Everything You Need to Know About Staking and Crypto Regulations in Canada

Everything You Need to Know About Staking and Crypto Regulations in Canada

With the crypto regulatory climate heating up in the US, Ian Andrews sits down with Dean Skurka (President & Interim CEO, WonderFi), Lorien Gabel (Co-Founder & CEO, Figment) and Jennie Levin (Chief Regulatory Officer, Figment) to discuss Canada’s innovative approach to crypto regulation and staking. 

The panel explains what staking as a service (SaaS) is and demystifies the difference between yield and rewards and how this discrepancy impacts custodians, token holders and the risk for regulators around the world.

The conversation jumps into the differences between the Canadian and USA regulatory crypto landscape and approach to staking and shares the journey of both WonderFi and Figment and how they lead with compliance before regulations in Canada had been implemented. 

Minute-by-minute episode breakdown

• (2:25) - Canada leading innovation with adopting crypto and formulating regulatory guardrails for ecosystem 
• (5:52) - Why staking became the foundation of Figment and the company’s focus on infrastructure and backend services for crypto ecosystem
• (8:45) - Discussion on the regulatory environment in Canada for crypto and blockchain service providers 
• (13:08) - WonderFi and Figment focusing on providing Canadians with compliant and safe access to digital assets
• (18:45) - The differences between the Canadian and USA regulatory crypto landscape 
• (22:42) - Figment's role in providing staking infrastructure and a breakdown between proof of work and proof of stake
• (27:05) - WonderFi's focus on counterparty risk mitigation and offering staking services to clients as a compelling product
• (33:15) - The misconception in the USA about staking as a service and educating legislatures about the actual risks of staking 
• (39:15)- Liquid staking and its capital efficiency depending on the type of holder
• (43:35) - Figment app and making staking accessible to the masses while complying with regulations
• (46:25) - WonderFi's focus on expanding internationally and partnering with trusted staking as a service provider or custodian

Related resources

Check out more resources provided by Chainalysis that perfectly complement this episode of the Public Key.

• Website: Figment - Digital Asset Staking Built for Institutions
• Website: WonderFi - A Modern Wealth Generation Company
• Research: Protocol Staking is Not An Investment Product and Rewards Are Not “Yield” (and why this matters)
• Video: What is Staking? How to Secure Networks and Earn Rewards Staking Digital Assets
• Press Release: Bitbuy Private Wealth Launches Crypto Staking Service for Individual, Corporate, and Institutional Clients
• Blog: Cryptocurrency Mining Pools and Money Laundering: Two Real World Examples
• Article: Staking is the Foundation of Web3
• YouTube: Chainalysis YouTube page 
• Twitter: Chainalysis Twitter: Building trust in blockchain
• Tik Tok: Building trust in #blockchains among people, businesses, and governments.
• Telegram: Chainalysis on Telegram 

Speakers on today’s episode

• Ian Andrews * Host * (Chief Marketing Officer, Chainalysis) 
• Dean Skurka (President & Interim CEO, WonderFi)
• Lorien Gabel (Co-Founder & CEO, Figment)
• Jennie Levin (Chief Regulatory Officer, Figment) 

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