Regulation
Digital Mission: How Coinbase Is Reshaping Canada’s Cryptocurrency Landscape
Coinbase Global Inc., headquartered in the United States, is a publicly traded company that has more than eight million users and operates in over 100 countries. Coinbase formally launched in Canada in August 2023, although it has been offering services here since 2015. In recent years, the company has worked with Canadian securities regulators to develop a cryptocurrency regulatory framework and ensure its platform complies with strict rules on investment limits, segregation of customer assets, margin trading, and more.
Coinbase’s Ongoing Challenges With US Regulators
Coinbase’s successful registration in Canada stands in stark contrast to its ongoing legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States. In July 2022, Coinbase filed a petition with the commission to propose rules to identify which digital assets are securities and to address the regulation of securities offered and traded via digital channels. The SEC has argued that existing securities law is sufficient, but Coinbase has called it “inadequate.” (Retrieve Coinbase-vs.-SEC History)
The conflict hasn’t stopped Coinbase’s expansion: in 2023, the company was licensed and/or registered in Bermuda, Spain, France, and Singapore, and launched in Canada and Brazil.
Coinbase Canada CEO Lucas Matheson was recently in Toronto as a keynote speaker at the Collision tech conference. Before joining Coinbase in 2022, he worked at Shopify for five years, most recently as senior director of operations, and co-founded Pinshape, a marketplace for 3D printed products, along with other finance and investment roles.
We spoke with Matheson about what cryptocurrency regulation means for investors, Coinbase’s growing presence in Canada, the future of Web3, and more.
Lucas Matheson at the Collision tech conference in Toronto in June. Photo courtesy of Coinbase.
Jaclyn Law: In April, Coinbase became a restricted dealer in Canada. What does this mean for the company?
Lucas Matheson: The most important thing is that we have regulatory clarity and that we are registered. This means that we have gone through a series of requests with our regulators to explain: how does our business work? How do our operations work? How do we provide services to our clients and how do we ensure that conflicts of interest are managed and that our clients are informed?
Interestingly, for me, as someone who has been in the tech industry for a long time but has never had the opportunity to work with government, we are very aligned with our regulators in terms of what we want to accomplish. How to get there is something we are still working on, but overall it is an opportunity for us to collaborate and build strong regulatory frameworks.