Canada’s crypto sector seeks spotlight following US election’s pro-digital asset wave

The influence of cryptocurrency in U.S. politics surged during the last election, resulting in Donald Trump’s victory. Canada appears to be taking notes as its own crypto industry seeks greater recognition.

While Canadian politicians still sideline crypto discussions, the country’s crypto industry hopes this will shift with the federal election just months away.

Canada’s crypto sector wants to emulate the US’s industry

During campaigns, Donald Trump painted himself as the “crypto candidate,” claiming his administration would implement favorable policies for the industry. He even hinted at the possibility of a national Bitcoin reserve, currying favor with crypto supporters and investors.

After his election victory, Trump made an effort to nominate digital asset supporters to his administration, and even more so, BTC prices have surged by more than 40%, crossing the $100,000 mark for the first time.

In addition to Trump’s active role in boosting crypto’s influence, political contributions from key industry figures further amplified the movement. The crypto sector contributed about $135 million to support candidates, with Crypto’s Fairshake PAC and affiliated super-PACs receiving funding from giants like Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and Andreessen Horowitz.

In Canada, however, crypto has yet to stir much controversy in the political arena, especially given the many restrictions on candidate donations. 

Nonetheless, Dean Skurka, CEO of WonderFi Technologies Inc., believes it is much easier to have crypto discussions now than a month ago. He expects the current momentum to continue even if crypto players can’t make that many donations to political groups or candidates.

He added:

We’re hopeful, but it hasn’t quite played out that way in Canada historically, and obviously in the US, this is the first time that it’s really become an election issue. Hopefully, the positive response that it has seen will be a signal to Canadian politicians to take it seriously.

~ Dean Skurka

Not to mention, Canada’s crypto industry hopes that crypto will have a larger wave and impact on its elections, similar to the United States.

Some of Canada’s crypto regulations have discouraged crypto exchanges from operating there

Canada has been keen to institute policies that efficiently govern and manage the crypto industry. However, some crypto institutions felt they could not meet the regulatory requirements, shying away from the Canadian market.

Binance, Bybit, dYdX, Paxos, and OKX are just some of the institutions that closed their operations in the country in 2023.

The Canadian government is still adding regulations to the crypto space, but only time will tell whether or not those rules will be favorable for the crypto industry. The Crypto Asset Framework, for starters, will take effect in 2026. The framework obligates all digital asset brokers, exchanges, and ATM operators to reveal their full transaction data annually. It also requires service providers to disclose client-specific information, such as names, residential addresses, and taxpayer identification numbers.

Moreover, according to Sophia Cote, head of public policy at Montreal-based crypto trading platform Shakepay Inc., the Canadian government is still looking for ways to regulate stablecoins.

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