to the soon-to-be-released closed beta test. “What Top Shot does is it allows fans to buy a piece of the on-court action, actually own it, and then be able to sell it,” Dapper Labs VP of Marketing and Partnerships Caty Tedman told Decrypt. “It creates a new economy around the sport that’s never existed before that we’re particularly excited about.” The tokenized moments arrive as interactive “snapshots of a moment in time,” explained Tedman. They’re multi-faceted, animated widgets of sorts ...
Read More
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Read More
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Raconteur | Marylou Costa | May 28, 2020 Often seen as a nice-to-have, workplace learning and professional development are now gaining importance as organisations’ best shot at retaining happy staff and staying competitive The idea of working from home may conjure up images of dishevelled, tracksuited executives. But the home has actually become the epicentre of a reskilling revolution that may just save businesses from a coronavirus-induced collapse. Corporate learning providers such as LinkedIn Learning, Circus Street and Hive Learning are all reporting a spike in usage, as an overwhelming array of new business challenges puts pressure on teams to embrace remote training methods and professional development. On LinkedIn Learning, more than four million hours of content was consumed globally in March alone. Hive Learning has seen a 20 per cent increase in logins since lockdown began Circus Street has noted not just a 64 per cent increase in weekday learning, but an unprecedented 500 per cent increase on Saturdays Skills gaps that the World Economic Forum had already outlined a need to bridge, such as digital and data literacy, have now become unnegotiable. Meanwhile ecommerce and digital marketing tactics like search engine optimisation and pay-per-click advertising have risen to ...
Read More
Read More
Forbes | Glenda Toma | May 28, 2020 Last December, language-learning app Duolingo surpassed the $1 billion valuation mark, becoming the fifth company on last year’s Next Billion-Dollar Startups list to do so. “Once we closed the funding round, a few of us early employees went for drinks and we just remembered all the early days where we had no idea where we were going to go, and we had no idea if this was even going to work out,” Duolingo CEO and cofounder Luis van Ahn tells Forbes in a video interview. Not only did it work out, but Duolingo has been among the companies that have been gaining during the coronavirus pandemic as bored Americans take to learning Spanish, French or the 34 other languages that it offers. Since Forbes published its 2019 Next Billion-Dollar Startups list last summer, 6 out of the 25 companies on the list, including design-software firm Figma, fintech Dave, e-commerce startup Grove Collaborative, as well as Duolingo, have reached a $1 billion valuation. Last December, language-learning app Duolingo surpassed the $1 billion valuation mark, becoming the fifth company on last year’s Next Billion-Dollar Startups list to do so. “Once we closed the funding round, ...
Read More
Read More
TFI and InvestHK | May 27 Toronto Finance International (TFI) would like to invite the Canadian FinTech ecosystem to join a presentation with InvestHK and RaceCapital to learn more about funding opportunities, new trends, and market entry to Asia in a post-COVID-19 world. Event Details Date: Thursday, June 11th, 2020 Time: 3:00pm to 4:15pm Location: Video Conference Speakers Chris Chen Head of Investment Promotion - Canada, InvestHK Michal Kaczmarzki Senior Manager, FinTech, InvestHK Edith Yeung General Partner, RaceCapital Agenda: - 3:05 - 3:30pm: Presentation: “Fundraising & governmental support for Fintechs entering Hong Kong” with Chris Chen, Head of Investment Promotion - Canada, InvestHK - 3:30pm-4:00pm: Discussion: Trends & opportunities in Hong Kong, in the post-COVID-19 era with Michal Kaczmarski, Senior Manager, Fintech, InvestHK, and Edith Yeung, General Partner, RaceCapital. Moderated by Chris Chen, Head of Investment Promotion - Canada, InvestHK Q&A to conclude. Register for this free event --> Now The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in ...
Read More
Read More
NCFA Canada | Craig Asano | May 27, 2020 NCFA SUBMISSION TO CSA ON PROPOSED HARMONIZED RULES FOR START-UP SECURITIES CROWDFUNDING (NI 45-110) The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) are seeking comments on proposed harmonized rules for start-up securities crowdfunding by 27 May 2020. The National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) welcomes this initiative. The following addresses the specifics of the proposed rules, but please see our previous submissions on crowdfunding in Canada on our website in the advocacy section for more details – https://ncfacanada.org/advocacy/. 1. Harmonization NCFA has argued for many years that CSA crowdfunding rules are unduly constraining, and this enhanced harmonization will enable a greater use of crowdfunding across Canada, help to fill a funding gap, and allow more retail investors to invest in businesses whose purpose they support. 2. Impact of the pandemic on fundraising Today, early stage Ventures are the most likely not to get funded as they lack established relationships with banks (including BDC) and they have been amongst the hardest hit by the pandemic. Many VC funds are moving towards growth equity (later stage) investing and foreign investors mainly invest at later stages. 3. Funding cap While the maximum total amount ...
Read More
Read More
Sifted | Tim Smith | May 26, 2020 As coronavirus has forced classrooms around the world to move online, kids are getting creative in trying to sabotage lessons Georgina Farnham, a Barcelona-based English literature and language teacher, was just getting used to the transition to online teaching when, one day, she thought the internet trolls had parked their tanks on her lawn. Farnham was making use of Kahoot!, the Norwegian educational games app, when the sabotage struck. “We were playing a game and it kept just crashing and not giving kids time to answer the questions, and on the leader board, all of these ridiculous names that hadn’t been entered into the game as players were coming up: ‘gayboy27’, ‘Covid-19’ — offensive names,” she explains. See: 58 Must-Read Remote Work Resources | 50 Great Remote Working Resources The kids said it was nothing to do with them, and Farnham got worried: “I thought someone had hacked into our game and was watching us, and I was worried for our cyber security.” Farnham quickly contacted the Kahoot! customer service team to find out what was going on. But the culprits, as it turned out, were closer to home than she had ...
Read More
Read More
Koho Release | Brittany Bell | May 27, 2020 TORONTO, May 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KOHO, Canada’s leading challenger bank, today announced it is piloting a new Early Payroll feature that will help those under financial strain pay their bills and make ends meet. KOHO’s Early Payroll pilot will grant users free access to $100 of their CERB payment before the scheduled payday. KOHO will not charge fees or interest. The company hopes this will provide a cushion that many Canadians could use right now to help pay bills and necessary expenses, and avoid harmful loan alternatives. “The economic impact of COVID was not equally distributed,” said Daniel Eberhard, Founder and CEO of KOHO. “A lot of lower and middle income Canadians are vulnerable right now. The KOHO team did an amazing job putting this together so quickly. We hope it helps.” In 2016 the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada released a report on payday loans that revealed the average cost of a $300 loan (for two weeks) is $63. That means 21% of the money you borrow is automatically eaten up by fees. See: Shopify Balance Brings Banking and Cash Flow to Merchants In March, KOHO partnered with ...
Read More
Read More
May 27, 2020 As real estate prices keep rising, the practice of crowdfunding your workplace — especially if you're independently funded — has never been more critical. When you crowdfund your workplace, you preserve your independence while also giving your workers and all interested stakeholders a better opportunity to mobilize and commit to the project. Community Mobilization As evidenced by the success of coworking space co.up, which has managed to crowdfund €7,950 to build a new top floor and renovate their current building, crowdfunding is an innovative and practical way to meet your business requirements for coworking space. It has demonstrated that workers and business owners can make use of the enthusiasm of workers and coworkers to "succeed through support of other communities already wishing to benefit from this extra space," according to Alex, the community manager. His confidence is understandable; Co.up was able to double its size thanks to crowdfunding. It may be easy to consider this feat as a one-off, but other projects have shown that it is possible to raise a significant amount of money by ensuring community participation in crowdfunding. See: SEC Gives Break on Crowdfunding Rules for Some Small Firms For example, organizations such as ...
Read More
Read More
Greater Capitalism: How the pandemic is currently reshaping America’s economic system for the better
Forbes | Randall Lane | May 26, 2020 In a matter of weeks, Covid-19 spurred seismic shifts in how we work, learn and transact, and it helped usher in a new era that is smarter and fairer. The surreal year 2020 produces a personal Groundhog Day effect. The clock moves at one-quarter speed as the time-numbing diversions and necessities of a century ago, from jigsaw puzzles to yeast, fly off the virtual shelves. Simultaneously, though, the world is transforming at a pace unlike any experienced since World War II. In a matter of weeks, seismic, permanent shifts have occurred in how we work, learn and transact. The most significant shift is taking place in our economic system itself. See: OpEd: IT’S TIME TO BUILD Capitalism, the greatest engine for prosperity and innovation ever created, was already under strain before the coronavirus pandemic. Despite a decade of impressive economic growth and job creation, a plurality of Americans still reported feeling as though the system was rigged, that hard work and playing by the rules no longer ensured success. “It is scary when you had the lowest unemployment, the lowest African-American unemployment, the lowest Hispanic unemployment, the lowest women’s unemployment,” says Michael Milken, ...
Read More
Read More
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