NCFA Canada | Feb 1, 2019

Ep23-Feb 1:  Getting Smart About Crypto and Insurtech Snapchat Models

Host: Manseeb Khan, NCFA, Fintech Fridays show host

Guest: JUSTIN HARTZMAN, Co-founder and CEO, Coinsmart

JUSTIN HARTZMAN BIO:  CoinSmart is headed by Justin Hartzman, Co-Founder and CEO. A seasoned business leader and entrepreneur, Justin’s passion for innovation has seen him lead numerous companies from start-up to successful exit. His proven track record of entrepreneurial success includes founding the first website brokerage exclusively serving online businesses, pioneering the industry and achieving over $100M in transactions to Fortune 1000 companies, PE firms, family offices and venture funds. He has also led multiple fundraising rounds working with Canadian and U.S. Angel Investors and VCs.   In addition to leading CoinSmart, Justin is also co-founder of​ ​ Needls​ , an Ontario-based company that uses Data Science to automate social media advertising processes for small to medium enterprises worldwide.

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Transcription of Interview

Intro: Welcome fintech Friday's a weekly podcast brought to you by the National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada and partners.Covering all things fintech block chain be AI and alternative finance.

Manseeb Khan: Hey everybody Manseeb Khan here and thank you for tuning into another episode of Fintech Fridays. Just before we get started in this episode, I just want to do a little bit of housekeeping here. I just want to announce that we're super excited here at the NCFA to be launching the 5th Annual 2019 fintech financing Conference and Expo better known as FFCON19 which is going to be happening on April 3rd to 4th in Toronto Canada. FFCON19 is an immersive two-day conference and expo featuring high growth startups, emerging technologies, regulation, game changing projects, the latest trends, deal flow and investment opportunities. This year's theme is fearless with so much global risk in the air U.S. vs. China, Canada and China, Brexit, fintech industry adoption challenges, startup funding challenges, scaling issues FFCON19 is empowering companies with everything they need to build an amazing next generation business right here in Canada taking them global to show off to the world. We're launching it this week and registration and partnership opportunity will be opening up soon so stay tuned and get involved

without any further ado here's Episode 23 of the FinTech FRIDAY podcast with Justin Hartzman the Co-founder and CEO of Coinsmart. Justin thank you so much for sitting down with me today. I'm super excited to jump right into today's conversation.

Justin Hartzman : Absolutely me too. Thanks for having me. Hopefully  I can give some good information be useful everyone. So, Shoot away.

Manseeb Khan : Yeah, I know for sure. So just for the audience for the five or six people that may not know essentially who you are and essentially what your company does could just give us a quick rundown of who you are and what Coinsmart is?

Justin Hartzman : Coinsmart is one of the largest Canadian exchanges out there for purchasing cryptocurrency. We have a vision our company to make cryptocurrency accessible not only to those who are currently in the market but people who are looking to come to the market. So, for the people who are there ensuring that we have the best tools, the best support wide coin selection we're actually getting some new coins in the next few weeks. So, they can come and have a really good experience on ramping/ off ramping and actually trading here in Canada. We also run a very large OTC desk. But on the other side of things is to make it accessible to those who want to know more about it. But really have a hard time understanding because a lot of technicalities that go into purchasing, holding, storing, cryptocurrency and we really want to make it as easy as possible for you guys out there. So, you know live 24hr  for support for people. We have a great get smart section we call it that's not just a blog guide on how-to’s. We're always there to help anyone any way we possibly can.

Manseeb Khan : That's incredible I mean like one thing. I mean doing the show and just reading all the blogs and articles is the education is definitely going to be the key when it comes to this whole new crypto wave because I mean you know Joe Six pack definitely wants to get into crypto and to understand a little bit more but there's a lot of technical jargon out there. A lot of just words and terms that may go a lot over their heads and just not know.

Justin Hartzman : Well that's the case and we noticed that really early on even when I got into this years ago. I come from the tech side of things if it takes me reading an article two or three times or like the white paper from Satoshi  myself how do we expect anybody other regular Canadian how may have some level of technology background but it's more just an everyday Joe that you're saying. How can we expect them to? So, what we've done knowing that is you know get smart section, so I'll bring that up again here probably a few other times we break down these heavier articles or terms into three levels smart, savvy and expert. I believe are smart savvy and something where you can read it at your level. So, if you're getting into the game, we'll break it down to his easiest, limited form. If you want to keep up in your game go to the next level and the third level you're filing where you're getting really technical into the pieces so we're allowing anyone from know nothing to know everything come in here and really understand it at their speed, at their time hopefully getting all the resources they need to keep up.

Manseeb Khan : That's awesome. I mean I love that getting into the game and leveling up a game I love that. So, I mean you probably got this question more times than you count. So, what makes you guys so much more different to say like the Coinsquare's out there?

Justin Hartzman : Well we love the guys at Coinsquare but realistically where we stand out above all is our user experience and our customer service our clients  service. Are smart grantee  we ensure that the same day we receive your funds the same day that we get your best to having you we have them done for you at that time we have actually live chats where you can actually speak with someone. These are all things that the other Canadian exchanges just don't offer. We know to bring this to the masses, which is what we all need as anyone as an investor in the person space is to bring the masses the market. So, we are really making and again back to our vision accessible. I think that is the key difference. Not only that we've simplified the rationale for not having to understand pairings. You can go from Fiat to any coin that we offer on our system. You don't have to pair it with natural pairing. We do all the background legwork for you. And we just believe that our interface our tools are simply easier and better provide more insight for our users.

Manseeb Khan : I love that. Like the fact that you guys are taking a lot of the heavy lifting a lot of the heavy burden when it comes to just getting into it because it's overwhelming in and of itself trying to get it to crypto exchange but it's an it's a headache if anything.

Justin Hartzman : Like we have instant verification. Who wants to go online and do a one level then get a follow up email then send in some pictures that have someone look at it and then maybe that day the next day, three days later, two weeks later and the hype of things? That actually get approved for in account. How's that very efficient? How is that fun? So instant verification you can actually go on net new client to us E-Verify, email transfer money, and make a trade literally within under 10 minutes. And we really want to make that accessible for everyone.

Manseeb Khan : That's yeah. That's incredible. So, I mean when it comes to crypto exchanges there's definitely going to be security risks. I mean recently in the news you're seeing all these crypto exchanges either just going under maintenance because of security risk or there's got hacked or whatever. What are companies like yourself doing to help mitigate security concerns when it comes to especially to newer customers?

Justin Hartzman : Well I'll give you some stats. Only 30 percent of our clients actually keep coin with us. The rest of them take them off into cold storage. So, we don't go first while 70 percent of the coins that our users or clients have.  Which is great. We love that we encourage that. We help people understand how to do that and coins are kept on our platform. We don't go into specifics like we don't expect anyone else to and what we are doing for our security measures because that obviously  gives it away a little bit. We have a secure in what we do on that side. Just the basic is not over 90 percent of our coins that users leave with us go into cold storage and that's just take off. Location not controlled by us. We use  A third party custodial services who holds them. So that there's no chance of anything happening. This is the same custodial services. The other biggest exchanges in the world use as well. That's what they're good at. So, we give them the ability and  it's very secure for us. We appreciate them as a partner.

Manseeb Khan : Wow that's just crazy 70 percent of coins on hold That's a very interesting stat right there. Yeah.

Justin Hartzman : Yeah. So, we thought to be completely different, we thought that maybe 20 percent of people would take it off because it's somewhat hard to set up a treasurer or ledger or a paper wall or a phone wallet. And then we expected the complete the opposite. But it turns out that 70 percent of our users almost instantly or within 24 hours. Take that off and move it to their own storage.

Manseeb Khan : That say that's crazy. I feel like I just recently read  how digital wallets are becoming the new modern-day brokerage accounts because they're having millennials like me. They're trying to go as cashless as possible right. They don't want to be like walking around with like the dad wallet where it's all bulky, full of cards and cash and change and everything. So, it's that's crazy.

Justin Hartzman : And it makes sense . Listen I have I  don't know how long it's been  maybe 15 years I never had a wallet so I can still understand that. I don't like the bulkiness of it. Anything that I can do on my phone or you know with one card or multi cards is something I certainly look at doing all the time so I can appreciate that right.

Manseeb Khan : I mean like so like where do you where do you kind of see digital wallets evolving then. Because like it's definitely a very new trend. Hopefully I'll be here to stay. Where do you see it kind of going from here?

Justin Hartzman : Well I think if you look at it from a couple angles just adoption from the from individuals which we see happening based on what you just said more than that the mainstream adoption of the ability to use that in everyday use can I go buy at Starbucks? Starbucks did announce that they're going to be accepting cryptocurrency in sometime in 2019. Can you go and you know pay for your TTC fare here in Toronto, your subway fare with that? So, if you can start to do so most things you make available to you. They'll have more adoption, more use for. I think the other piece of that which a lot of people don't talk about or extend the conversation into is for that to also happen we have to think about some sort of currency which may or may not exist on the market in crypto space right now. That is a lot more stable, so you hear a lot more talking of the stable point over 2019/2020 because at the end of day I don't want to know I have let's say this for say numbers sake say I have 50 bitcoin and it costs me a quarter of a bitcoin to buy Coca-Cola. I don't want to go the next day. It cost me entire bitcoin when I know it was worth to me because so when you have  something that's more stable. We always know that one to one is what it looks like. We can have a lot more interest in wanting to spend that because it's that gambling mentality that all of us have somewhere in us. If it's a dollar today but it could be worth three dollars tomorrow. why am I spending it today sort of thing? So, we have to have that stable coin which is what it's going to drive the you know the digital wallet and then the mass adoption has to be there. If there's actually a place they can spend it in the real world. So those are my 3 pillars.

Manseeb Khan : I mean just kind of furthering trying to hash out the full stable coin thing. What are the challenges and  what's kind of uphill battle looking like when it comes to like a stable coin? Like the whole draw towards crypto currency and the whole draw towards. I mean I'm even tied up over the blockchain is the fact that it's not tied to anything, it's free like it's just in the ether right.

Justin Hartzman : That that's exactly the point. I don't have the answer. I don't know if anyone does that or I'm sure that their tons of people working on it. We don't know what that's going to look like, and we don't know where it's going to come from, and I think that's the whole rationale of why we're not. You know you look at the you know the S curve of adoption where before the curve even starts going up it gets into its inflection point because I think we're still very early and we haven't figured out all these pieces. But I think we'll see over the next year or two years some of these come to fruition and I guess at the end of the day what that has to be backed by. What's your question? Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's just something that we know as one to one because the block chain says it's one to one that we can take in and out. So, it's not tethered to something specific, but it is stable. So, I don't have a really good answer for you. I think it's something that we're going to spend time thinking about. But I think there's someone out there trying to solve that right now.

Manseeb Khan : No that's totally fair. I mean who knows when the next year or two we might find something even better than maybe tying actual fiat or even just gold. We  might figure out a way to make it truly one to one and we don't really worry about it. It could still be what we'll set up to be right. I mean switching gears. Like where do you see the evolution of cryptocurrency exchanges looking like?

Justin Hartzman : Well listen it's been a tough almost more than a year right now in this bear market. We saw a lot of fever December 2017 November, December 2017 to January 2018. We need to see prices start stabilizing up over that five six seven eight-thousand-dollar mark and at that point. I think you will realize this is here to stay. And when I say that with Bitcoin because Bitcoin is essentially the forerunner in this, everything is pinned to that essentially at this point. So, I don't make any predictions on pricing because I think that would be wrong. It's not really a position for me to be in that I do see brighter days ahead. Can everyone hold out for that and believe it until that time. That's something we'll have to wait and see. Right now, it's a topic that a lot of people ask me about. But what's going on about the Canadian exchange we see a lot of the exchanges here in Canada shut down, close doors, disappear even as recently as a couple of days ago. One of our friends out west went down for maintenance. Never came out of maintenance. It's not good for the sentiment of the market for our market to grow and continue to go where we hope it is. I really believe that cryptocurrency should be part of anyone's well balanced investment portfolio out there and we'll be as a new asset class looking for things like you know that company shutting down. I don't want to mention their names not nice I hope everything's OK with them it doesn't add any positive sentiment or trust to the market for us to go we need to have trust. So, we think that we need to see what I hope to see over this next 12 to 18 months is regulation common. People get scared about that, but I don't you know we fall as well as we possibly can. What does or does not exist out there today. And if we have a body covering over this regulation on it, we get. Yeah. People can feel more confident that they're going to have the issue like we've seen in the past. I think that's a positive thing for our marketplace.

Manseeb Khan : When it comes to regulation and regulations definitely term that gets thrown around a lot. I mean I like an ideal world. Let's talk hypotheticals theory in an ideal world what are these regulations looking like to you to give Canadian crypto currencies a fighting chance at least.

Justin Hartzman :  Well I think Canada is so far is a pretty crypto friendly country and I hope it stays that way. You know we do it very legitimately, we have proper banking partners. We don't hide anything that we do out there. We get asked questions by the powers to be that exist out there at the OSC and we answer them, we provide all detail. We know we're a Fintrac company on our side. So, we report to Fintrac where need to be if there's any suspicious activities. We more of that out there. We need someone who's the governing body to watch over those not nefarious or shady characters opening up exchanges and taking people's money or not custodial servicing properly or you know being part of transactions that shouldn't be occurring cross-border. So those things if there's people in place with those rules or whatever the government body looks like which probably is the OSC here. Well it is right now it should be the OSC here in Ontario. It's a wait and see game right. We're going to follow a lot of rules what happens in the US and I think the US will be sort of the dictate what we see next.

Manseeb Khan : I'm glad Canada's actually as crypto friendly as it is. I mean a lot of people might not think about it actually like when you start reading into it and  actually getting to know some of the key players. Thankfully Canada has a lot more crypto friendly than it usually is being how conservative Canada has been in its traditional past.

Justin Hartzman : Absolutely. We need we need that. Say we have an opportunity to be at the forefront. You're doing another space in technology like A.I. where we're a hotbed for A.I. right now. I love about space as well. I play in it. And as Canada you know we're a great country with smart people. We've a lot of people who want to do great things. But what we don't are the billion-dollar businesses because our market is really small here in Canada. So, we need to support those businesses and these cryptocurrency and new technologies and AI the best that we can to start creating these billion-dollar enterprises are from Canada into the US and Europe and Asia and really take the next level and put us ourselves on the map. So, it's something that anyone in the technology community which I happen for 20 plus years. You know something. I've sold three other technology companies prior to running this. I love it. And we need to support it. And you know everyone has to do their part in that space.

Manseeb Khan : Yeah. No. I mean I can agree with you. Yeah, we really don't have a billion-dollar company in Canada and  it's kind of a shame because like the space and just like even just the fintech space and the crypto space and just like these new emerging spaces in Canada we have a lot of very bright, very talented people here. But sadly, we don't have the infrastructure as of yet to really keep them. And have like the next Google the next Facebook just out of Toronto or Waterloo yet.

Justin Hartzman : Well yeah to that point we see all those companies coming up to Canada for our talent but to be frank with you we are a technology company at the heart of things. You know. Fintech or not it's technology that runs this. It is a super competitive market. There is a war on talent. And what we're lucky is we don't see as many people running to the US to those jobs at Google anymore because a lot of them that do exist here and a really big startup community where people get their feet wet into these awesome companies and get their equity and all those pieces. We actually need to start bringing and I've seen this a lot we a lot of people from Brazil and other places around the world coming to Canada bringing their expertise here. So, if we could have people migrate to where we are where all this action is happening and bring other smart folks here you seem to be keeping good ones, but we need more. We don't have enough at this point. So, we need our supply to go up for sure.

Manseeb Khan : Yeah. No that's just totally fair. I mean I think it's like once we have an ecosystem once we have, I guess better foundations to support multi-million/ billion-dollar companies then I think talent's just going to pool in. Like you're going to have people from Brazil people from overseas saying hey wow Canada is an actual player and a force to be reckoned with. Why  the heck not work for Coinsmart I mean they're killing it, they're doing X Y and Z in the market. I love to be a part of that. That's something I could definitely  myself being a part of.

Justin Hartzman : Yeah. Breaking news Quadriga just put out a brand-new message 12 seconds ago of a file for creditor protection in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. So that's big bad news here in Canada. That's not what I want to hear. I'm sad to be reading that. Well they are a competitor. So, I want to see this success of the market and this is definitely not helpful for that. You know we just talked about that earlier.

Manseeb Khan : Yeah. Oh, that's wild. That's crazy timing. I mean what you said about in 2019. I mean like it's a brand-new year.

Justin Hartzman : I'm super excited by the OTC space and the large financial institutions getting into it. We see some great stuff happen at the end of this year. It's coming out now on the custodial services for institutions and as institutions come to this market, they'll be investing in it. People will know about it more because traditional investors will see it as part of their portfolios and have an  option to buy through those which I think is going to drive more positive sentiment more trust the markets. I think that's a really big piece having them come in here. OTC there's a lot of opportunity for large desks around the world to move heavy amounts of coins. So, I think that's exciting for us, we're playing a role in that right now, connecting great deals and AI obviously playing a big role. And you know we deal with some partners where we can look at how we hedge coins coming in or not much more if we're not matching them or catching them. So, we look at those pieces, can we in Canada as regulation comes offer things like automated financial products much like a Wealth simple can we do that in the crypto space. Understanding based on artificial intelligence. What your risk tolerance is knowing that your risk tolerance can get you to a bucket of crypto currencies that's managed by  AI to give some great results for you in the long run. So, a self-managed driven bucketed goods of ETF funds that I think is something that's really exciting for us as we move forward. Wealth simple you know very respectful company. I went to school with Mike the CEO there I think he's a great guy. Good buddy. They've done something great and they've helped bring a lot of millennials to the market by going Hey you know housing is a little too expensive for us until we can afford that or if we decide not to afford that. We want to be investing. But traditional investment house you're going to your bank or some things that you're doing doesn't really know anything. It's not our way of doing it. If I could go on my phone and answer a couple of questions and know that my money is being managed the appropriate way using, you know proper managers as well as artificial intelligence. That's so cool and that's everything that we're looking for. Can we bring the crypto space?

Manseeb Khan : I mean like just think of it as more of like a lazy perspective of the fact that you have to actually go to a bank, book a meeting wait for your broker to actually sit down with you and then kind of go over it  with you. Like just that just so much like hey if I can do this in my underwear while  making coffee. Why the heck. What an odd design.

Justin Hartzman : Yeah, it's not even that like you know you go in to. Yeah. I don't know people realize this. This is the same thing you talk about social media marketing. I'll talk about that afterwards, but you go into your bank and you set up an appointment with a quote unquote investment professional. What made that person an investment professional? That's someone who's a year out of school. They're trying to do something they're offering products at just the bank has available to you which are clearly well I don't see clearly not but not the best investments that I'm sure you could find better if you find some to help you with that. That's not really what you should be doing. And then the alternative is going to a professional who's been doing this for a long time and manages huge amounts of money but there's a significant cost to that. At the same time which you don't want to bear. So, this technology is the longest offers you got from going from someone who knows nothing to the people who know a lot. You know not clairvoyant but know a lot and bring it to everyone. I think that's really key.

Manseeb Khan : I mean you briefly touched on the social media aspect, but could you expand on that.

Justin Hartzman : Well it's just a social media side of things when I mentioned the same thing. You can go to a social media management company but if unless you have the biggest budgets or you're the biggest brand out there again they're putting on you they're fresh out of university student who's come on to manage your account to answer the phone call for you but they don't manage billions of dollars in ad spend millions of dollars not spend it on all the levers to pull or what's going on. They're just they're doing a job. It takes time to get there. That's the whole point. When you're getting into a market anywhere where it's financial side or social media marketing you want the people who are taking all that amazing top level knowledge and distilling it down into an automated way for you somebody who didn't have access to that previously. So, I just see this as a very big parallel between those two industries.

Manseeb Khan : I love it. I mean look that's kind of where you're seeing challenger banks winning that battle right where you're having when you go to a bank. You definitely have a limited deck of cards that you're playing with comparatively if you go to a challenger bank and even taking it one step further going to open banking and start giving people more options. That's where banking gets really exciting. I mean it's an it's a very weird statement to say a banker getting excited but nonetheless that's  open banking is definitely where banking is going to get really exciting because customers are going to have that much more options to switch mortgage plans, to savings accounts may have.

Justin Hartzman : Yes, it's happening a lot right now in the insurance space like just going to your phone buying insurance plan. They want to see your car your car first you can take a picture of it. If something happens to your car you take a picture of it and show it off and you don't have to wait for the adjuster to come in. And they use A.I. to analyze how bad that was versus the same car that had a similar picture last time what it cost to fit all those technologies are really simple things. Well seeking the personal aspect of it well these don't need to be personal. I don't need to wait for 9:00 at night because adjuster in Toronto is busy after a small fender bender  for him to come to my house. Why wasn't that picture just sufficient? So, I'm totally with it. I am a big proponent of having technology make things easier across the board.

Manseeb Khan : Yeah. Insurance tech is definitely something  that not a lot of people talk about. I mean there's definitely starting to be a little bit more of a buzz like insurance tech. Yes definitely. I mean it's a rabbit hole that I would definitely want to discover more on the show.

Justin Hartzman : I love that space. I think is super interesting I listen to a lot of podcasts not specifically about insure-tech but startups and insure-tech and banking tech and fintech and AI obviously big things and Block chain right now. You know like you I was just listening to a great podcast with the CEO of Cover in the U.S. Only right now. But you know simple things like the fact that you have homeowner’s insurance or renter’s insurance you know you're renting somewhere you can pay your 20 bucks a month in case something happens. The fact that you can now take your phone buy it on there. Walk around your house just with a video camera on your phone show the TV that's on your wall, the kind of couch that you have. You know if you have any jewelry  or keepsakes show it on there. It's not a he said she said sort of game when the insurance companies are in business not to pay you. They don't want to you know if you have that 4k sixty-five-inch TV on the wall that you love that cost you four thousand dollars and you don't have a receipt for the can say no you don't have it. If you bought insurance this where you took that video and it's uploaded to your file right there in that app it just stops those problems. You know what it makes it harder for people who are doing nefarious activities like going like I had a 4k TV when they had a little 21-inch tube TV in their house who are scamming. Well good for him. We don't want those people scamming. They mess up everyone else's rates out there. Let's see what you have. Let's replace it with exactly what you had or better and let's all be on the same page. That's what helps everybody. Well it might screw people who are trying to look do things are off center. It helps the rest of us as the masses and I think that's a super important piece.

Manseeb Khan : Right. So, it was the name of the company that you just mentioned.

Justin Hartzman : It's called Cover.

Manseeb Khan : OK cool. I mean. Yeah. Take it take pictures at ensuring like you mention a bunch of jewelries. Instagram's definitely going to have a field day when it comes to knowing what the favorite rapper or artist through it you may have fake chains to try to do that.

Justin Hartzman :  I assume like hip hop. And we came on this call I heard you. This is some good tunes in the back.

Manseeb Khan : Yeah. Yeah. Just like I was like I put some a little bit of elevator music before I wait for you to jump on.

Justin Hartzman : I liked it. I appreciate that.

Manseeb Khan : What's the future of Coinsmart looking like in 2019? What's some of the challenges? What's that you guys are going to embark on that I guess some of the listeners and some of the people using Coinsmart to get really excited.

Justin Hartzman : Yeah, I think the future for us is to continue to make it accessible for everyone. Offer more ways to get your money on and off of our network or just super simple. Increased ability just like boots on the ground where they'll be in contact with us or see possibly store front locations. We're looking at expanding into other territories outside of Canada. So, whether that be Europe and Asia or wherever it may be right now. So, a lot of expansion across the board. We really want to make the easiest to use, most accessible, most robust platform out there without over complicating everything. So, there's a huge coin selection like which as I said we're adding six and seven more coins in the next five or six weeks. And then again just simplifying, simplifying simplifying while increasing the security in the background. That's what you'll see out of us over the next six to eight months.

Manseeb Khan : And you can't tell us what coins you guys are adding right?

Justin Hartzman : We can't yet. We have a long list than that were you. So, we have to look at a lot of stuff, it's not easy list. That's just put anything on. We have to understand as truly utility coin in all our security and if to run it through.  We have one-hundred-and-eighty-page guideline of how we determine if it goes on or not. But we have narrowed it down to six and we'll be spreading it out come online shortly and everyone wants to know but to stay tuned we're happy. We'll start out see shortly.

Manseeb Khan : Also, to wrap this up what would be the best way to either contact you or Coinsmart. Why do we e-mail you? Do we Snapchat? Do we tweet you?

Justin Hartzman : Yes. Also, I'm always available and my team is you know just go to coin smart dot com click on the live chat. You can chat there just do a support ticket or if you want to ask me a question or have anything you want to know. I put my email address for everyone. You can email me at me at J H so it’s my two initials Justin Hartzman.  So, JH at coin smart dot com also.

Manseeb Khan : Awesome So Justin thank you so much for sitting down today. We had I mean  I loved the conversation that we had today.

Justin Hartzman :  My pleasure thanks for having me. And it was useful to some people and gave some good info if you guys have any questions please feel to reach out to me guys. J H at Coinsmart dot com.

Manseeb Khan : I really hope they do because this is a very smart individual.

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End of Podcast

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IRS Crypto Rollback Raises Questions for Canada

April 15, 2025

Crypto Regulation | April 15, 2025 Trump Repeals IRS Crypto Reporting Rule. Here's Why Fintechs in Canada Should Pay Attention On April 10, 2025, U.S. President Trump signed a bill cancelling a key IRS crypto reporting rule that would have required decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms to report customer transactions to the tax agency. See:  UK FCA Plans Full Crypto Licensing Regime by 2026 The IRS' rule was called "Gross Proceeds Reporting by Brokers That Regularly Provide Services Effectuating Digital Asset Sales", which expanded the scope of traditional broker definitions to include DeFi apps like Uniswap and Metamask, and had an effective date of February 28, 2025.  However, the IRS provided a transition period given the reporting complexities involved, so the rule was set to apply to digital asset sales occurring after January 1, 2027.  But with Trump's bill nullifying the IRS rule, the implementation is now cancelled and the rule is officially gone. What does this mean for fintechs, crypto startups, and regulators in Canada? What Changed? The IRS crypto reporting rule was part of a broader push to increase tax compliance among crypto users but industry argued that it wasn't manageable because DeFi platforms don't control their user's data.  ...

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Insights from Jamie Dimon’s 2024 Letter to Shareholders

April 15, 2025

Markets and Economy | April 15, 2025 Jamie Dimon’s 2024 Letter Outlines Global Risks and Advice for Leaders On April 7 2025, CEO Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase published his annual 2024 letter to shareholders (58 page PDF), which is widely read by business and policy leaders around the globe.  This year's edition, his messages are especially urgent.  He describes a world of rising risks, and big decisions ahead with profound implications that stretch beyond simply Wall Street.  Below are 5 insights that fintech founders, investors and Canadian decision makers need to know: 1. The U.S. Dollar’s Strength is At Risk “History has shown that as countries become weaker, their currency loses reserve currency status.” Dimon issued a clear warning that's rarely said out loud by execs of America’s biggest banks.  That is the U.S. dollar’s global dominance is fading because it's strength relies on TRUST in U.S. institutions, alliances, and policy, BUT that trust is now eroding. Last week, the U.S. dollar dropped significantly reaching a 3 year low against major global currencies.  The decline is largely due to the Trump administration's escalating tariffs and trade tensions on imports from several countries, such as China, Canada and European nations.  ...

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Plaid Raises $575M to Scale Fintech Infrastructure

April 14, 2025

Financing | April 14, 2025 Plaid’s $575 Million Series D Signals a Deeper Strategy in Fintech Data and Embedded AI Financial infrastructure provider, Plaid, announced on April 3 2025, that they raised $575 million Series D at a valuation of $6.1 billion valuation led by Frank Templeton, BlackRock, Fidelity, and others including existing investors such as NEA and Ribbit Capital.  While the valuation is significantly lower than it's 2021 peak of $13.4 billion, Plaid's latest round is a story of consolidation of it's role at the heart of embedded finance, and not of decline. Plaid is a backbone of embedded finance with a footprint that spans more than 8,000 apps, including many widely used fintech tools and providers in Canada and the U.S.  For Canadian fintech companies, this raise hints at where industry is heading and who will control its most critical pipes. A Profitable Platform in a Tough Market Unlike most fintech firms still chasing break-even, Plaid finished off 2024 with positive operating margins, strong ash flows and a 25% yoy revenue increase.  In Plaid's letter to shareholders, 2025, CEO and Cofounder Zach Perret explained that it has a usage based billing model where Plaid earns revenue when an ...

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Strengthening Resilience and Leading Through Uncertainty

April 14, 2025

Leadership | April 14, 2025 Why Embracing Uncertainty Can Help Founders Gain Insight (During Chaos) In an economic climate where geopolitical tensions are high and markets volatile with inflation spikes and policy u-turns, founders and innovators that embrace uncertainty can gain an edge.  Uncertainty isn't a side effect of innovation, it's the starting line.  Inspired from Deepak Chopra's recent article on the power of uncertainty, this article looks at the impact of embracing the unknown and how it can sharpen decision-making, unlock creativity, and help build resilience during times of rapid change and uncertainty. Key Actionable Insights 1. Uncertainty Isn't the Enemy...It's the Edge Chopra argues that trying to eliminate uncertainty kills creativity.  When everything is 'the exact same', it breeds complacency.  We've all experienced this.  During some routine periods, a founder may feel that time is passing by very quickly.  Yet during times of great change, novelty, innovation, a founder may feel that time is going by slowly.  Fintech leaders who stay agile during times of ambiguity can separate themselves from those who stall in the face of uncertainty.  Put differently, successful founders don't just survive during chaos, they scan for signals of change/chaos that others can miss, often ...

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Navigating SEO for Effective Crowdfunding

April 14, 2025

April 14, 2025 If you’re running a crowdfunding campaign, visibility is key. Without the right SEO strategy, potential backers may never find your project. Below is a practical, research-backed guide to improving your campaign’s visibility through SEO. 1. Understand Your Audience First Start by knowing who you’re targeting. This helps shape your keywords, content, and messaging. Build a profile of your ideal backer Use keyword research tools like Google Trends or Ahrefs Read forum discussions and questions from your audience The more specific your understanding, the more relevant your content becomes. 2. Focus on Search Intent, Not Just Keywords Group your keywords based on what users are looking to do: Informational: “how to launch a crowdfunding campaign” Transactional: “support [campaign name]” Navigational: “[brand name] Kickstarter page” Use these keywords naturally in: Headings and subheadings Meta descriptions Blog updates and campaign FAQs Image alt text Write for people first, then optimise for search engines. For more insight into how keyword strategy aligns with intent and structure, consider following this website, which outlines foundational SEO practices that support long-term visibility. 3. Build a High-Converting, SEO-Friendly Landing Page Don’t treat your landing page as just a pitch. Make it SEO-ready: Clear, keyword-rich headline ...

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OneVest Closes $20M Series B to Lead Wealthtech

April 11, 2025

Financing | April 11, 2025 OneVest Secures $20M in Series B to Build the Future of WealthTech in North America On January 29, 2025, Calgary and Toronto-based fintech firm OneVest announced the close of a $20 million Series B round, led by Salesforce Ventures and joined by Allianz Life Ventures, TIAA Ventures, and returning backers like OMERS Ventures, Deloitte Ventures, Fin Capital, Luge Capital, and Pivot Investment Partners. See:  OneVest’s Rapid Expansion Powered by a $17M Funding Round led by OMERS Ventures OneVest estimates that $84 trillion of wealth will be passed down from Baby Boomers to Gen X and Millennials over the coming decades, creating a massive opportunity and challenge for financial institutions. OneVest's platform is positioned to offer financial institutions, such as banks, insurers, asset managers and RIAs, a module tech platform to build or upgrade their wealth management services.  Companies ca upgrade outdated infrastructure by plugging in only the components they need, reducing time and cost to market. Amar Ahluwalia, CEO of OneVest: “We are tackling massive challenges in an industry that’s been traditionally slow to adopt new technologies. Having such esteemed investors solidifies our position to reimagine wealth management technology for enterprises across the U.S. and ...

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SEC Issues Covered Stablecoin Statement, Risks Remain

April 10, 2025

Regulation | April 10, 2025 SEC Says Some Fully Backed, Payment-Only 'Covered Stablecoins' Aren’t Securities On April 4, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a statement that clarified some U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins may not be considered securities.  While the statement was welcomed and creates some breathing room for crypto and fintech projects, the announcement ignited an internal debate at the SEC and many are wondering what's next. Covered Stablecoins The SEC said certain U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins (referred to as 'Covered Stablecoins') are not considered securities if they have all of the following characteristics: Stablecoin must maintain a 1:1 fixed value equal to the U.S. dollar, without fluctuations Each stablecoin must be fully backed by an equivalent amount of high quality assets such as U.S. Treasury bills, cash, or cash equivalents that can be redeemed on demand. These assets must be held in custody and verified regularly No expectation of profit - cannot be promoted as an investment or marketed in a way that leads buyers to expect profit from simply holding the token See:  U.S. Senate Moves to Regulate Stablecoins No voting rights, control over the issuer, or shares in any profit or management decisions (no governance) ...

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Data Shows Tariffs Are Threatening Early Stage Innovation

April 10, 2025

Funding | April 10, 2025 Regulation Crowdfunding Markets Show Tariffs Straining Innovation Economy Regulation Crowdfunding (RegCF) has proven to be a resilient market for early stage entrepreneurs and investors alike.  When uncertainty strikes, it's often traditional venture capital that pulls back, while the community-driven model continues to offer early stage start-ups access to capital allowing them to innovate.  However, just in from Sherwood (Woodie) Neiss, NCFA Advisor and Principal at Crowdfund Capital Advisors, data shows that tariffs are starting to strain RegCF markets - from March 10 to April 9, 2025: RegCF investment volumes declined by 24% (yoy) to just $57.48 million New campaign launches dropped over 40% Number of investor checks also declined by 15% Average capital raise size dropped to $720,000 (from $1.2 million) Sherwood Neiss, Principal at Crowdfund Capital Advisors: “We’re seeing the first real signs of pullback in what has otherwise been a resilient funding ecosystem.  The numbers tell a story not of panic, but of pause. Investors and issuers alike are waiting for clarity—on costs, on policy, and on risk.” Tariffs Introduce New Risks for Early-Stage Companies In a volatile environment where U.S. tariffs are levied one day, and then paused the next, founders must now face ...

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Trump’s Tariff Pause Leaves Canada in the Cold

April 10, 2025

Economy | April 10, 2025 Trump Temporarily Halts Tariffs for Most Countries But Keeps Pressure on Canada, Mexico, and China On April 10, 2025, President Trump announced a 90-day pause on most of the newly implemented global trade tariffs after market backlash and political pressure.  The break was extended to countries in Europe, Asia, and parts of South America, but Canada, Mexico, and China are still under tariff pressure. Strategic Pause, Not for Everyone While Trump paused the most recent tariffs for over 75 countries, U.S. tariffs still apply to Canada and Mexico primarily on cars and auto parts (25%), steel (25%), aluminum (10%), and some agricultural products like dairy, grains, and processed foods, and continue to affect cross border trade in manufacturing and farming sectors. Trump's pause also didn't apply to China  In fact, Tariffs on Chinese good were raised to 125%, as China hit back with an 84% tariff on U.S. goods and filed new complaints with the World Trade Organization. See:  Klarna Delays IPO As Markets React to Trump’s Tariffs After the tariff pause was announced, markets surged with the S&P 500 exploding 9.5%, the largest one day gain since World War II, according to Business Insider ...

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Tailscale Raises $230M to Power Identity-First Networking

April 9, 2025

Funding | April 9, 2025 Toronto’s Tailscale Secures $230M and $2B Valuation for Identity-First Networking On April 8 2025, Toronto-based Tailscale announced that they raised $230 million CAD Series C (about $160 million USD), valuing the company at approx $2 billion CAD.  The round was made up of U.S. investors, led by Accel, CRV, Insight Partners, Heavybit, and Uncork Capital, along with some prominent individual investors notably George Kurtz CEO of CrowdStrike (returning investor) and Anthony Casalena CEO of Squarespace.  New funds will be used to grow product and engineering teams, expand globally, and improved support for fast scaling customers. Tailscale - A Shift from IP Addresses to Identity Tailscale was founded in 2019 by former Google engineers Avery Pennarun, David Crawshaw, David Carney, and Brad Fitzpatrick, and officially launched in April 2020 to help users connect devices and apps securely without relying on traditional VPNs, IP rules, or firewalls. Tailscale uses a technology called WireGuard which is easy to setup and lets devices connect directly to each other, safely and privately.  What's unique about Tailscale is its approach to solving networking challenges.  Instead of relying on where a device is located (IP address), it focuses on who or what is connecting. This ...

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