32 www.lexpert.ca
Canadian Law Awards Canadian Law Awards
MID-MARKET
provider, the mid-market category Excel-
lence Awardees all demonstrate the re-
silience of dealmaking despite lingering
concerns over economic uncertainties.
Among the awardees is a deal in
which three Canadian companies,
WonderFi Technologies, Coinsquare,
and CoinSmart Financial, ended their
months-long heated exchange and
combined to form the country's largest
crypto asset trading ecosystems. Cassels,
led by partner Jeff Durno, acted as legal
counsel to WonderFi.
The merger was completed during a
challenging time for the crypto industry.
After digital asset prices plummeted
in 2022 and numerous high-profile,
unreg ulated exchanges collapsed, many
investors were left with diminished cryp-
tocurrency investments. In response,
securities reg ulators in Canada ramped
up efforts to crack down on conf licts of
interest and risky behaviour by crypto
firms to protect consumers.
Navigating rising reg ulatory compli-
ance across the f luctuating crypto market
added complexity to this deal. The added
complications also came from a previous
agreement in which Coinsquare agreed
to acquire CoinSmart. When that deal
fell through, WonderFi saw an opportu-
nity to "act as the bridge" and bring both
companies together.
The combined business was named
WonderFi. Once the deal closed, existing
WonderFi shareholders owned approxi-
mately 38 percent of WonderFi, former
Coinsquare shareholders owned roughly
43 percent of WonderFi, and former
CoinSmart shareholders owned approxi-
mately 19 percent of WonderFi.
This deal brought over $600 million in
assets under custody and more than 1.6
million users under the same roof.
The acquisition of Mobex Global 's
propulsion-agnostic business by Linamar
Corporation was another deal recognized
FROM A deal that formed the country's
largest cryptocurrency trading platform
to an innovative deal marking one of the
first few acquisitions of a Canadian life
insurance provider by a Caribbean-based
