After months of rumours and legal threats, Vancouver’s WonderFi has announced its intention to acquire rivals Coinsquare and CoinSmart.
Coinsquare had previously announced plans to acquire CoinSmart for $29 million in cash and shares in September 2022, but backed out in January prompting CoinSmart to commence legal proceedings.
From the sidelines WonderFi spotted an opportunity to bring the three crypto-asset trading platforms and their combined 1.65+ million Canadian investors together.
In an all-stock transaction, WonderFi will issue shares to Coinsquare and CoinSmart’s shareholders. When the deal closes, Coinsquare shareholders will own about 43% of the combined company, WonderFi shareholders will own 38% and CoinSmart shareholders will own 19%.
The combined company will offer 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.
In October 2022, Coinsquare became the first Canadian crypto trading platform to register as an investment dealer and achieve membership with IIROC (now called the New Self-Regulatory Organization of Canada or New SRO). The regulated crypto asset trading businesses of the three companies is expected to be consolidated under Coinsquare’s investment dealer registrant and New SRO member, Coinsquare Capital Markets.
“At the heart of all great innovation is a consumer that is driven to adopt new technology to improve their personal or professional lives. WonderFi has always been dedicated to bringing the best and most relevant products for our users to market. What we will deliver with the combination of both Coinsquare and CoinSmart is a unique platform where users will trade, earn and pay with crypto, invest in equities, and soon, place wagers all in one compliant ecosystem,” commented WonderFi President and Interim CEO, Dean Skurka.
“With this combination, we have the scale to be the market leader in Canada, a strong balance sheet that will allow for expansion, and a clear path to profitability.”
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