{
  "id": 398480,
  "title": "I built Canada’s largest crypto company. But the business climate here made selling to Robinhood inevitable",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/07/i-built-canadas-largest-crypto-company-but-the-business-climate-here",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-08-07T13:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fortune",
    "slug": "fortune",
    "url": "https://fortune.com/2026/08/07/i-built-canadas-largest-crypto-company-but-the-business-climate-here-made-selling-to-robinhood-inevitable/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "When Robinhood agreed to acquire WonderFi, the company founded by Karia Samaroo, some Canadians demanded the federal government block the deal, arguing that WonderFi had become a strategic national asset akin to one of Canada’s Big Five banks. Samaroo recognized the concern: Canada had been losing talent and capital for decades. However, preventing the sale of his company to Robinhood would not solve the underlying problems causing this brain drain. While a larger, Canadian-owned technology company would be beneficial, establishing the conditions for an ambitious company like WonderFi to continue expanding after dominating the home market was necessary. Samaroo founded WonderFi in 2021, assembling top talent and technology, building a national brand, and consolidating the fragmented crypto market. Despite Quadriga’s collapse and the aftermath of FTX’s demise, WonderFi survived and dominated the Canadian market by 2023. Proud of their achievement, Samaroo aspired for WonderFi to become an international success. The path to global scale, however, required acquiring Robinhood, who saw the Canadian exchange as their entry point. Samaroo acknowledged the pride in their accomplishment but emphasized that winning Canada should not be the end goal. Canada’s growth ceiling for ambitious companies was stifling due to a series of interlocking headwinds: weaker business investment, thinner growth capital, declining public markets, fragmented regulation, and less competitive reward for risk-taking. Other countries, like Florida, Texas, the United States, Britain, and Singapore, were actively attracting founders and investors with favorable policies or tax incentives. In contrast, Canada’s patchwork of programs and regulations burdened the business climate with higher taxes, scarce capital, and sluggish policy-making. The crypto industry faced additional challenges, with Canadian regulators implementing stringent rules in the wake of Quadriga. While this response was understandable, it made Canada one of the most difficult markets for building a viable crypto business. Global exchanges with deep pockets entered and exited the Canadian market, finding it costly. Legal inefficiencies in Canadian crypto regulations raised financing costs and complexity, scaring away investors. Notably, Nuvei, Verafin, Magnet Forensics, and Sierra Wireless experienced similar patterns: building real businesses, reaching the limits of the domestic market, and then seeking foreign capital or strategic buyers. Prominent Canadians like Tobi Lütke, founder of Shopify, and Jim Balsillie echoed the same diagnosis: Canada loses important businesses and talented individuals. Samaroo shared their sentiment, emphasizing the need for Canada to create better conditions for ambitious companies to finance, scale, and compete globally. While blocking a sale might seem like easy politics, building a country where remaining independent is a serious option requires more substantial efforts.",
  "summary": "The CEO of WonderFi says that he sold because Canada's burdensome regulatory climate makes international expansion out of reach.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}