WonderFi closes acquisition of crypto trading platform Coinberry

Post the Coinberry acquisition, over 200k more users will be added to the WonderFi ecosystem

By Shashank Bhardwaj

Image: Shutterstock

After being listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange last week, Vancouver-based crypto marketplace WonderFi (WNDR) closed its $30 million acquisition of Canadian crypto trading platform Coinberry on Monday. WonderFi shares were up more than 9 percent as soon as the stock was listed for trading. Canada's Competition Bureau, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), and other provincial regulatory bodies approved the deal.

The Coinberry acquisition follows the company's $162 million purchase of First Ledger Corp., the parent company of crypto exchange Bitbuy. The agreement is expected to add 220,000 users and $100 million in assets to the WonderFi ecosystem.

“This acquisition further establishes WonderFi as a leader amongst crypto companies in Canada, along with our acquisition of Bitbuy, establishes a great framework for our expansion into global markets in 2022,” said Ben Samaroo, chief executive officer at WonderFi, in April regarding the deal.

He added, “As we continue our consolidation of leading licensed crypto platforms, our user count, revenue and talent pool continue to grow."

WonderFi also intends to acquire other crypto firms as the crypto sector continues to struggle. CEO Ben Samaroo avered that other unregulated crypto trading platforms might face similar problems as Voyager Digital, which had made investments in the troubled hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and had to restrict withdrawals. WonderFi has already begun investigating potential deals for non-regulated exchanges in Canada and worldwide.

"This acquisition further solidifies WonderFi as a leader amongst crypto companies in Canada, and along with our acquisition of Bitbuy, establishes a great foundation for our expansion into the global market,” Samaroo released a statement before the market opened on Monday.

He added, “Further, as we've seen over the past few weeks, the crypto market downturn has had a massive impact on the viability of unregulated crypto trading platforms and WonderFi's value proposition as one of the few regulated crypto businesses makes us well-positioned to continue our growth."

Coinberry was founded in 2017 and has since grown to become one of Canada's leading crypto trading platforms. The platform has $100 million in assets under custody, and it has managed over $1 billion in transactions to date. It includes 29 of the most popular crypto trading pairs. One of the sharks of ABC's Shark Tank, Kevin O'Leary, is a strategic investor in WonderFi.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash

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