WonderFi Closes Acquisition of Crypto Trading Platform Coinberry
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Crypto marketplace WonderFi (WNDR) closed its $30 million acquisition of Canadian crypto trading platform Coinberry on Monday after being admitted to trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange last week. The shares rose over 9% at the open.
The deal was approved by Competition Bureau Canada, Ontario Securities Commission and other provincial regulatory boards, according to WonderFi.
In addition, WonderFi said it might purchase other crypto companies as the shakeout in the sector continues. CEO Ben Samaroo told CoinDesk he thinks other nonregulated crypto trading platforms might have similar issues as Voyager Digital, which had exposure to troubled hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and has had to limit withdrawals. As a result, WonderFi has begun looking at potential deals for nonregulated exchanges both in Canada and globally.
"This acquisition further solidifies WonderFi as a leader amongst crypto companies in Canada, and along with our acquisition of Bitbuy, establishes a great foundation for our expansion into global markets," Samaroo said in a statement Monday ahead of the market open. "Further, as we've seen over the past few weeks, the crypto market downturn has had a massive impact on the viability of unregulated crypto trading platforms and WonderFi's value proposition as one of the few regulated crypto businesses makes us well positioned to continue our growth."
The purchase follows a 20% staff reduction at both WonderFi and Bitbuy, a crypto trading platform WonderFi acquired in January. The job cuts were made to streamline costs and deliver shared services across compliance, customer service, product engineering and executive functions.
WonderFi houses central finance, decentralized finance (DeFi) and play-to-earn gaming and non-fungible tokens (GameFi) businesses under one umbrella. Kevin O'Leary, a Canadian businessman and noted investor, is a strategic investor in WonderFi..
Read more: Kevin O’Leary Says ‘Panic Event’ Is Needed Before Crypto Bottoms
UPDATE (July 4, 13:44 UTC): Updates to include closing statement, share price movement.
