WonderFi, Coinsquare and CoinSmart join forces to create Canadian crypto giant

financialpost.com:

A three-way crypto consolidation play in Canada has been completed with WonderFi, Coinsquare and CoinSmart officially joining forces.

The companies said in a July 10 news release that WonderFi Technologies Inc. and its registered operating subsidiaries have more than 1.6 million registered users and one of Canada’s largest regulated crypto investing platforms. Combined assets under custody exceed $600 million.

Going forward, the focus will be on consolidating two of the flagship retail trading platforms, Bitbuy and Coinsquare, said Binu Koshy, a spokesperson for the companies. In addition, the combined entity will look to invest heavily in the SmartPay payment platform for digital currencies, which was launched by CoinSmart in 2020.

The company tie-ups come amid a concerted effort by regulators in Canada to bring crypto players under their purview. As a result of that crackdown, foreign players including Binance and FTX — before the latter’s collapse triggered fraud allegations in the United States — had their operations in Canada curtailed and both have pulled out of the country.

Kevin O’Leary, an investor in WonderFi, said competing against unregulated foreign platforms operating in Canada was once a major disadvantage because of the costs that came with regulation.

“Those days are now behind us,” he said in the news release, noting that being part of a large regulated ecosystem now provides an advantage.

“Through consolidation, WonderFi has been one step ahead every step of the way,” he said.

As a result of the latest transactions, WonderFi also holds a 43 per cent ownership stake in Tetra Trust Company, Canada’s first licensed digital asset custodian.

On closing, WonderFi’s board was reconstituted with the following