NCFA Fintech Confidential October 2021 (Issue 4)
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) and partners are excited to present Vol. 1 Issue 4, FINTECH CONFIDENTIAL, a digital pop-up of the 7th annual 2021 Fintech & Financing Conference and Expo (FFCON21) held virtually from May 11-13 and co-hosted by NCFA and Toronto Finance International (TFI). As global economies strive to contain the latest Covid outbreak and recover fragile sectors, fintech innovators continue to ‘BREAK BARRIERS’, the main theme of this year’s conference, and the second year in partnership with TFI, reflecting the growth and emerging challenges that the Canadian Fintech industry must navigate to achieve mass adoption and scale. It’s been another unprecedented year with covid accelerating trends such as bitcoin’s institutionalization, the growing power of retail investors, the 2nd round of Open Banking consultations and the advisory committee’s recommendations to the federal government, payment modernization efforts, adoption of harmonized Crowdfunding regulation, AI roadmap, emergence of digital identity as a ‘right’ and core data infrastructure (ie., vaccine passports), growing support for Purpose (not just shareholder profit), green finance solutions tackling shared global problems such as SDGs and climate change, EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion), and regulatory push back and a firm ‘line in the sand’ for Big Tech. FFCON21 was a successful event attracting over 100+ thought leaders, 75 partners, 500+ attendees, an NFT charity fundraiser in partnership with CanadaHelps for front line workers, and our second annual 2021 Fintech Draft competition -- a pitching event inspired by sports league drafts and designed to identity emerging high growth fintech ventures. A hearty congratulations to the winners: Agryo (Overall) and Copia Wealth Studios (People’s Choice)! Thank you to all the partners, speakers, attendees, volunteers, and the entire organizing team for making ‘Breaking Barriers’ an impactful and amazing online experience and for being part of Canada’s fintech and funding community. We hope you enjoy reading this special edition of Fintech Confidential.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) and partners are excited to present Vol. 1 Issue 4, FINTECH CONFIDENTIAL, a digital pop-up of the 7th annual 2021 Fintech & Financing Conference and Expo (FFCON21) held virtually from May 11-13 and co-hosted by NCFA and Toronto Finance International (TFI).
As global economies strive to contain the latest Covid outbreak and recover fragile sectors, fintech innovators continue to ‘BREAK BARRIERS’, the main theme of this year’s conference, and the second year in partnership with TFI, reflecting the growth and emerging challenges that the Canadian Fintech industry must navigate to achieve mass adoption and scale.
It’s been another unprecedented year with covid accelerating trends such as bitcoin’s institutionalization, the growing power of retail investors, the 2nd round of Open Banking consultations and the advisory committee’s recommendations to the federal government, payment modernization efforts, adoption of harmonized Crowdfunding regulation, AI roadmap, emergence of digital identity as a ‘right’ and core data infrastructure (ie., vaccine passports), growing support for Purpose (not just shareholder profit), green finance solutions tackling shared global problems such as SDGs and climate change, EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion), and regulatory push back and a firm ‘line in the sand’ for Big Tech.
FFCON21 was a successful event attracting over 100+ thought leaders, 75 partners, 500+ attendees, an NFT charity fundraiser in partnership with CanadaHelps for front line workers, and our second annual 2021 Fintech Draft competition -- a pitching event inspired by sports league drafts and designed to identity emerging high growth fintech ventures. A hearty congratulations to the winners: Agryo (Overall) and Copia Wealth Studios (People’s Choice)!
Thank you to all the partners, speakers, attendees, volunteers, and the entire organizing team for making ‘Breaking Barriers’ an impactful and amazing online experience and for being part of Canada’s fintech and funding community. We hope you enjoy reading this special edition of Fintech Confidential.
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The global stablecoin supply has exploded<br />
in <strong>2021</strong>, tripling in supply since the start of<br />
the year with market cap surpassing USD<br />
100 billion. What was once thought of as a<br />
bridge between the fiat and crypto world<br />
has increasingly become part of mainstream<br />
financial transactions with use cases ranging<br />
from access to crypto markets and a safehaven<br />
asset to a means of payment for<br />
goods and services, accessing yield in digital<br />
markets, and remittances.<br />
Stablecoins enjoy the benefits of blockchainbased<br />
assets without the volatility of<br />
traditional cryptocurrencies. The most popular<br />
stablecoins are ‘backed’ or ‘tethered’ to a fiat<br />
currency thus they achieve their ‘stability’ via<br />
fiat collateral held in reserve. These reserves<br />
are typically stored with a bank or some<br />
other third-party requiring management<br />
by a central authority, traditionally a private<br />
company. The whole principle behind the<br />
stability of this type of token is that you expect<br />
that the collateral held in reserve is equal to<br />
the stablecoin tokens that exist and that it is<br />
being held by a reliable entity.<br />
Users of stablecoins should ask themselves:<br />
What proof is there that the collateral reserves<br />
are actually there? Do they have the value that<br />
has been indicated to the market? In what<br />
jurisdiction are the reserves held and are<br />
they being held by a regulated entity? Does<br />
the entity issuing the stablecoin have the<br />
appropriate licenses and are they following<br />
appropriate regulations to operate?<br />
Stablecoin-issuing companies seek to provide<br />
an element of trust and answers to these<br />
questions by providing regular attestations<br />
that the stablecoins are fully collateralized<br />
by a reserve, often done by a third-party<br />
auditor, as well as providing proof of licenses<br />
and registration to operate in the jurisdiction<br />
in question. But why not take this another<br />
step further? Rather than a stablecoin being<br />
‘tethered’ or ‘backed’ to a fiat currency or bank<br />
deposit, why not create a stablecoin that is an<br />
actual bank deposit; a digital representation<br />
of a bank deposit?<br />
Stablecorp and VersaBank have partnered<br />
together to do just that: create a token, VCAD,<br />
that differs from the traditional stablecoin<br />
model in that it is a digital representation of<br />
a deposit at an A-rated Canadian Schedule I<br />
Bank. Schedule I banks are fully audited, well<br />
capitalized, and highly regulated by one of the<br />
world’s most respected financial regulators. In<br />
other words, you do not have to worry about<br />
the value of your stablecoin, whether it is<br />
“backed” in some offshore jurisdiction beyond<br />
Canadian (or any) regulation, or whether<br />
you can redeem it today for fiat. There is no<br />
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