Robinhood Splashes 250 Million CAD to Acquire WonderFi
Written by: KarenZ, Foresight News
In mid-May, the U.S. commission-free trading platform Robinhood announced a full cash acquisition of the Canadian digital asset service provider WonderFi for 250 million CAD (approximately 179 million USD). This follows Robinhood's significant move in the crypto space with the 200 million USD acquisition of the Luxembourg exchange Bitstamp in 2024, marking an acceleration in its global crypto strategy.
Key Details of the Acquisition
According to the agreement reached by both parties, Robinhood will acquire all issued and outstanding common shares of WonderFi at a price of 0.36 CAD per share. This all-cash acquisition price represents a premium of approximately 41% over WonderFi's closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange on May 12 (the last trading day before the announcement) and a premium of about 71% over its 30-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP).
This clearly demonstrates Robinhood's emphasis on this acquisition and its determination to succeed. From an overall equity value perspective, the total value of this transaction is approximately 250 million CAD, fully diluted and considering all in-the-money options.
The acquisition is expected to be completed in the second half of 2025, but it still needs to meet a series of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, court approvals, and consent from WonderFi shareholders.
Once the acquisition is successfully completed, WonderFi will officially be integrated into Robinhood Crypto, continuing to provide crypto products and services to Canadian customers, while WonderFi's leadership team will also become part of Robinhood Crypto, aiding its deepening and expansion in the Canadian market.
Since establishing its Canadian headquarters in Toronto in 2024, Robinhood has positioned it as an infrastructure engineering center, employing over 140 people in Canada. Following the acquisition of WonderFi, its leadership and 115-member team will join Robinhood Crypto's Canadian team, enhancing Robinhood's localized operational capabilities in Canada. WonderFi is expected to be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange after the transaction is completed.
Why Canada? Why WonderFi?
Canada: A "Testing Ground" for North American Crypto Regulation
Although the Canadian crypto market is not large, in recent years, the gradual improvement and clarification of regulatory policies by the Canadian government have created a favorable environment for the healthy development of the crypto market, providing clear compliance pathways for cryptocurrency companies and promoting market growth and international investment attractiveness.
Robinhood has keenly captured this market opportunity. By acquiring WonderFi, it can quickly enter the Canadian crypto market, leveraging its mature platform and user resources to combine its low-cost, secure, and convenient trading platform advantages with WonderFi, meeting the growing demand for crypto trading among Canadians. Additionally, in recent years, exchanges like Coinbase have also focused on Canada.
Robinhood's "Puzzle Logic": Completing the North American Crypto Map
Robinhood is known in the U.S. for its unique commission-free stock trading model, successfully breaking the high barriers of traditional financial trading and democratizing investment, amassing a large user base. In recent years, with the continuous integration and innovation of global financial markets, especially the rapid development of the cryptocurrency market, Robinhood has actively built a global financial ecosystem, hoping to capture a larger share of the international market.
In mid-2024, Robinhood acquired the crypto exchange Bitstamp for 200 million USD. Bitstamp's retail and institutional clients span the EU, UK, US, and Asia, holding over 50 valid licenses and registrations globally, which will bring Robinhood clients from the EU, UK, US, and Asia. However, in North America, apart from the U.S. itself, a strong platform is still needed to expand the market, and WonderFi's emergence perfectly meets this demand.
WonderFi President and CEO Dean Skurka stated in an interview with BetaKit that Robinhood "seems very committed to cryptocurrency" and described this transaction as "an amazing outcome for WonderFi's shareholders, users, and employees."
WonderFi: A Full-Chain Layout from Trading to Ecosystem and Crypto Education
Founded in 2018, WonderFi focuses on providing users with compliant and convenient cryptocurrency trading, payment, and custody services, accumulating rich industry experience and a broad user base, occupying an important position in Canada's rapidly growing crypto market. Its brand portfolio and regulatory compliance make it an ideal partner for Robinhood's entry into Canada.
WonderFi operates two long-established regulated crypto platforms in Canada—Bitbuy and Coinsquare—and has built a diversified brand ecosystem covering trading (Bitbuy, Coinsquare, CoinSmart, Coinberry), payment (SmartPay), custody, and education (Bitcoin.ca) through a series of acquisitions, integrations, and proprietary segments. The products and brands under WonderFi include:
WonderFi Labs: Established internally by WonderFi, initially focusing on decentralized products and protocols, including the WonderFi Layer2 blockchain (Wonder Chain) and the WonderFi non-custodial wallet Wonder Wallet. Wonder Chain is a Layer2 network based on zkSync, focusing on gasless transactions, cross-chain interoperability, and EVM compatibility; Wonder Wallet aims to provide seamless DeFi access, AI insights, and gasless transactions on Wonder. Wonder Wallet supports multi-party computation (MPC) and mnemonic wallets, with built-in conversation, staking, and fiat entry for self-custodied asset management.
Bitbuy: A crypto trading platform established in 2016, acquired by WonderFi in 2022. Bitbuy is registered as a crypto asset marketplace with the Ontario Securities Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators, offering cryptocurrency trading, staking, corporate crypto services, and over-the-counter trading services.
Coinsquare: A crypto trading platform established in 2014. In 2023, WonderFi merged with Coinsquare and CoinSmart. Coinsquare's official website states that it is the first cryptocurrency trading platform in Canada registered as a CIRO Investment dealer and market member. The website indicates that Coinsquare has raised over 100 million CAD to date, with over 500,000 users.
CoinSmart and SmartPay: CoinSmart is a crypto trading platform. In July 2023, WonderFi acquired SmartPay through the acquisition of CoinSmart as part of a three-way merger. SmartPay provides seamless, regulated, and efficient crypto payment solutions for businesses.
Coinberry: A crypto trading platform established in 2017, acquired by Coinberry in July 2022 in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately 38.3 million USD.
Bitcoin.ca: Aims to provide accessible Bitcoin investor education and introductory tools.
Blade Labs Solana Infrastructure: In January 2025, WonderFi acquired intellectual property related to Solana ecosystem tools and infrastructure from Blade Labs. WonderFi Labs will integrate these tools and drive on-chain growth for Solana.
Financially, WonderFi's Q1 report showed that it achieved 17.5 million USD in revenue and interest income in Q1 2025, marking the third-highest revenue quarter in the company's history. Its wholly-owned trading platforms Bitbuy and Coinsquare had a trading volume exceeding 1.128 billion USD in that quarter.
In WonderFi's 2024 financial report, WonderFi's Bitbuy, Coinsquare, and SmartPay generated a total revenue and interest income of 62.1 million USD in 2024, a 108% increase compared to the 2023 fiscal year. WonderFi's wholly-owned platforms processed over 3.57 billion USD in cryptocurrency trading volume in the 2024 fiscal year, a 28% increase compared to the 2023 fiscal year. As of December 31, 2024, the customer assets held by Bitbuy and Coinsquare exceeded 2.1 billion USD, a 109% increase compared to the end of the 2023 fiscal year.
What Are the Implications?
From a business expansion perspective, this acquisition will greatly enrich Robinhood's product line and service range. The crypto trading, staking, custody, and other services provided by WonderFi's platforms align closely with Robinhood Crypto's existing business, and the integration of both can create a stronger synergy, providing users with a one-stop, comprehensive crypto financial service, further enhancing user experience.
In terms of market share, Robinhood can officially enter the Canadian crypto retail trading market, rapidly expanding its customer base in Canada through WonderFi's existing extensive user network.
For WonderFi, joining the Robinhood family means gaining stronger financial support, broader technical resources, and greater development space. After the acquisition, its team can leverage Robinhood's global resources and operational experience to accelerate product innovation and upgrades, providing better services to Canadian customers and achieving leapfrog business development. At the same time, WonderFi's shareholders also gain an attractive cash premium through this transaction, realizing asset appreciation and exit.
In the long run, Robinhood's acquisition of WonderFi is beneficial for promoting the Canadian crypto market towards a more mature, regulated, and diversified direction, providing investors with more quality choices and enhancing the Canadian crypto market's influence globally. Additionally, Robinhood may use Canada as a springboard to expand into Latin America or Asian markets in the future, aligning with its vision of a "global financial ecosystem."
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