As Canada approaches a central election on April 28, 2025, Lucas Matheson, CEO of Coinbase Canada, places the cryptocurrency giant for influence on a market that he believes is due to blockchain -innovation. I talked to him about the expanding presence of cryptocurrency in Canada, the unique properties of the Canadian market and his vision for the country’s crypto future. Our conversation revealed not only Coinbas’s strategic ambitions, but also Matheson’s personal passion for promoting blockchain adoption in his homeland.
As a Canadian entrepreneur with experience in both traditional finance and tech startups that joined Coinbase after almost six years in Shopify, Matheson urges the Canadian government to move rapidly to integrate crypto into their economy.
This interview has been condensed and easily edited for clarity.
Coindesk: Your career has taken you from traditional funding to Shopify to Crypto. Was there a specific moment when you realized that digital assets would reshape financing, or was it a gradual conviction?
Lucas: I am a Canadian entrepreneur and I have worked in finance and business most of my career. I spent the first part of my career in financing, mostly in M&A, and I founded a technical company after grades with my best friend in Silicon Valley, where I started my trip with Coinbase. I’ve been a coinbase customer for over 10 years now.
After selling this company, I ended up with Shopify and I worked there for almost six years and helped build their business, their operational and financing features. At Coinbase, I help lead a team that builds a platform for Canadians to diversify their assets in the digital economy.
Coindsk: How long has Coinbase worked in Canada and what regulatory milestones have you achieved?
Lucas: Coinbase has been in Canada for almost four years now. We have officially pursued our registration here in Canada for a number of years. Canada is registered as a limited dealer under CSA. We are the first international exchange registered in Canada.
We are lucky to have a legislative regime here where we operate under a compatible regime in Canada to grow our business. We are now pursuing our IIROC registration with IIROC as a full dealer registration that expands the types of products and services that we can offer Canadians.
Coindesk: Ethereum was born in Canada, yet most of its ecosystem developed elsewhere. Is there some irony in having to convince Canadian institutions to embrace a technology with Canadian roots?
Lucas: Coinbase seeks legislative clarity all over the world, and we look for markets that provide stability and clear rules for us to operate under a regime. Canada is one of the markets identified as being open to providing clear rules and regulating cryptocurrency exchanges such as coinbase.
When we look all over the world, Canadas is also a very crypto-literate country. It is the third most crypto-noticing country in all the international locations that we operate in, so we have quite a strong awareness of the technology here.
The opportunity to help our financial system – as you probably know, Ethereum was founded here in Canada. We have very strong roots here in Canada around cryptocurrency and about technology. We have a lot of really good universities in computer science that are focused on blockchain technology and help our students in Canada understand the opportunity.
Coindesk: It is fascinating that Canada is the third most crypto-tender country. How is it translated into the adoption rates?
Lucas: As we explore countries around the world, we explore how attentive citizens are for specific types of cryptocurrencies, uses of cryptocurrencies and technology. Canadians are the third most crypto-noticeable country in all the international markets that we are investigating.
We see some studies in Canada that suggest that up to 30% of Canadians will own digital assets at the end of this year. So we see very strong adoption in Canada and Healthy Diversification in the Asset Class. Of course, Canada was the first to introduce crypto-related ETFs, so we have quite a broad awareness of Canadians the opportunity to diversify to crypto through traditional ETFs.
Coindesk: Who uses the Canadians Coin Base? Is there a particular demographic profile?
Lucas: We have a very wide distribution of demographics in Canada. We have a very diverse user group in Canada – people who diversify from young students, immigrants who want to transfer money.
We see a significant number of people building and diversifying portfolios that accumulate digital assets for long -term diversification and wealth preservation. Then we have a significant amount of institutional investors in Canada who also begin to diversify assets in the crypto economy.
So we see very strong adoption across retail, and in Canada we specifically see a healthier adoption from institutional investors and more interest from institutional investors, pension funds, asset managers who are also investigating diversifying their customers’ assets to crypto.
Coindsk: With Canada’s election approaching on April 28, what political changes would you like to see from the next government?
Lucas: We suggested a number of changes for our new government to really think deeply during the next term. We have recommended that they:
- Start a Government Task Force and create a national crypto strategy
- Consider a Bitcoin strategic reserve
- Regulate stableecoins federally from a careful regulator as a payment instrument
- Introduce a market structure bill that we see in the US, where we can clearly define crypto assets so that it is clear to the public, institutions and builders exactly how crypto assets are defined
- Makes it easier for banks to bankcrypto trading platforms in Canada
Currently, our big banks have big banks with 80-90% of money in Canada-not Bank Crypto Trading Platforms, so we are very eager to help our government encourage our financial institutions to participate in the digital economy. (You can read Lucas’ writing about what Canada should do to be a global crypto leader here.)
Coindesk: You have mentioned ‘Stand with Crypto’ as an adventure initiative. How do you organize the industry to influence the policy of Canada?
Lucas: ‘Stand With Crypto’ is an organization that advocates clear rules all over the world for Crypto, and we have recently launched Stand with Crypto here in Canada with a number of partners. We have a number of Crypto Trading Partners who participate in Stand with Crypto to help us advocate for change.
Standing with crypto is really an opportunity for our chosen officials to understand this opportunity so we can prioritize it clearly. Canada has many priorities and challenges in our economy, and cryptotechnology can help us rebuild our economy and our financial freedom. It is one of the ways we organize.
Canada also has two strong trade associations, the Canadian blockchain -consortium and the Canadian web3 council, and these organizations help combine views and help us to adapt opportunities that we can engage in our regulators to create more regulatory clarity in the market.
Coindesk: Decentralized exchanges (DEXS) challenge centralized platforms such as coinbase in the United States. How do you see this trend that affects your business in Canada?
Lucas: I think decentralized funding will be a very healthy and significant part of our financial economy. I think this is the basis of technology and the ecosystem – to decentralize economic interactions in a trusted, safe, compatible way.
I think the decentralization of funding will be a healthy part of how some investors will choose to participate. But centralized exchanges provide a very valuable tool for ramping and off-ramp from the digital economy in a compatible way that helps governments and institutions around the world to get comfort that platforms like coinbase control risks on appropriate
Coindesk: If you could say a few things to the upcoming administration, what would they be?
Lucas: I would say that the rest of the world is moving quickly to adopt crypto and integrate it into their finances. It’s time for Canada to do the same – to integrate crypto into our economy, build a national strategy and educate Canadians about why the world is going digital.
Coindesk: There seems to be a patriotic element for your advocacy. Do you see Canada become a global leader in crypto?
Lucas: I think Canada can be a leader in crypto. Canada has the opportunity to embrace this technology in a meaningful way to help this country rebuild ourselves and grow our economy.
I think we are going into a time when we need to consider how we organize our government, how we tax our government, how we generate revenue, and how we spend money. I think we are going into a cycle where governments are expected to do more with less. That’s what entrepreneurs do with technology every day, and that’s what governments around the world are starting to embrace is the opportunity to do more with less, to be more efficient, to provide better public services through technology, to be more entrepreneur.
