Finance

Sustainable Finance Forum 2024 Opens in Ottawa

Ottawa, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - November 28, 2024) - The Sustainable Finance Forum 2024 officially kicks off today, marking a critical moment for Canada’s evolving role in sustainable finance. As the country's sustainable finance framework continues to take shape, following significant federal government announcements this fall, momentum is building and Canada's opportunity to lead is now.

This third edition of the Sustainable Finance Forum brings together policymakers, investors, and leaders from all sectors to harness Canada’s vast potential and position the country among the global leaders in sustainable finance. A resilient, sustainable financial system is vital for Canada to remain economically competitive, create skilled jobs, tackle climate change, and address the social challenges facing Canadians.

Organized by the Canadian Community Economic Development Network, the Institute for Sustainable Finance, the Table of Impact Investment Practitioners, and MP Ryan Turnbull, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, as well as Chair of the Social Innovation and Sustainable Finance Caucus and the SFF Advisory Committee, this event is the largest national forum for innovative social and climate finance.

Featuring 60 visionary speakers from around the world—including high-profile figures such as Victoria Hurth, Mark Carney, Barb Zvan, John Stackhouse, David Atkin, Florian Roulle, Mitzie Hunter, Arti Freeman, Sophie Robillard, Sir Ronald Cohen, Hon. François-Philippe Champagne, Stéphanie Emond, Sean Kidney, Roselyne Mavungu, and Helena Viñes Fiestas—the Forum is set to inspire transformative discussions and influence Canada’s future direction in sustainable finance.

TECH

The Great Tech Wake-Up Call: Why Venture Capitalists Are Reassessing Engineering Team Investments

A viral social media thread by VC industry figure Deedy Das has sparked a heated debate about engineering productivity at some of America's largest tech companies. This conversation is part of a broader discussion on efficiency, following calls from billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy—co-heads of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (or “DOGE”)—to reduce federal spending by $2 trillion.

The revelation? Many software engineers at major tech companies earn between $200,000 and $300,000 annually while making as few as "two code changes a month." These companies aren’t limited to struggling startups or smaller players. According to the viral thread, this pattern of low productivity is also prevalent at some of the industry's most established firms, including Oracle, Salesforce, Cisco, Workday, SAP, IBM, VMware, Intuit, Autodesk, and Veeva.

The "Quiet Quitting" Playbook Uncovered by VCs

What’s particularly concerning is the widespread nature of this low productivity. The viral thread reveals what it calls the "quiet quitting playbook," describing a set of strategies employees use to appear productive while reducing their actual output.

CRYPTO

Bitcoin Slips Toward $90,000 After Post-Election Rally

Bitcoin's price continued to pull back from the key $100,000 threshold as investors took profits following the cryptocurrency's post-election gains.

The world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization recently dropped over 4%, trading at $90,999.30, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it had dipped as low as $90,702.27. The CoinDesk 20, an index that tracks broader cryptocurrency performance, fell 4.78%.

Shares of Coinbase and MicroStrategy, which are often seen as equity market proxies for crypto assets, also declined by 6% and 12%, respectively.

“Bitcoin has surged since Election Day with few pullbacks, but the $100,000 level remains a significant psychological barrier,” said Mati Greenspan, founder and CEO of Quantum Economics, in an email to CNBC. “Breaking through that level now would be a major bullish signal, but a brief pullback could be necessary to build momentum for the next attempt.”

With Bitcoin hitting new record highs this month, long-term holders have increasingly been selling larger amounts in the spot market. However, this selling pressure has been largely offset by inflows into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which saw $438 million in outflows on Monday after a five-day streak of gains, as well as large purchases by MicroStrategy. CryptoQuant defines long-term holders as entities that have held Bitcoin for 155 days or more.