WealthSimple Crypto Goes Live Today to Public Traders Regulated by Canadian Agencies

Toronto-based FinTech startup WealthSimple, a cryptocurrency exchange, has launched its digital exchange platform to the public today. At the launch, WealthSimple Crypto will allow users to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and other digital assets through the platform’s mobile app. Notably, the deposits and withdrawals will only be made in Canadian dollars.

Previously, WealthSimple crypto exchange existed in private beta with a user waitlist. Some of the notable features that the company is using to place its services on top of other competitors are zero commission fees, zero deposit and withdraw fee, and no account minimum. In addition, the cryptocurrency exchange is coming into the market being fully regulated by respective Canadian regulators. WealthSimple is working closely with Gemini Trust Company LLC, whereby the latter is holding coins for the former.

WealthSimple and Crypto Industry

The startup first announced plans to expand into crypto trading in July 2020. However, not until  in August that the company received conditional approval from the Canadian Securities Administrators’ (CSA) through its Sandbox program to test the platform for a period of two years.

Currently, WealthSimple is the only cryptocurrency exchange that has been authorized by the CSA to operate in Canada. This puts Canada a step ahead in the crypto adoption and also regulations. There are high possibilities that more crypto exchanges will follow WealthSimple in the near future.

According to Blair Wiley, WealthSimple’s general counsel, due to the wide scope of the market, companies are finding it challenging to be regulated by different jurisdictions. He said during an interview, when asked why no other companies had been regulated in Canada:

“The “How come no one else has done this?” is a tough question. Probably the simplest explanation is that folks who came before us tried to do everything — buy and sell crypto for clients, operate an exchange, hold onto the crypto that clients buy (what’s called providing custody). And each one of those activities has its own long list of regulatory requirements. If one business tries to do all that, it makes getting regulatory approval a lot harder.”

The cryptocurrency industry is an area that needs a lot of scrutiny to especially protect the consumers. Fraudulent activities that include unfair pricing by firms need to be looked by different stakeholders to grow the industry to the next adoption level. With the increase in crypto projects and global adoption rising by the day, more exchanges that are credible will significantly improve on the liquidity of the market.