Bitbuy is a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2016. Bitbuy offers cryptocurrency trading, along with staking and was one of Canada’s first regulated cryptocurrency exchanges.
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00:00 Welcome, it's Michael Murray with Benzinga, joined here this morning by Brandon Skirka,
00:06 the president of Bitbuy.
00:07 Brandon, great to have you with us.
00:08 How are you?
00:09 Hey there, Michael.
00:10 I'm good.
00:11 Thanks for having me.
00:12 It's a pleasure to chat with you, Brandon.
00:13 For a quick introduction to our audience that may not have heard of you or the brand before,
00:16 can you give us a quick overview of your company at Bitbuy and what you do?
00:20 Yeah, of course.
00:21 So Bitbuy is a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange that was founded in 2016.
00:26 Bitbuy offers cryptocurrency trading along with staking, and it was one of Canada's first
00:31 regulated cryptocurrency exchanges.
00:33 In 2022, Bitbuy was acquired by WonderFi, which is a publicly traded company on the
00:39 Toronto Stock Exchange.
00:40 WonderFi is a holding company.
00:42 It focuses on the regulated cryptocurrency sector.
00:45 Several different regulated Canadian cryptocurrency businesses in its portfolio.
00:49 And Bitbuy was WonderFi's first acquisition in the Canadian cryptocurrency space.
00:53 And they've since acquired a couple of other Canadian exchanges and Canadian crypto businesses,
00:57 you know, like Coinberry, Coinsmart, Coinsquare, Biffo and more.
01:03 Outstanding.
01:04 Now, Brandon, why is it so important to be a regulated entity in the crypto market?
01:08 Sure.
01:09 Yeah, lots of different reasons.
01:10 You know, regulation is very important for both the everyday consumer and for the businesses
01:14 themselves.
01:15 You know, first and foremost, regulation helps protect consumers by ensuring that the right
01:19 rules are in place for the businesses to operate within.
01:23 If a consumer is using a regulated exchange, you know, it gives really gives that level
01:27 of added trust and confidence that wasn't necessarily always there in the early days
01:33 of the crypto market when it, you know, it had more of a Wild West type reputation back
01:37 in the day.
01:39 For businesses like Bitbuy, regulation allows us to operate within a well-defined set of
01:44 guidelines and rules.
01:45 You know, Bitbuy knows the rules and we operate within them.
01:48 So there's like a clear North Star, so to speak.
01:52 And you know, here in Canada, we have been very fortunate that Canada itself has been
01:57 ahead of the game when it comes to cryptocurrency regulation.
02:00 So you know, I think relative to some of the other markets out there, you know, in Canada,
02:04 the rules have been pretty clear for a while and they're only getting clearer.
02:07 Terrific.
02:08 Brandon, what can we expect from the upcoming Bitcoin halving in April of this year in 2024?
02:13 Is history going to be repeated here?
02:15 You know, it's tough to say.
02:17 Past performance is it's not always a guarantee of future results.
02:21 So I can't really say if history will repeat itself or not.
02:26 One thing about the halvings, though, it does bring a lot of media attention that helps
02:29 drive up the interest in Bitcoin.
02:31 So you know, I'm sure it's coming up pretty soon, I think in April.
02:34 So I'm sure we'll start to see a little bit more, you know, of I'm sure we'll start to
02:40 hear more about it in the news and in the media shortly.
02:44 Regardless of the price action, I guess you could say the having the extra eyes on Bitcoin
02:49 because the halving will be a good thing.
02:51 So you know, I definitely think there'll be a lot of attention on the halving coming up
02:54 pretty soon.
02:55 Outstanding.
02:56 Now, what effect, Brandon, has the increase in trading volumes over the last three months
03:00 had on the market?
03:01 Was that mainly due, in your opinion, to the Bitcoin ETF approvals and the institutional
03:05 adoption that we've been seeing?
03:06 That was definitely a big part of it.
03:08 And I think, you know, the increased trading volumes have brought back a lot of confidence
03:13 into the markets.
03:14 You know, speaking to the crypto market specifically, there was a pretty bare sentiment overall
03:18 in 2023.
03:19 You know, crypto winter as, you know, it gets called sometimes in the crypto industry.
03:26 So seeing that sustained increased volume really brought back some excitement, some
03:29 confidence to the markets, which was great.
03:31 You know, welcome for us, for sure.
03:34 There were multiple narratives playing out to start the year, you know, within the past
03:37 couple of months.
03:38 Obviously, the Bitcoin ETF was the biggest one.
03:42 That kind of dominated the news cycles.
03:43 There's a big, you know, a lot of excitement leading up to that.
03:48 There's also some other macro factors like inflation coming down, many signs showing
03:52 that the economy has been improving.
03:55 Other things like more crypto specific, like the Solano ecosystem rallying, you know, that
04:00 had a big impact.
04:01 And I think kind of, you know, all those things together have really added confidence to the
04:06 crypto space and the markets.
04:08 Understood.
04:09 Now, Brandon, can you tell us a little bit about crypto staking?
04:12 Why has it become more popular, especially in recent times?
04:14 Yes.
04:15 So staking is great because it allows clients to earn yield on, you know, their crypto holdings
04:19 that they might just otherwise have sitting in their BitBuy accounts or their wallets.
04:24 So, you know, BitBuy offers staking on up to eight different coins and you can earn
04:28 up to 12% APY on coins that essentially, you know, wouldn't be holding otherwise, but just
04:35 kind of sitting there.
04:36 So it allows you to earn some extra income on that.
04:39 On top of that, you know, you are having the added benefit of securing the network.
04:44 So you know, you're doing something for the actual underlying network that these coins
04:49 are on, you know, the protocols themselves while earning yield.
04:53 So it's kind of like a win-win, you know, you're helping bolster the network and you're
04:57 earning a reward while doing so.
04:59 You know, there's also another kind of side to that is there's also an environmental aspect
05:04 to it.
05:05 So proof of stake networks typically require less energy than proof of work networks like
05:10 Bitcoin, for example.
05:11 So if that's your thing, you know, there's another side to that as well.
05:14 Terrific.
05:15 Brandon, a final question for you.
05:17 Here in 2024, what is going to be the big stories or the largest stories in the industry
05:21 for crypto as a whole?
05:23 It's a good question.
05:24 You know, I think we got a long year ahead of us, a lot of exciting things coming down
05:28 the pipeline.
05:29 One thing I think that is kind of overlooked is the Ethereum ETFs.
05:32 So the Bitcoin ETFs were a huge story.
05:35 It was finally got approved after a really long up and down journey.
05:40 So Ethereum ETFs, you know, kind of coming up sometime hopefully this year, I think is
05:48 something that is exciting, something that's, you know, might have another big impact and
05:55 something exciting to look forward to.
05:57 I think kind of keeping track of the Bitcoin ETF volume will be interesting, seeing if
06:01 we can sustain strong volume on the Bitcoin ETFs and what that looks like throughout the
06:06 year will be interesting.
06:07 And you know, it's an election year in the States that, you know, that can always bring
06:11 up a lot of global uncertainty.
06:14 Some people view crypto as a store of value, similar to gold, Bitcoin, for example.
06:19 So, you know, just with the global uncertainty election year, I think it's, you know, keeping
06:25 an eye on Bitcoin and how it reacts to that will definitely be, you know, something to
06:29 do.
06:30 Wonderful.
06:31 Brandon, great insights here.
06:33 Thank you very much for explaining not just what Bitbuy is doing in this space, but some
06:36 larger perspectives on what the industry as a whole is going to do in 2024.
06:40 Brandon Skirka, president of Bitbuy, thank you very much for being with us today.
06:43 Thank you for having me.
06:44 Appreciate it.
06:50 Thank you.
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