Latest news with #DeanSkurka
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto Innovation in Canada Stifled by the 'Idiot King' Trudeau: Kevin O'Leary
Mr. Wonderful Kevin O'Leary joins WonderFi President and CEO Dean Skurka with Bullish CEO Tom Farley on stage at Consensus 2025 in Toronto to discuss WonderFi's landmark acquisition by Robinhood, bringing major American crypto presence to Canada. Plus, the panel delves into Canada's crypto landscape as the country seeks to wake up from an "economic coma." This content should not be construed or relied upon as investment advice. It is for entertainment and general information purposes.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto Tycoon's Daughter Narrowly Escapes Kidnappers in Paris
The daughter, son-in-law, and grandson of French crypto mogul Pierre Noizat were the victims of a botched kidnapping attempt in Paris earlier this week. The trio were walking near Square de la Roquette in the French capital early Tuesday morning when a van bearing a Chronopost logo — something like the French UPS — pulled up next to them. Three masked individuals then jumped out, and a brief struggle ensued as they attempted to drag the mother and son into the back of the van. The woman's husband intervened and was hit with "blunt objects," according to The Telegraph. During the struggle, the woman appears to disarm one of the attackers and throw a handgun aside (it would later turn out to be an airsoft gun.) The would-be kidnappers fled in the vehicle, before abandoning it on a nearby street. The victims were treated for minor injuries, according to the Telegraph. It's a horrifying attack, but unfortunately par for the course for the cryptocurrency industry. Criminals have been some of crypto's biggest adopters throughout its short history, drawn to the decentralized currency as a way to move huge sums of money quietly, without ever alerting a centralized bank or financial authorities. Had the kidnappers succeeded, the ensuing ransom could have been virtually untraceable. A longtime crypto magnate, Pierre Noizat is the co-founder of Paymium, one of the world's first cryptocurrency exchanges. Though his exact fortune isn't known, at the time of writing, his business processed over $132 million in Bitcoin in the last week alone — making him and his family an attractive target, to say the least. While rich executives have long been targeted by criminals — there's literally a cottage industry called Kidnap, Ransom, and Extortion Insurance — crypto bigwigs and their associates are becoming prized trophies in violent crime circles. In November of last year, Dean Skurka, CEO of crypto platform WonderFi, was nabbed off the streets of Toronto and held for a $1 million ransom. That same month, three teenagers kidnapped one of the executives behind Tokenize 2025, a Las Vegas-based crypto event, driving him out to the desert where they demanded his crypto passwords at gunpoint. Though the group has since been identified, they made out with an estimated $4 million worth of crypto and NFTs. Similar incidents involving high-net-worth crypto traders have been reported in Pakistan, Spain, Australia, and Bali. Back in France, this is the fourth high-profile kidnapping case involving crypto whales recorded in recent months. One particularly stunning incident involved David Balland, the co-founder of Ledger, along with his wife, who were abducted from their home back in January. The couple was freed following a massive raid by French national police, but not before Balland had his finger cut off and mailed to his co-founder as part of his kidnappers' $11.2 million ransom attempt. On Wednesday, the French interior minister announced a meeting with high-value cryptocurrency magnates to "work with them on their security, and so that they can become aware of the risks." Whether it will stymie the huge upswing in crypto kidnappings is anyone's guess. Financial analysts have found that more millionaires than ever are placing their fortunes on the blockchain — meaning crypto-conscious criminals are spoiled for choice. More on Crypto: OnlyFans Star Amouranth Says She Was Robbed at Gunpoint for Her Crypto
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Robinhood grows its footprint in Canada by acquiring WonderFi
Robinhood revealed Tuesday that it's acquiring Canadian crypto leader WonderFi for CA$250 million (around $178.56 million) in an all-cash deal as it pushes into Canada's growing digital asset market. WonderFi operates two regulated crypto platforms, Bitbuy and Coinsquare, with over CA$2.1 billion in assets under custody. The transaction offers WonderFi shareholders CA$0.36 per share, representing a 41% premium over the company's recent closing price. (WonderFi went public in Canada through a reverse takeover in 2021.) The tie-up follows Robinhood's $200 million purchase of European exchange Bitstamp last year and reinforces its global expansion strategy. WonderFi's team, including CEO Dean Skurka, will join Robinhood Crypto, adding to the roughly 140 employees Robinhood already has in Toronto. The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year. TechCrunch talked with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev in December about his enthusiasm over a new U.S. administration that's far friendlier to the crypto industry, and about Robinhood's own growing focus on crypto. "I think crypto is the next in line in a long chain of technology innovations that have changed the underlying infrastructure of the financial system in a positive way," Tenev said at the time. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
13-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Robinhood grows its footprint in Canada by acquiring WonderFi
In Brief Robinhood revealed Tuesday that it's acquiring Canadian crypto leader WonderFi for CA$250 million (around $178.56 million) in an all-cash deal as it pushes into Canada's growing digital asset market. WonderFi operates two regulated crypto platforms, Bitbuy and Coinsquare, with over CA$2.1 billion in assets under custody. The transaction offers WonderFi shareholders CA$0.36 per share, representing a 41% premium over the company's recent closing price. (WonderFi went public in Canada through a reverse takeover in 2021.) The tie-up follows Robinhood's $200 million purchase of European exchange Bitstamp last year and reinforces its global expansion strategy. WonderFi's team, including CEO Dean Skurka, will join Robinhood Crypto, adding to the roughly 140 employees Robinhood already has in Toronto. The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year. TechCrunch talked with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev in December about his enthusiasm over a new U.S. administration that's far friendlier to the crypto industry, and about Robinhood's own growing focus on crypto. 'I think crypto is the next in line in a long chain of technology innovations that have changed the underlying infrastructure of the financial system in a positive way,' Tenev said at the time.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
WonderFi's Dean Skurka on Bringing Users Onchain and Canada's Crypto Evolution
When Dean Skurka joined Bitbuy in 2018, the platform had only four employees, a few thousand users, and about $25 million in trading volume. Fast-forward to today, Skurka now oversees WonderFi: A company that's consolidated multiple Canadian exchanges, boasts 1.7 million accounts, and guards $2 billion in client assets. But Skurka isn't just sitting on a domestic empire—he's building outward. In a conversation with CoinDesk, WonderFi's president and CEO, Dean Skurka, detailed his company's next chapter: launching a Layer-2 blockchain in partnership with zkSync and expanding into Australia, a country he says 'checks both boxes' of regulatory clarity and strong adoption. He also discussed the outlook for centralized exchanges and how Canada's crypto landscape is changing. Here is an edited and shortened version of his conversation with CoinDesk, ahead of his appearance at Consensus 2025 in Toronto. The centralized exchange said in February that it is launching a Layer 2 blockchain based on ZKsync to connect its users to decentralized finance (DeFi). "When we think about the long-term trend across the industry, we see a really strong synergy between centralized exchanges, where the users are originating or the assets are originating, and giving them a seamless bridge to everything that's happening on chain today." Skurka says WonderFi's knowledge of running trading platforms, regulatory credibility, and asset base gives it an edge over a plethora of other Layer 2s connecting DeFi. Unlike some other rival Layer 2 chains launched with splashy token incentives or VC hype, Skurka says WonderFi's approach is more grounded and long-lasting. It plans to foster long-term use through builder incentives, hackathons and ecosystem support. Rather than viewing decentralized exchanges as competitors for centralized exchanges, Skurka sees them as extensions. Centralized exchanges provide the bridge for first-time users to go from buying and selling crypto on regulated and trusted platforms to on-chain activities that open up more innovative new products that exist in the crypto ecosystem. "[Centralized exchanges] are building out the components that will allow their users to seamlessly interact on chain, but at the same time building up the the capabilities on the exchange side to look more akin to traditional financial service products, which we think will create incremental value on both sides over the next 5 to 10 years," he said. WonderFi is a dominant exchange in Canada, and able to observe how the crypto landscape is changing in the country. Canada has a strong crypto history—Ethereum and the first spot bitcoin ETF were both born there. It was also one of the first countries to have a regulatory framework for crypto trading platforms. "Some of the more innovative products and services that exist within this space have moved offshore or outside of Canada because of the lack of clarity around those products and services," he said, pointing to products such as DeFi applications, Layer 2 blockchains and derivatives. WonderFi is now aiming to change that, after working closely with Canadian regulators to create trading and staking guidelines. "We are working hand in hand with regulators to give them comfort on some of these newer, more innovative products and services, and hopefully that will encourage entrepreneurs, builders, developers, to really stay in Canada and build products with confidence," Skurka added. And with the U.S. now becoming more open to crypto and many exchange-traded funds open to investors, the mindset in Canada is starting to shift as well. WonderFi, which has been a mostly retail-dominated platform, is now seeing interest from Canadian institutional investors such as family offices and private equities who want exposure to digital assets. "I think that's been a really big shift over the last year, and that's something [institutional investors' interest] that we expect to really accelerate in the next few years," Skurka said. Skurka isn't stopping at Canada; he is looking to expand his company's reach to other regions, starting with Australia—a country Skurka describes as having 'clear, concise regulation' and a strong crypto adoption rate. "Australia was a really good market for us to target initially, and from there, we'll really look for other markets," Skurka said. Like the crypto's 24/7 nature, a CEO's job in this fast-paced industry is never done. In Skurka's case, it's exactly what keeps him up at night: volatility— something that shapes the industry perception and sentiments. "It's probably just the short-term volatility that really impacts the outlook on the business and has an impact on the users, the staff, and the team morale. And so it's really just something that we really look to to balance as best we can," Skurka said. But having been in the industry since 2018 and navigating extreme ups and downs, he's learned to ride out the volatility. "I think we have a really good handle on it, and we've got a really strong team that understands the 24-hour nature of this business—the volatility of this business—and we're in a really good spot," Skurka added.
