Canada’s Crypto Industry Takes Lessons From US Election Win

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(Bloomberg) – After the crypto industry’s high-profile success in last year’s US election, digital asset companies in Canada are already applying what they’ve learned.

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In November, Donald Trump, a crypto skeptic turned supporter, won the US presidential election and crypto candidates won most of their races. Since then, Trump has appointed supporters of the digital asset to his administration and the price of Bitcoin has risen more than 40%, rising above $100,000 for the first time.

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Crypto made headlines in the US election due in part to the estimated $135 million the industry spent to support candidates. Crypto’s political action committee Fairshake and related super-PACs are funded by heavyweights such as Coinbase, Ripple Labs and Andreessen Horowitz.

North of the border, crypto has never been a hot topic among politicians, but the industry hopes that will change.

In Canada’s political system, corporations cannot donate to election campaigns and individual contributions by 2025 are limited to C$1,750 ($1,213) per political party and C$1,750 in total for all candidates of each party. Despite these limitations, the Canadian industry is still improving since November.

“It’s easier to start conversations today than it was a month ago, and I think that trend will continue without donations,” said Dean Skurka, CEO of WonderFi Technologies Inc.

Advocacy organization Stand With Crypto also helped make the topic a prominent US election issue, with industry partners such as Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini. The campaign was launched in 2023 and endorsed candidates for the US elections with the aim of getting its 1.9 million supporters to advocate for pro-crypto policies.

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Stand With Crypto expanded to Canada in July, but the Canadian branch is not looking to endorse candidates for the upcoming election. Instead it aims to “stimulate communities of crypto advocates” and create a grassroots movement of supporters who can talk to other Canadians and their members of parliament.

Canada’s next federal election is due in October 2025, but could happen earlier under Canada’s parliamentary system. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party is in charge of a minority government and opposition parties are expected to put forward and support a motion of no confidence this year, which would topple the government.

Canada’s crypto industry would like to see digital assets become the focus of that election, the way it was in the US.

“We’re hopeful, but it’s never played out like that in Canada historically, and obviously in the US it’s the first time it’s been an election issue,” Skurka said. “We hope that the positive response he has seen will be a signal to Canadian politicians to take it seriously.”

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Canadian Crypto Regulation

While crypto may not be the focus of Canadian politics, the country has played an important role in the industry. Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, was launched in the country and Canada was home to the world’s first Bitcoin exchange.

“For a long time, Canada was at the forefront when it came to regulating crypto,” said Sophia Cote, head of public policy at Montreal-based crypto trading platform Shakepay Inc. “But I think we have now reached a very critical stage. where there are still places where we have not decided how we want to proceed.”

The Canadian Securities Administrators announced new regulations for crypto asset trading platforms in 2023. The guidelines, which went into effect on December 31, limit the ability of trading platforms to list stablecoins and require platforms to include a pre-registration function. Demands have contributed to the emergence of crypto platforms in the country; Gemini was to leave at the end of 2024 and Binance, Bybit and OKX in 2023.

“In Canada right now we’re having discussions about how we can regulate stablecoins within our securities framework versus the fact that stablecoins around the world are used for payments,” Cote said.

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Some of the issues focused on lobbying the crypto-industry in Canada include allowing exposure to Bitcoin in retirement savings plans and tax-free savings accounts and including crypto in open banking regulations. So far no political party in the country has come out in support of the industry, but digital-asset companies have been trying to position crypto as a way to improve accessibility – a major focus of Canadian politics.

Coinbase Canada CEO Lucas Matheson sees it as important for the nation to compete with crypto, especially when the Trump administration is expected to increase prominence.

“There are significant changes coming in the way the US government and US citizens take advantage of the digital economy,” Matheson said. “And it’s really important that Canadians don’t miss out on this and sit on the sidelines and wait until the rest of the world figures out how to make the most of digital assets.”

Since the US election, crypto prices and trading volumes have increased in the US and Canada. The WonderFi platform has seen more customer transactions and Coinbase Canada has seen an increase in customer registrations since November. Matheson expects interest in crypto to continue to grow in Canada.

“Crypto is here to stay and the US election cemented crypto in the history books and paved the way for countries around the world to start thinking seriously about how to develop their own strategies,” Matheson said.

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