In this weeks issue:
- Fist bump for the ASC
- Dropping like flies
- Bank of Facebook
- Gettin’ Weworked
- The new Junior Capital Pool?
- Fintech and UN SDGs
- Plus some other stuff and a report…
Fist bump for the ASC: Good news for crowdfunding in Canada. The Alberta Securities Commission has developed a blanket order and prospectus rules for crowdfunding. While an important step forward, the need for harmonization across provincial regulators remains a challenge. Denise Weeres, Director, New Economy at the ASC and Craig Asano, CEO and Founder of the National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) discuss the ASC’s crowdfunding blanket order and fintech developments in Canada.
Dropping like flies: Well, after France and Germany put the boots to Libra, it seems like some high profile backers like PayPal are quietly exiting the consortium. Are these partners concerned about their business status in the EU whose leadership swings between Germany and France?
Bank of Facebook: Along those lines, Mark Carney might just be spitballin’ about a national digital currency, or maybe he sees a bigger picture in the post GFC world we live in. What we discovered as a result of the financial crisis is that there is now one buyer of last resort. Or should we say, a few central banks. Borrowing the clearing model from the futures market appears to be a potential solution. Does Carney believe that the solution to the sovereign digital currency debate is to make central banks the only counterparty?
Gettin’ WeWorked: Silicon Valley has their eye on someone else's lunch again. Turns out that they think there’s a better way to price company offerings. Now, they might be right, after all Wall Street ain’t perfect. But could it be that a few recent failed IPO's have a private versus public market valuation problem?
The new Junior Capital Pool? Looking for ways to get some new economy companies on the board, the TMX Group has developed a sandbox approach in Canada. While Bitcoin company Hut 8 Mining will be first to trade on TSX via new listing initiative, the elusive updating of investor accreditation for these new technologies remains MIA.
Fintech & UN-SDGs (Long read): Sustainable development has some interesting ideas. Page 31 discusses the success in Estonia, which highlights the crux of the matter: Fintech adoption and sustainable development initiatives rely on stable forward thinking government and less red tape. UN Analyzes Role of Fintech in Accelerating SDGs.
Other stuff:
- It turns out that the financial industry produces a lot of boring, wordy, eye glazing reports. So one company is reimagining financial planning even if you have no dough.
- There’s one of those spicy fintechs from Europe looking to make inroads across the world. One stop will be Canada. Will a partnership with Visa be enough for Revolut to succeed in Canada?
- And for those with an interest in Smart contracts here’s an Expert Roundup: DeFi Smart Contract Audits. Questions 3 and 5 are the money.
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