Robinhood, the so-called "retail investor hub," makes another move: acquiring WonderFi for 250 million Canadian dollars to bet on Canada's crypto market
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Robinhood, the so-called "retail investor hub," makes another move: acquiring WonderFi for 250 million Canadian dollars to bet on Canada's crypto market
Robinhood spends 250 million Canadian dollars to acquire WonderFi.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy KarenZ, Foresight News
In mid-May, U.S.-based zero-commission trading platform Robinhood announced the acquisition of Canadian digital asset services provider WonderFi for 250 million Canadian dollars (approximately $179 million USD) in an all-cash deal. This marks another major move by Robinhood in the crypto space following its $200 million acquisition of Luxembourg-based exchange Bitstamp in 2024, signaling that its global crypto expansion is entering an accelerated phase.
Key Details of the Acquisition
Under the agreement, Robinhood will acquire all issued and outstanding common shares of WonderFi at a price of C$0.36 per share. This all-cash offer represents a premium of approximately 41% over WonderFi’s closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange on May 12—the last trading day prior to the announcement—and a premium of about 71% over its 30-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP).
This clearly demonstrates Robinhood's strong commitment and determination regarding the acquisition. In terms of total equity value, the transaction is valued at approximately 250 million Canadian dollars on a fully diluted basis, including all in-the-money options.
The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, court sanctioning, and approval by WonderFi shareholders.
Upon completion, WonderFi will be formally integrated into Robinhood Crypto, continuing to serve Canadian customers with crypto products and services. WonderFi’s leadership team will also join Robinhood Crypto, supporting deeper market penetration and expansion across Canada.
Since establishing its Canadian headquarters in Toronto in 2024, Robinhood has developed it into an infrastructure engineering center, employing more than 140 people in Canada. Following the acquisition, WonderFi’s leadership and 115-member team will join Robinhood Crypto’s Canadian operations, strengthening its local operational capabilities. WonderFi is expected to delist from the Toronto Stock Exchange after the transaction closes.
Why Canada? Why WonderFi?
Canada: A Regulatory "Testbed" for Crypto in North America
Although Canada’s crypto market is relatively small in size, recent years have seen the Canadian government progressively clarify and refine its regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry. This has created a favorable environment for healthy market development and provided clear compliance pathways for crypto firms, boosting market growth and international investment appeal.
Robinhood has keenly recognized this opportunity. By acquiring WonderFi, it can rapidly enter the Canadian crypto market, combining its low-cost, secure, and user-friendly trading platform strengths with WonderFi’s established platform and user base to meet Canadians’ growing demand for crypto trading. Additionally, exchanges like Coinbase have increasingly focused on Canada in recent years.
Robinhood’s “Puzzle Strategy”: Completing the North American Crypto Map
Robinhood gained prominence in the U.S. through its unique zero-commission stock trading model, breaking down traditional financial barriers and democratizing investing, thereby amassing a large user base. In recent years, amid increasing global financial integration and innovation—especially the rapid rise of the crypto market—Robinhood has been actively building a global financial ecosystem to capture greater international market share.
In mid-2024, Robinhood acquired crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million. With retail and institutional clients across the EU, UK, U.S., and Asia, Bitstamp holds over 50 active licenses and registrations globally, bringing international users to Robinhood. However, outside the U.S., Robinhood still needed a strong platform to expand within North America—WonderFi perfectly fills this gap.
Dean Skurka, President and CEO of WonderFi, told BetaKit that Robinhood “seems very committed to cryptocurrency” and described the deal as an “incredible outcome” for WonderFi shareholders, users, and employees.
WonderFi: Full-Stack Expansion from Trading to Ecosystem and Crypto Education
Founded in 2018, WonderFi specializes in providing compliant, convenient services related to cryptocurrency trading, payments, and custody. It has accumulated extensive industry experience and a broad user base, securing a key position in Canada’s fast-growing crypto market. Its brand portfolio and regulatory compliance make it an ideal partner for Robinhood’s entry into Canada.
WonderFi operates two well-established, regulated crypto platforms in Canada—Bitbuy and Coinsquare—and has built a diversified brand ecosystem covering trading (Bitbuy, Coinsquare, CoinSmart, Coinberry), payments (SmartPay), custody, and education (Bitcoin.ca) through acquisitions, integrations, and organic development. WonderFi’s product and brand portfolio includes:
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WonderFi Labs: An internal unit initially focused on decentralized products and protocols, including the WonderFi Layer2 blockchain (Wonder Chain) and the non-custodial WonderFi wallet (Wonder Wallet). Wonder Chain is a zkSync-based Layer2 network emphasizing gasless transactions, cross-chain interoperability, and EVM compatibility. Wonder Wallet aims to enable seamless DeFi access, AI insights, and gasless transactions on the WonderFi ecosystem. Supporting both MPC and seed phrase wallets, it features built-in chat, staking, and fiat on-ramps for self-custodied asset management.
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Bitbuy: A crypto trading platform founded in 2016 and acquired by WonderFi in 2022. Registered with the Ontario Securities Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators as a crypto asset trading platform, Bitbuy offers cryptocurrency trading, staking, corporate crypto services, and OTC trading.
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Coinsquare: A crypto trading platform established in 2014. In 2023, WonderFi merged with Coinsquare and CoinSmart. According to its website, Coinsquare is the first crypto exchange in Canada registered as a CIRO Investment Dealer and Market Participant. The site states Coinsquare has raised over 100 million Canadian dollars to date and serves more than 500,000 users.
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CoinSmart and SmartPay: CoinSmart is a crypto trading platform. In July 2023, WonderFi acquired CoinSmart and obtained SmartPay as part of a three-way merger. SmartPay provides businesses with seamless, regulated, and efficient crypto payment solutions.
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Coinberry: A crypto trading platform founded in 2017, acquired by WonderFi in July 2022 in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $38.3 million USD.
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Bitcoin.ca: Aims to provide accessible Bitcoin investor education and onboarding tools.
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Blade Labs Solana Infrastructure: In January 2025, WonderFi acquired intellectual property related to Solana ecosystem tools and infrastructure from Blade Labs. WonderFi Labs will integrate these tools to drive on-chain growth within the Solana ecosystem.
Financially, WonderFi reported $17.5 million in revenue and interest income in Q1 2025, marking the third-highest revenue quarter in company history. Its wholly-owned trading platforms, Bitbuy and Coinsquare, recorded over $1.128 billion in trading volume during the quarter.
In WonderFi’s 2024 annual report, Bitbuy, Coinsquare, and SmartPay generated $62.1 million in total revenue and interest income—an increase of 108% compared to fiscal year 2023. WonderFi’s full-service platforms processed over $3.57 billion in cryptocurrency trading volume during FY2024, up 28% from FY2023. As of December 31, 2024, customer assets under custody at Bitbuy and Coinsquare exceeded $2.1 billion, a 109% increase from the end of FY2023.
What Are the Implications?
From a business expansion perspective, this acquisition significantly enriches Robinhood’s product offerings and service scope. The crypto trading, staking, and custody services provided by WonderFi’s platforms closely align with Robinhood Crypto’s existing operations. Integration between the two will create stronger synergies, enabling a one-stop, comprehensive suite of crypto financial services that enhance the overall user experience.
In terms of market share, Robinhood gains formal entry into Canada’s retail crypto trading market, allowing it to quickly grow its Canadian customer base through WonderFi’s established user network.
For WonderFi, joining the Robinhood family means access to stronger capital support, broader technical resources, and greater growth opportunities. Post-acquisition, its team can leverage Robinhood’s global resources and operational expertise to accelerate product innovation and upgrades, delivering higher-quality services to Canadian users and achieving leapfrog growth. Meanwhile, WonderFi shareholders benefit from an attractive cash premium, realizing asset appreciation and exit.
In the long term, Robinhood’s acquisition of WonderFi is poised to drive Canada’s crypto market toward greater maturity, standardization, and diversification, offering investors more high-quality options and enhancing Canada’s influence in the global crypto landscape. Moreover, Robinhood may use Canada as a springboard to expand into Latin America or Asian markets in the future, aligning with its vision of a “global financial ecosystem.”
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