Canada Continues to Embrace Cryptocurrencies

The United States’ northern neighbor has done a lot of things right over the last year and a half of the pandemic.

While the US government floundered in its efforts to provide financial assistance to millions of jobless Americans or enforce social distancing and stay-at-home orders, Canada shut down its borders early in 2020, strictly enforced quarantine rules, and gave out robust government subsidies that prevented a more severe economic downturn.

And now Canada is embracing cryptocurrencies at a much faster pace than most of the developed world.

While the debate continues to rage about whether cryptocurrencies are actually a smart investment, it has become clear even to the largest financial institutions in the world that crypto isn’t a fad, but is here to stay.

And Canada has already shown in 2021 that it’s willing to change its regulatory framework to allow crypto to flourish along with traditional investing.

“Canada has been remarkably advanced with its sanctioning of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds in 2021, allowing more mainstream investors the opportunity to have digital asset exposure through their investment accounts, including tax-advantaged registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) and tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs),” wrote Coin Telegraph.

Canada “also surpassed the United States” when its financial leaders chose to allow digital asset exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to Coin Telegraph.

That decision shows Canada’s leaders want to be competitive in the cryptocurrency sector.

The Bitcoin ETF of Purpose Financial LP brought in $400 million in AUM (assets under management) in just two days and surpassed $1 billion two months later.

When China announced a regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies, it was a major setback for many companies. But Khurram Shroff, chairman of IBC Group, an investment company that will end its Ether and Bitcoin mining operations in China, said the change was actually good news for Canada.

“A shift of crypto mining operations out of China will be a huge opportunity for Canada,” said Shroff, who is also the iMining CEO. “The Toronto Stock Exchange recently listed the world’s first Bitcoin ETF, so the nation is already ahead of the curve, in terms of mainstreaming cryptocurrencies.”

IBC Group recently relocated its headquarters from Dubai to Toronto.

Sheldon Inwentash, the CEO of ThreeD Capital Inc., also based in Toronto, has invested heavily in blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and other disruptive technologies.

In an interview with Agoracom, Sheldon Inwentash said that Canada is in a great position to take advantage of the rapid transformation of technology, especially in the finance sector.

“We are in a major secular transformation in technology,” Inwentash said. “Our view is absolutely rock-solid. As much capital as we have to invest, we’re going to be pedal to the metal, and we’re extremely positive in the longer-run.”

In a Crypto News article, Inwentash said Toronto is already a global leader in the blockchain space, though much of the world hasn’t yet figured that out.

“The only thing that’s missing is capital, but there’s a lot of that in Toronto, as well, so there are opportunities everywhere,” Inwentash said.

Fintech companies can be built anywhere in the world, and so finance is becoming less and less tied to specific countries. Canada’s quick response to the reality of a globalizing financial sector means it will likely stay ahead in the race to innovation.

“Familiarizing the Canadian market with digital asset trading with the introduction of more crypto-asset trading platforms is a solid first step,” Coin Telegraph wrote. 

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(Featured image by christopher_muschitz via Pixabay)

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