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I want to point to crypto M&A activity. You are the founder and former CEO
of WonderFi, which was acquired by Robinhood for nearly US$180 million.

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We have seen several other deals recently, including CoreWeave announcing
that it will acquire Core Scientific to meet its AI power needs.

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Coinbase also announced that it acquired Liquifi, a token-management platform.
What do you think about this M&A activity, and what do you attribute it to?

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It is great to see more M&A happening within crypto,
and also between crypto and traditional finance.

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These transactions are the most exciting to me. Two or three years ago,
crypto-focused M&A involved crypto companies merging or acquiring each other.

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Now we are seeing this ripple out into larger companies and institutions
outside crypto that see the potential of digital assets and blockchain.

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It is exciting to see this transaction come to fruition.
When I started WonderFi in 2021, the goal was to put Canadian crypto on the map.

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There were many exchanges trying to be compliant in Canada.
Canada is seen as forward-thinking in crypto regulation, but I think the opposite.

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It was overly regulated. Exchanges competed for the same customers,
and no company was being created that could compete globally.

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That is why I started WonderFi. We created the exchange and built the brand.
Other Canadian exchanges had great operators and technology,

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so we started to consolidate that. Through those acquisitions,
we became the largest regulated platform in Canada.

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When I operated WonderFi as CEO, we looked at U.S. expansion
as a natural next step after becoming the largest in Canada.

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At the same time, U.S. and international companies wanted to enter Canada,
so we had discussions with different potential partners.

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To me, Robinhood is the perfect partner for WonderFi.
It is pursuing international expansion, including the Bitstamp acquisition,

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and using WonderFi as a Canadian entry point makes sense.
It is a compliant, regulated company with a track record and loyal customers.

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The businesses are complementary. Everybody knows Robinhood for stock trading,
and Canada does not really have a similar product.

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Bringing that product to WonderFi customers
and to Canadians is really exciting.
