- Canadian crypto regulations are encouraging, according to WonderFi CEO Dean Skurka.
- Skurka has asserted that although the regulations have increased the costs, they have led to greater interest in crypto rules.
- The executive says WonderFi has grown and thrived in the new regulatory environment due to increased clarity.
The Canadian crypto industry has seen a spike in interest and activity by traditional financial institutions following the Canadian government’s increased regulatory efforts and clarity, according to the President and CEO of Canada-based exchange WonderFi, Dean Skurka.
During an interview with Cointelegraph during the Blockchain Futurist conference, which took place in Toronto, the WonderFi CEO stated that the platform had witnessed a rise in trading by institutions compared to retail investors.
Skurka has said:
‘’ We have seen growth in our OTC institutional segment in the first half of this year. These more sophisticated institutional investors are [more] immune to sentiment and trends in the market, and they’re more fundamental in their investment approaches. […] We’re starting to see, […] through clear regulation that the segment of our client base is shifting quite a bit.”
Recently, the Canadian government and regulators ramped up their efforts to regulate the crypto industry resulting in increased criticism that it has stringent rules which are challenging to abide by.
As a result, various crypto firms have shut down operations in the country, citing tight rules. Some of them include Binance, which withdrew its services from the country early in May due to the new stablecoin regulations it needed to adhere to.
Notably, Bybit revealed the halting of operations and registering new Canadian accounts due to the recent regulatory developments.
WonderFi Thrives Through Stringent Crypto Regulation
On the other hand, WonderFi has grown and thrived in the new regulatory environment due to increased clarity, according to Skurka. He emphasized that few platforms offer crypto services to institutional investors, such as WonderFi.
As such, the platform has captured the institutional audience’s interest in increasing crypto activity, as Skurka asserted:
‘’ Through the platforms that we own and operate, having the licenses that we do, fewer venues can offer [crypto services] to an institutional audience. […] We’ve seen an increase in activity, not only on the institutional side but also on products that we’ve rolled out that are catered to long-term holders like staking.’’
Further, Skurka has commented on why the exchange broke through the challenging period, noting that it provided services to long-time holders in Canada, who had been left underserved by the collapse of Voyager and Celsius.
However, according to Skurka, consolidation was needed for the crypto industry to cope with the new costs. As such, the company has been working to acquire and merge with other smaller exchanges, such as Coinberry, in the previous year.
WonderFi has worked on a merger with Coinsquare and CoinSmart, slowly increasing its market share in the already underserved market. According to Skurka, this creates a “clear market leader “with the scale to operate in a compliant environment.
Nonetheless, the CEO has stated that he thinks this new trend of institutional interest will continue, thanks to the direction the Canadian government is taking. “As that infrastructure is established, you’re going to see institutional participants continue to take it more seriously,” he claimed
