In promoting stablecoin regulation and adoption, Build Canada is repeating patterns of hype similar to Facebook’s ill-fated Libra project. Libra, a private stablecoin later renamed Diem, had an ambitious vision that collided with real-world realities: a fragmented and highly regulated global payments landscape, subordination to fiat currency policies, competing goals, and grand ambitions to solve... Continue Reading →
Around the globe, digital financial services (fintechs) that claim to serve the underrepresented (unbaked or underbanked) are causing widespread hardships. While ostensibly “democratizing” and speeding access to financial services, time and time again, fintechs are taking advantage of regulatory gray areas and exploiting users, who tend to be vulnerable. For example, in India and Kenya,... Continue Reading →
[Disclaimer: the analysis and views expressed in this article are solely my own unless stated otherwise.] Last week, I published an article that analyzed 265 Toronto startups that made it through my angel investment pipeline. I want here to continue the analysis by looking at the cutting-edge technologies that those startups used and/or are offering to their... Continue Reading →
Last week, I attended the 2nd Annual Blockchain Conference in Toronto. Given recent cryptocurrency turmoils, I was hoping for an even-keeled event, but the name of the game was hype. Statements like "...everything will be tokenized...", "...blockchain will help solve child labour" or "...will eliminate inequality" were thrown around. To borrow terminology from Gartner's Hype Cycle I... Continue Reading →
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