Bitbuy Technologies this week declared that it is the first among Toronto Stock Exchange-listed crypto-trading platforms “to receive approval from applicable Canadian securities regulators to offer staking to Canadian investors.”
The Toronto-born subsidiary of Canadian crypto firm WonderFi Technologies says that, as of November 28th, Bitbuy Staking will allow users to leverage crypto balances to earn crypto rewards through on-chain staking.
What is staking, anyway?
“Crypto assets associated with proof-of-stake blockchains such as Solana and Ethereum may be bonded to the protocol to help validate transactions and secure the network in exchange for receiving additional crypto assets as a reward,” the company explains. It’s a bit like a savings account for your crypto; let an institution play with your coins while they churn out a dividend.
At launch, it is estimated that Bitbuy users will be able to stake $SOL for an annualized reward rate of up to 7%, with $ETH staking “and other proof-of-stake supported assets anticipated to be added in the near term,” according to a statement from the company.
“Until recently, Canadian investors only had the option to stake on unregistered platforms,” notes WonderFi President and Interim CEO, Dean Skurka. “As a result, this placed undue risk on Canadian investors, and provided limited oversight in the event that things went wrong.”
By working with regulators, and utilizing external custodian BitGo and institutional staking provider Figment, “we are focused on reducing counter-party risk for our clients,” says Skurka, adding he is “excited to offer Canadians the option to stake their crypto in a regulated and transparent environment.”
BitGo has USD $64 billion in assets under custody while Figment is a provider of blockchain infrastructure for institutions with billions of dollars of assets staked to their validators.
“This is a huge milestone for the industry and a step in the right direction to protect the consumer.,” believes Nuri Chang, Vice President of Product for BitGo. “We’re extremely excited to add staking out of custody for Bitbuy users providing safety, security and accessibility.”
“This is a defining moment in the industry,” agrees Figment CEO Lorien Gabel. “We are thrilled to partner with Bitbuy and BitGo to become the first staking-as-a-service providers to be accepted by Canadian regulators in conjunction with Bitbuy’s approval to offer protocol staking to its customers.”
Bitbuy was founded in 2016 and boasts 400,000 users accounting for $4.4 billion in transactions.
WonderFi is on a mission of create better access to DeFi through their consumer finance app and a digital asset portfolio which consists of crypto and DeFi assets. The firm recently acquired Toronto’s Blockchain Foundry, which developed crypto-based learn-to-earn platform Metacademy.
Private Toronto fintech competitor Wealthsimple issued a similar announcement last week regarding crypto staking on their platform.
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