This FinTech company’s statement may sound bold on the surface; after all, there are only five companies that have ever reached the trillion-dollar status. Still, the company feels confident that it can realize this grand vision.

According to Fortaleza Digital’s Chief Executive Officer, Jean-Francois (Jeff) Amyot, the paradigm change has been occurring in our global economy since the invention of Bitcoin and its underlying technology, Blockchain. The paradigm shift was further accelerated by the adoption of blockchain technology into financial technology, or FinTech, and now in the deployment of traditional financial services. FinTech refers to the integration of technology into offerings by financial services companies in order to improve their use and delivery to consumers.

“This is a paradigm shift like no other in our history. The true globalization of financial products and services is happening now.”

Founded in September 2021, Fortaleza Digital Ltd. is a global fintech company that aims to advance the digital assets economy and Web3 industry by providing complete integrated offerings, including centralized and decentralized exchanges, an NFT marketplace, and the company’s own DeFi coin (FORTE). All of these have been made available through several platforms and applications, including the Metaverse.

“Empowering individuality through the strength of our community”

Fortaleza Digital intends to deploy its technology and functionality to empower individuals in their quest for financial freedom through access to tangible and intangible property, as well as through passive and active participation.

Throughout history, businesses have had only one “Telos” or purpose and that is to make a profit.  Even if today, corporate citizens have added ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) to their objectives, the reality remains that the primary focus of a company is profit and shareholder return.  As such, companies are evaluated based on several factors, but the most important are their revenue, EBITDA, net assets, and how they correlate to the growth of their industry, sector, and main competitors.

“A new way of valuing companies is now upon us”

Valuations have also placed importance on the number of users on platforms such as Facebook or TikTok, but these are closed-ended and quasi-monopolies of their own. A new way of valuing companies is now upon us. Amyot calls it The Power of Community. The number of DeFi coin holders enables the efficiency of an ecosystem to function, but it should not be closed; instead, it should allow for an open ecosystem. This means that even though Fortaleza is the initiator, other companies can add functionalities and make use of the coin in their ecosystem, creating value for the entire global community. The Power of Community valuation model is closer to the calculation of a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign exchange (FX) rates, combining the corporate valuation and other figures to yield a more accurate result than traditional valuation models.

Initially, the use case for Fortaleza Digital will be demonstrated through its FORTE coin, which is a deflationary reflection token with locked automated liquidity. In layman’s terms, the coin holders are rewarded for holding the coin while sellers are taxed a fee for selling. This tax is redistributed to coin holders to add liquidity and fund development. 

Fortaleza Digital will launch a centralized exchange (CEX), a decentralized exchange (DEX), an NFT Marketplace, a Visa Rewards card, an online casino with a lottery, new mobile games, and a non-profit foundation. All corporate profits will be used to acquire FORTE coins and all coins acquired will be burnt and returned to the smart contract. In addition, all coins held by the founders will be locked in and released over the next 10 years in order to align the company’s financial rewards and interests to those of all community members.

Amyot’s vision of success, which he works towards every day in his role as CEO of Fortaleza, is “operationalizing an idea into a profitable and scalable business that adds value to the global community.” With that measure of success, Amyot is already well on his way to achieving his goal with Fortaleza Digital Ltd.

Amyot has faced his fair share of challenges on the road to success. Regulatory issues and run-ins with the SEC became major roadblocks in his career, but Amyot is glad to have learned from even the most difficult of his experiences. “I would say that bad judgment leads to experience, and experience leads to good judgment,” he says. “My life goal now is to be a positive and empowering leader”. 

Jean-Francois Amyot is a Canadian financier and entrepreneur. He has been married for 24 years and is a proud father of 3 girls. He is also an active member of his community, volunteering as a hockey coach and a board member of the Fortaleza Digital Foundation, and Hockey Advisory Canada, a non-profit organization helping kids across Canada play the sport they love. He hopes to share his love of the sport by supporting the next generation of hockey players.