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[...]
Vitalik “non-giver of ETH” Buterin just gave away $300,000 on Twitter
DecryptMedia | By | Dec 19, 2018
Embracing the OG hacker ethic, the renowned “non-giver of ETH” funded several startups. “YOLO,” he wrote, in a tweet heard ’round the world.
Ask and ye shall receive.
Responding to the needs of struggling devs, Ethereum founder Vitalik “Non-giver of ETH” Buterin just ponied up $300,000 worth of ETH to fund a few startups.
“I was excited and the most anxious I had ever been in my life. Nobody has sent me that much no-strings-attached, magical Internet money before,” Mikerah Quintyne-Collins said in an interview today.
The 20-year old student at the University of Toronto was among the recipients of Buterin’s largess last night—to the tune of $100,000—during a discussion on Twitter about the viability of the platform that Vitalik helped created.
See: Prices Aside, Crypto’s Tech Stack Is Steadily Improving
Buterin doesn’t normally give ETH—hence the Twitter moniker. That’s partly a response to so-called sockpuppet scams, by which bot/scammer-accounts masquerading as celebrities (such as Elon Musk) ask for small crypto-offerings on the false promise that they’ll grant the donor a massive return. The high-profile Buterin, in particular, who’s estimated to be worth around $36 million, is an obvious target for such things and often has people flagrantly pretending to be him.
But this time it really was him. And the $100,000 was just one of three donations to Ethereum-based startups.
One good deed begets another
The Giver of ETH surfaced during a Twitter debate between Buterin, Spankchain’s Ameen Soleimani, and Mythos Capital’s Ryan Sean Adams over the need for a broader, more financially viable Ethereum-scaling strategy. Adams said that Ethereum, tended as it is by a disparate, barely coordinated collective of developers, is “lacking basic operational leadership to get shit down [sic].”
So when Preston Van Loon, a developer with Prysmatic Labs — a firm working on Ethereum scaling solutions — mentioned that his team was
“still working full time for other jobs” and that a full-time role would require “significant pay cuts,” Buterin immediately sent 1000 ETH (around $100,000) to Van Loon.
This is, after all one of the advantages of digital currency: you can send it instantly and with almost no friction.
Next on Buterin’s Christmas list was Quintyne-Collins, who tweeted that $100,000 would motivate her to “quite literally drop out” of the University of Toronto, where she studies Computer Science and works on Ethereum’s Serenity protocol as a side-gig.
Shortly after Buterin sent her 1,000 ETH, she changed her Twitter profile to read, in part: “Dropping out of @UofT to save Crypto.”
The next beneficiary was Paul Hauner, of Sigma Prime—a firm developing an Ethereum 2.0 client called Lighthouse.
See: Ethereum Foundation Announces Millions in Grants for Scaling Research
Scores of people piled into the thread, asking for money for everything from startup ideas to caring for a sick child. Buterin, however, concentrated on sprinkling his magic ETH on projects of merit. And, no sucker, he asked that the recipients put their public keys on a site where he could “verify you’re not an evil hacker working for @northkoreadprk gov trying to *increase* the world’s centralization.”)
A life changed forever
We spoke to the newly enriched Quintyne-Collins, and asked—will she actually drop out of University? “I will be notifying my uni this Friday after my probability exam,” she said. After which she will endure one last semester, quit, then begin “ramping up my self-learning goals that I have set for myself since high school.” She added: “And work on ETH 2.0, obviously.
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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Verdict | Ellen Daniel | Jan 13, 2020 Open banking was first launched in January 2018 and received much attention from the financial community as the potential bringer of fintech disruption. The regulations require UK-regulated banks to share their customers’ financial data (with permission) with third party providers through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) in order to make it easier for customers to access financial services and for TPPs to develop new products. Today marks open banking’s second anniversary and while it has impacted the financial landscape, prompting incumbent banks to adapt to innovation and opening up new opportunities in terms of consumer experience, some have argued that the regulation is yet to live up to expectations. See: Open Banking in the UK: what’s happened so far Banks had until March 2019 to establish a “sandbox” environment that third party providers could access and use to test products and until June to make their APIs available to third parties, but many European banks have not adequately met key deadlines, stalling innovation. Although many traditional banks are now adhering to open banking regulations, more could be done to ensure that they also benefit from the new landscape in terms ...
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Read More
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Read More
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Verdict | Ellen Daniel | Jan 13, 2020 Open banking was first launched in January 2018 and received much attention from the financial community as the potential bringer of fintech disruption. The regulations require UK-regulated banks to share their customers’ financial data (with permission) with third party providers through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs) in order to make it easier for customers to access financial services and for TPPs to develop new products. Today marks open banking’s second anniversary and while it has impacted the financial landscape, prompting incumbent banks to adapt to innovation and opening up new opportunities in terms of consumer experience, some have argued that the regulation is yet to live up to expectations. See: Open Banking in the UK: what’s happened so far Banks had until March 2019 to establish a “sandbox” environment that third party providers could access and use to test products and until June to make their APIs available to third parties, but many European banks have not adequately met key deadlines, stalling innovation. Although many traditional banks are now adhering to open banking regulations, more could be done to ensure that they also benefit from the new landscape in terms ...
Read More
Read More
The New York Times | Ruchir Sharma | Jan 20, 2020 To outsiders, China may seem like a surveillance state. But tech has fueled growth and helped stave off recession. Landing in Shanghai recently, I found myself in the middle of a tech revolution remarkable in its sweep. The passport scanner automatically addresses visitors in their native tongues. Digital payment apps have replaced cash. Outsiders trying to use paper money get blank stares from store clerks. Nearby in the city of Hangzhou a prototype hotel called FlyZoo uses facial recognition to open doors, no keys required. Robots mix cocktails and provide room service. Farther south in Shenzhen, we flew the same drones that are already making e-commerce deliveries in rural China. Downtown traffic flowed smoothly, guided by synced stoplights and restrained by police cameras. Outside China, these technologies are seen as harbingers of an “automated authoritarianism,” using video cameras and facial recognition systems to thwart lawbreakers and a “citizen score” to rank citizens for political reliability. An advanced version has been deployed to counter unrest among Muslim Uighurs in the inland region of Xinjiang. But in China as a whole, surveys show that trust in technology is high, concern about ...
Read More
Read More
TechCrunch | Danny Crichton | Jan 17, 2020 I talked yesterday about how VCs are just tired these days. Too many deals, too little time per deal, and constant hyper-competition with other VCs for the same equity. One founder friend of mine noted to me last night that he has already received inbound requests from more than 90 investors over the past year about his next round — and he’s not even (presumably) fundraising. “I may have missed a few,” he deadpans — and really, how could one not? All that frenetic activity, though, leads us to the paradox at the heart of 2020 venture capital: It’s the largest funds that are writing the earliest, smallest checks. That’s a paradox because big funds need big rounds to invest in. A billion-dollar fund can’t write 800 $1 million seed checks with dollars left over for management fees (well, they could, but that would be obnoxious and impossible to track). Instead, the usual pattern is that as a firm’s fund size grows, its managing partners increasingly move to later-stage rounds to be able to efficiently deploy that capital. So the $200 million fund that used to write $8 million Series As transforms ...
Read More
Read More
NCFA and TFI | January 23, 2020 Strengthening Canada's fintech and financial reach through collaboration, competition and networking at FFCON20 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2020 / The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) and Toronto Finance International (TFI) announced today a collaborative partnership and the joint launch of the 2020 Fintech and Financing Conference and Expo (FFCON20) to be held in downtown Toronto on March 23-24, 2020. The theme for the 6th annual FFCON is RISE, reflecting the joint efforts of the two associations, NCFA and TFI, to build and increase the success and sustainability of Canada's fintech and financial sector. With finance and fintech touching virtually every business and entity of people's lives, FFCON draws national interest and global participation from high-growth startups and leading industry experts across a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. You will find fintech entrepreneurs from across all fintech sectors including digital banking, peer to peer finance, AI, capital markets, wealth management, payments, crypto and blockchain along with innovative financial institutions, investors, regulators, government and major industry stakeholders, all in one place. FFCON facilitates thought-provoking and relevant discussions, lively debates and personal networking for the cross-pollination of ideas and experiences ...
Read More
Read More
Wealthsimple | Press Release | Jan 21, 2020 Wealthsimple Cash offers 2.4% interest rate and lets Canadians save and spend through a mobile app and metal card TORONTO, Jan. 21, 2020 /CNW/ - Wealthsimple has launched its first hybrid saving and spending product: Wealthsimple Cash. The new account offers users the ability to save and spend with one of Canada's highest non-promotional interest rates of 2.4% - in addition to a host of features that help people earn more on every dollar in their Cash account. Wealthsimple Cash combines a saving and spending account to give Canadians the power to have both an account that allows for everyday purchases while also providing a safe place to grow their money. Cash clients will benefit from no monthly account fees, no low balance fees, no foreign transaction fees worldwide, and ATM fee reimbursements - all through a sleek, metal card designed to make spending responsibly easy. "Canadians are used to the status quo when it comes to everyday banking - multiple accounts, high fees and low interest," said Michael Katchen, CEO and co-founder, Wealthsimple. "With Wealthsimple Cash, users can enjoy the power of a high interest savings account for all of their day-to-day spending needs ...
Read More
Read More
Investment Executive | James Langton | Jan 21, 2020 Grant Vingoe will take over as acting chair following Jensen’s departure on April 15 Maureen Jensen, the head of Canada’s largest securities regulator, is stepping down as chair and CEO of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) 10 months early. The OSC announced that Jensen will leave the helm of the commission on April 15. She has headed the OSC since 2016, and was reappointed to a second term that began in 2018 and was to run until February 2021. OSC vice chair Grant Vingoe will take over as acting chair in April. Prior to becoming head of the OSC and its first female chair, Jensen was executive director and chief administrative officer of the commission from 2011 to 2016. “It has been an honour to serve Ontario investors and market participants,” Jensen said in a statement. “These past nine years have been the most meaningful in my career. I have enjoyed every moment working alongside my respected colleagues and leadership team, and contributing to Ontario’s vibrant, healthy and internationally recognized capital markets.” As head of the OSC, Jensen championed improved retail investor protection. That effort culminated most recently with the adoption ...
Read More
Read More
McKinsey & Company | By Martin Dewhurst and Paul Willmott | Sep 2014 As artificial intelligence takes hold, what will it take to be an effective executive? What would it take for algorithms to take over the C-suite? And what will be senior leaders’ most important contributions if they do? Our answers to these admittedly speculative questions rest on our work with senior leaders in a range of industries, particularly those on the vanguard of the big data and advanced-analytics revolution. We have also worked extensively alongside executives who have been experimenting most actively with opening up their companies and decision-making processes through crowdsourcing and social platforms within and across organizational boundaries. See: The Enterprise Automation Imperative—Why Modern Societies Will Need All the Productivity They Can Get Our argument is simple: the advances of brilliant machines will astound us, but they will transform the lives of senior executives only if managerial advances enable them to. There’s still a great deal of work to be done to create data sets worthy of the most intelligent machines and their burgeoning decision-making potential. On top of that, there’s a need for senior leaders to “let go” in ways that run counter to a ...
Read More
Read More
FT Partners | Jan 2020 Executive Summary: The banking sector is experiencing a major shift globally, as Challenger Banks are becoming increasingly formidable competitors to traditional banks and have begun to capture significant market share. Furthermore, the lines between banks and other consumer financial services providers are blurring, with several alternative lenders and robo-advisors beginning to offer banking products to their customers. E-commerce / internet giants are also jumping into the fray with Google and Amazon, among others, beginning to offer banking products. In response to the emergence of Challenger Banks, a number of incumbent banks have launched their own FinTech brands, and traditional financial institutions will likely turn to FinTech solution providers in order to defend their turfs. Download this Jan 2020 FT Partners Fintech research (216 page PDF) -> 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 Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in ...
Read More
Read More
South China Morning Post | Enoch Yiu | Jan 13, 2020 Hong Kong residents can expect to benefit from cheaper and better banking services with the launch of more virtual banks this year, according to high-profile speakers at the Asian Financial Forum. Their comments came as it was revealed the Hong Kong Monetary Authority has hit an important milestone in its efforts to promote financial technology (fintech). Half the population of the city has now signed up to its Faster Payment System, which enables the free transfer of money between bank accounts via mobile phone. The development shows Hong Kong is moving quickly into a new era of branchless banking, a shift that brings up challenges for traditional lenders which must innovate to cope with the competition, said officials at the annual conference held by the Hong Kong government. “The Faster Payment System is an important move for the city to develop its fintech. The system has been very popular with the Hong Kong public,” said James Lau, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury during a panel discussion at the forum on Monday. See: Banks have lost a quarter of the payments franchise to new players Hong Kong being ...
Read More
Read More
Reuters | Julie Zhu, Kane Wu, Zhang Yan | Jan 17, 2020 HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - Ant Financial [ANTFIN.UL] shares are being offered privately at levels which value the Chinese financial giant at $200 billion, two people with knowledge of the discussions said, lifting it up the ranks of the most valuable unlisted companies. Alibaba affiliate Ant, which had an implied valuation of $150 billion during a 2018 fundraising, is preparing to step up plans for eventually going public in Hong Kong and mainland China, three other sources told Reuters. See: Exclusive: Ant Financial shifts focus from finance to tech services: sources Speculation has grown that Ant, the world’s largest so-called “unicorn” — a newly-formed unlisted tech firm valued at $1 billion or more — is working toward an IPO this year. Its advisers have recently approached potential buyers of the unlisted shares, the first two people said, as Ant seeks to tidy up its shareholder base ahead of any listing. An Ant Financial spokesman said the company does not have a plan or timetable for an intial public offering (IPO). Small holdings of Ant shares were traded in the secondary market at a $200 billion valuation late last year, another ...
Read More
Read More
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