Yesterday, WonderFi, a Canada-based technology company specializing in DeFi solutions, announced its decision to enter into a business combination agreement with two other successful Canadian DeFi firms, crypto trading platform CoinSmart and crypto exchange Coinsquare.
According to the official press release, merging businesses will allow the companies to become "one of the largest regulated crypto asset trading platforms in the world and will provide Canadians with a wide range of diversified products and services including both retail and institutional crypto trading, staking products, B2B crypto payment processing and will also soon include sports betting and gaming."
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The total value of transactions conducted via these three companies has been over $17 billion since 2017 whereas their total user base counts 1.65 million Canadians.
Martin Piszel, CEO of Coinsquare, believes that "this combination will create a safe, secure, scalable, and regulated trading platform that can compete with the unregulated global exchanges still operating in Canada. Canadian investors want to know that their platform has longevity, their funds are safe and secure, and they can access innovative crypto products. The combination of these three leading Canadian brands provides a path to building a profitable, first-of-its-kind multi-asset class platform in Canada."
Justin Hartzman, CEO of CoinSmart, expects the new company to help the entire industry evolve around users. "Modern wealth generation will be our mantra; profitability will be our corporate calling," he said in the press release.
Many Binance fans reacted rather negatively to the news about the Canadian companies' business strategy, blaming WonderFi for the recent SEC attack on Binance. Some also believe that the underlying intention of the business combination agreement is to win the competition with Binance and dominate the entire crypto exchange market.
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Meanwhile, Kevin O'Leary, WonderFi's strategic investor and the biggest threat to Binance according to the supporters of the world's largest crypto exchange, believes the industry is going through a new phase in which registered cryptocurrency platforms have become more attractive to investors who can now see "the tremendous potential of cryptocurrencies to make financial services more transparent, less costly, and more productive" and are "seeking investment opportunities that operate in harmony with their regulators."
