WonderFi To Buy Second Canadian Crypto Exchange For $38 Million

WonderFi Technologies, based in Vancouver, has sealed an agreement to purchase another licensed Canadian cryptocurrency platform, less than a month after completing its takeover of Bitbuy Technologies.

WonderFi, a tech company that gives financial services access via DeFi, intends to continue its expansion in Canada by acquiring the Coinberry crypto exchange for $38 million in WonderFi stock, based on the company’s current share price.

If implemented, the project will consolidate two of Canada’s six registered digital asset trading sites. And, if regulators and shareholders approve the purchase, WonderFi will gain a total of 160 employees and 750,000 customers.

Suggested Reading | AMC Theatres Accepts Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Other Crypto Via Mobile App

Bitbuy, headquartered in Toronto and acquired for around $163 million in cash and stock, became fully regulated last November after being approved by the Ontario Securities Commission. Coinberry, on the other hand, registered with the OSC in August of last year.

WonderFi Takes Over Coinberry

Coinberry was founded in 2017 and services more than 200,000 users, with more than $1 billion in transactions to date. Coinberry bills itself as “the simplest and most secure way” to purchase and sell Bitcoin, XRP, and Bitcoin Cash. Litecoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

Coinberry, which employs 40 people, including software developers, got regulatory approval from the OSC barely eight months ago. WonderFi will add $100 million in assets under custody as a result of this transaction at the end of December 2021.

“What counts is compliant access to crypto, and WonderFi has quickly established itself as a pioneer in Canada,” said Kevin O’Leary, the crypto bull, Shark Tank star and strategic adviser to WonderFi.

BTC total market cap at $773.54 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com

Suggested Reading | Hydra Loses Head: Russia Collars Mastermind Of The World’s Biggest Darknet Marketplace

More Mergers To Come

In the face of increased regulatory pressure and growing customer acquisition costs as multiple platforms compete for the same customers, WonderFi co-founder and CEO Ben Samaroo anticipates more mergers in Canada’s crypto market — including from WonderFi.

Samaroo stated in an interview:

“Several of these platforms, like Coinberry, have done an outstanding job of expanding their businesses… however, we’re nearing the point where a large number of players are vying for the same users.”

“It’s basically a springboard for us to expand into larger jurisdictions as we get traction in the United States and other major countries,” Samaroo explained.

The transaction, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory clearances, is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2022.

“As the sector matures, consolidation is inevitable,” Coinberry founder and CEO Andrei Poliakov told BetaKit. “We anticipated this would occur, and it has.”

Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com