Crypto Payments Gain Ground In Canada As Confidence Grows

A recent study by the Bank of Canada (BoC) revealed that crypto ownership in the country had slowed over the past two years. However, recent sentiment from Coinbase’s Country Director for Canada, Lucas Matheson, suggests Canadians are slowly warming up to crypto again. 

In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Matheson mentioned that Canadians’ outlook towards digital assets is changing as they adopt it to make daily transactions. This means that crypto in the country is garnering mass adoption as service providers and consumers are using it to facilitate payment of goods and services. 

Furthermore, Matheson believes that more daily use cases will arise that will be “digital asset-backed.” This belief could stem from the fact that the tokenized industry is rapidly growing with many real-world assets (RWA) being brought on-chain.  Many industries are expected to be disrupted with the help of blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The E-commerce industry is one that Matheson has singled out to be significantly impacted by NFTs. He said the major use case would be “phygital” items, where fashion brands create the tokenized version of their physical products. Popular brands like Nike and Lacoste are known to have ventured into the metaverse with the introduction of their tokenized wear. 

Matheson emphasized the importance of regulatory certainty and how Coinbase is contributing to the crypto industry’s growth in Canada. According to him, the crypto exchange was working closely with the Canadian authorities to build trust and help them understand the role of digital assets in building a sustainable economy.

Coinbase officially launched in the Canadian market on August 14. The company announced that it had partnered with local banks and payment platforms to ensure easy fiat on-ramp and make crypto more accessible to Canadians. Furthermore, Coinbase rolled out its Interac payment rails to enable local users “seamlessly deposit and withdraw funds (CAD) to and from their Coinbase wallets…”

Meanwhile, Canada’s lawmakers have shown commitment to backing the crypto industry in the country by providing regulatory certainty to stakeholders in the industry. In June, the Canadian House of Commons Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry and Technology published a report highlighting the positive impacts blockchain technology could have on the economy and the need to provide regulatory clarity and protect the interests of consumers. 

The report also proposed an innovative regulatory approach for cryptocurrencies, emphasizing how Canada could become a leader in the crypto economy. 

With such efforts from Coinbase accompanied by regulatory certainty, Crypto adoption is bound to grow. Interestingly, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) claims that over 30% of Canadians plan to buy crypto by 2024.