Coinsquare, Canada’s leading crypto asset trading platform, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement dated September 22, 2022 (the “Purchase Agreement”) with CoinSmart Financial Inc. (“CoinSmart”) to acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of its wholly-owned operating subsidiary Simply Digital Technologies Inc. (“Simply Digital”), which owns and operates the CoinSmart trading platform.
With this acquisition and integration, Coinsquare becomes one of Canada’s largest crypto asset trading platforms with a diversified and compliant offering across various business lines including both retail and institutional trading, crypto payment processing, and digital asset custody. Following the completion of the transaction, CoinSmart will hold approximately ~12% ownership stake in Coinsquare on a pro-forma basis, and the company will enjoy material revenue and cost synergies via cross selling opportunities and cost rationalization.
Coinsquare is in the final stages of approval to become Canada’s first crypto asset trading platform regulated as an Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (“IIROC”) dealer and marketplace member.
“This acquisition represents a monumental and exciting milestone for both companies and brings together two industry leading management teams.” Said Coinsquare, CEO Martin Piszel. “The cryptocurrency market is going through immense change with regulators defining a roadmap for platforms to operate in Canada. This has led to an ever-increasing cost structure and additional complexity in operating a viable crypto exchange. We feel that scale and operational efficiency matter, and we are well positioned to play a leading role in defining the space in Canada.”
Key Transaction Benefits include:
- One of Canada’s Largest Crypto Asset Trading Platforms: combined company will have transacted over $10 billion in crypto transactions since January 2018 with a combined user base in excess of 1 million.
- Complementary Platforms Leading to Synergies: Significant revenue and cost synergies via cross selling opportunities and cost rationalization.
- Speed-to-market: leverage combined technologies to optimize tech stack and bring new features, functionality, and products to market faster.
- New Business Lines to the Coinsquare Portfolio: such as SmartPay, an easy way to accept crypto payments by converting crypto to fiat with same day payouts.
- Enhanced Education Portal: with CoinSmart’s Get Smart Hub, the community will have a robust destination for Crypto knowledge and learning tools – making learning easy and accessible for everyone.
“Today is an exciting day for all of us at CoinSmart,” said CoinSmart CEO Justin Hartzman. “We are thrilled to be working alongside the Coinsquare team to build one of the largest regulated crypto asset trading platforms in Canada and I could not be more proud of what we have accomplished so far. With a diversified product suite, exceptional crypto talent, and one of the largest user bases in Canada, the combined company will be well-positioned to pursue its aggressive expansion plans. While the crypto market is in the building phase of its life cycle, this transaction will provide the torque needed to be in a favourable position entering the next bull run.”
