TORONTO – A quietly growing hub for the digital economy, Canada is taking a leadership role on the world stage.
As early as 2014, Canada set the standard with groundbreaking rules for crypto, beginning with critical anti-money laundering safeguards. While legislators in the United States struggle to find common ground, Canada has regularly updated their policies on cryptocurrency over the past few years. This has occurred even amidst support from a crypto-friendly White House and a Republican-led Congress in the US.
This level of regulatory clarity has transformed Toronto into an innovative center for blockchain technology. This progress has gained the attention of major financial players.
The recent purchase of WonderFi, a Canadian crypto business and the owner of Bitbuy and Coinsquare, by Robinhood, will give them access to a sizable Canadian customer base.
“For us, Canada is a very appealing market,” noted Johann Kerbrat, crypto leader at Robinhood. “The forecast indicates there will be more than 30 million crypto users located in Canada, which means projected revenue will be approximately $900 million in 2025.”
Spending nearly $180 million to acquire WonderFi, an organization with one of the oldest crypto licenses in the nation, demonstrates the company’s commitment to this expansion.
Galaxy Digital, a major digital asset investment firm established by Mike Novogratz, is headquartered in New York but is listed in Canada, as it was previously unable to become a publically traded company within the United States. Following its trailblazing launch of spot bitcoin ETFs within the US, Galaxy will begin listing on the Nasdaq on Friday.
DeFi Technologies, a Canadian business with a focus on imitating Strategy with Solana, is also considering a US listing.
According to Nathan Allman, the CEO of Ondo Finance, “Many businesses begin on the Toronto Stock Exchange with the goal of uplisting onto the Nasdaq.” He further added, “I think we’ll start to see that trend more and more.”
At Consensus 2025 in Toronto, one of the premier cryptocurrency conferences globally, JPMorgan, Ondo, and Chainlink announced a $100 billion project centered on the blockchain through a new platform for tokenizing assets in the real world.
According to the companies, this new offering will enable treasuries to be tokenized and transacted using blockchain technology, combining JPMorgan’s Kinexys Digital Payments network and Ondo’s existing blockchain platform.
Allman explained, “For the first time, there’s true interoperability between a bank’s blockchain environment that requires permission and a public blockchain.”
Recent months have shown signs of growth in cryptocurrency deals as the United States changes its regulatory methods under President Donald Trump.
The Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have eased requirements for banks dealing with cryptocurrency, reversing past guidance that insisted on prior approval for engagement in activities involving digital assets.
Additionally, the Securities and Exchange Commission took a big step by rescinding its restrictive accounting bulletin. This had required companies holding crypto assets for clients to report these as liabilities. Now, custody of crypto aligns with the norms surrounding more traditional instruments.
The SEC has also formed a new Crypto Task Force, which is soliciting public input for ways to regulate digital assets more effectively.
“The intention is for larger organizations such as Citi to actively engage,” explained Ryan Rugg, global head of digital assets for Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions division. “They’re asking us for our thoughts, which did not occur as frequently in the past, in my opinion.”
The booking of Eric Trump, son of the president and a key figure in the recently launched American Bitcoin, to serve as the event’s headlining speaker showed how important the United States has become in the crypto space. After debuting in March, the company soon made headlines and intends to go public via a merger with Gryphon Digital Mining.
According to Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, “Let’s remember: most countries are generally ambivalent about blockchain. The U.S. had a somewhat hostile posture toward blockchain that made it tough for businesses to open bank accounts or go public.”
He suggested that several companies which might have gone public previously would enter the U.S. markets in the next six months.
“There’s clearly immense interest within the public markets,” he asserted.
Israel-based crypto and stock trading platform eToro launched on Wednesday after the price exceeded its projected range. During its first day of trading, shares rose by almost 29%.
The US gains are met with occasional obstacles. After concerns about national security were voiced by Democratic lawmakers, a groundbreaking bill on stablecoin regulation failed to pass in the Senate. There were others who questioned the president’s ties to crypto.
Still, major payment firms continue to drive forward.
Mastercard announced on Thursday their partnership with Moonpay. This would enable customers to transact using their debit cards to access their stablecoin balances.
On Wednesday, PayPal revealed they are collaborating with artificial intelligence platform Perplexity to offer shopping powered by chat. In an interview at Consensus 2025, PayPal’s Senior Vice President of Blockchain, Crypto, and Digital Currencies commented that he envisions customers eventually completing transactions during AI chats using their PayPal stablecoins or other crypto holdings.
Jose Fernandez da Ponte, PayPal’s Senior Vice President of Blockchain, Crypto, and Digital Currencies, noted, “We’re making sure that Venmo and PayPal are the primary entry points to crypto, so more and more people begin to use it. A significant number of people use us to start using crypto, so we will keep adding tokens.”
While PayPal focuses on ease of access and payments, Robinhood is increasing its efforts toward tokenization and staking to attract users in both retail and institutional sectors.
According to Kerbrat, who described his presence at an SEC roundtable led by new chair Paul Atkins, “The debate in the U.S. is very important; it shows that we want to embrace technology instead of just controlling and shutting it down like before.”
The company views blockchain technology as a way to transform assets ranging from stocks to private equity markets and real estate into digital tokens which can be instantly traded.
Kerbrat added, “At Robinhood, we believe that this is truly the direction things are headed, and tokenization can enable us to place many more traditional assets on-chain.”
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