As Canada approaches a fundamental election on April 28, 2025, Lucas Matheson, CEO of Coinbase Canada, is positioning the cryptocurrency giant for the influence in a market that believes that he is prepared for Blockchain innovation. I spoke with him about the presence of the exchange of cryptocurrencies in Canada, the unique characteristics of the Canadian market and his vision for the future cryptographic of the country. Our conversation revealed not only the strategic ambitions of Coinbase, but also Matheson’s personal passion for advancing in the adoption of blockchain in his country of origin.
As a Canadian entrepreneur with experience in the new traditional and technological finance companies that joined Coinbase after almost six years in Shopify, Matheson urges the Canadian government to move quickly to integrate cryptography into their economy.
This interview has been condensed and slightly edited for clarity.
COINDESK: His career has taken him from traditional finance to Shopify to Crypto. Was there a specific moment in which you realized that digital assets would remodel finance, or was it a gradual conviction?
Lucas: I am a Canadian businessman and I have been working in finance and businesses most of my career. I spent the first part of my career in finance, mainly in M&A, and I founded a technology company after the postgraduate school with my best friend in Silicon Valley, which is where I started my trip with Coinbase. I have been a coinbase customer for more than 10 years.
After selling that company, I joined Shopify and worked there for almost six years, helping to build their businesses, their operational and financial functions. In Coinbase, I helped lead a team that is building a platform for Canadians to diversify their assets in the digital economy.
COINDESK: How long has Coinbase been operating in Canada and what regulatory milestones have you achieved?
Lucas: Coinbase has been in Canada for almost four years. We have been officially following our record here in Canada for several years as well. Canada is registered as a restricted distributor under CSA. We are the first international exchange that is recorded in Canada.
We are lucky to have a regulatory regime here where we operate under a compatible regime in Canada to grow our business. Now we are looking for our Iiroc record with Iiroc as a complete record of the dealership, which will expand the types of products and services that we can offer to Canadians.
COINDESK: Ethereum was born in Canada, but most of its ecosystem developed in other places. Is there a certain irony by having to convince Canadian institutions to adopt a technology with Canadian roots?
Lucas: Coinbase seeks regulatory clarity worldwide, and we look for markets that provide stability and clear rules so that we operate under a regime. Canada is one of those markets that is identified as open to provide clear rules and regulate cryptocurrency exchanges such as coinbase.
When we look at everyone, Canada is also a very cryptofabulsor country. It is the third most cryptographic country of all the international locations in which we operate, so we have a fairly strong awareness about 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 technology. We have many really great universities in the science of computing that focus on blockchain technology and help our students in Canada to understand the opportunity.
COINDESK: That is fascinating that Canada is the third most crypto-conscious country. How does that translate into adoption rates?
Lucas: When we survey to countries around the world, we examine how conscious are the citizens of the specific types of cryptocurrencies, uses of cryptocurrencies and technology. Canadians are the third most cryptographic country of all international markets we survey.
We see some surveys in Canada that suggest that more than 30% of Canadians for the end of this year will have digital assets. So we see a very strong adoption in Canada and a healthy diversification in the asset class. Of course, Canada was the first to introduce ETFs related to cryptographic, so we have a fairly broad awareness about the opportunity for Canadians to also diversify in crypt through traditional ETFs.
COINDESK: Who are Canadians who use Coinbase? Is there a particular demographic profile?
Lucas: We have a very wide distribution of demography in Canada. We have a very diverse group of users in Canada: people who diversify from young students, immigrants seeking to send money.
We see a significant number of people who build and diversify portfolios, accumulating digital assets for long -term diversification and the preservation of wealth. Then we have a significant number of institutional investors in Canada that also begin to diversify assets in the cryptographic economy.
So we see a very solid adoption in retail trade, and in Canada specifically we are seeing a healthier adoption of institutional investors and more interest in institutional investors, pension funds, assets of assets that are also exploring the diversification of the assets of their customers in cryptography.
COINDESK: With the Canadian elections that are approaching on April 28, what policy changes would you like to see the next government?
Lucas: We proposed a series of changes so that our new government really thinks deeply in the next period. We have recommended that they:
- Launch a government work group and create a national cryptography strategy
- Consider a strategic Bitcoin reserve
- Regulate the stable of a prudential regulator as a payment instrument
- Introduce a market structure bill as we are seeing in the United States where we can clearly define encryption assets so that it is clear to the public, institutions and builders exactly how cryptographic assets are defined.
- Make it easier for banks to bench cryptocurrency platforms in Canada
Currently, our big banks, we have large banks with 80-90% of the money in Canada, are not bank cryptocurrency trade platforms, so we are very interested in helping our government encourage our financial institutions to participate in the digital economy. (You can read Lucas’s writings about what Canada should do to be a global cryptography leader here).
COINDESK: You have mentioned ‘Stand with Crypto’ as a defense initiative. How is the industry organizing to influence politics in Canada?
Lucas: ‘Stand With Crypto’ is an organization that has advocated clear rules worldwide for crypto, and we have recently launched Stand with Crypto here in Canada with several partners. We have a series of Crypto commercial partners who join with Crypto to help us advocate the change.
Stand With Crypto is really an opportunity for our elected officials to understand this opportunity for us to clearly prioritize it. Canada has many priorities and challenges within our economy, and cryptographic technology can help us rebuild our economy and our economic freedom. That is one of the ways in which we organize.
Canada also has two solid industry associations, the Canadian Blockchain Consortium and the Canadian Web 3 Council, and these organizations help to unify opinions and help us align in the opportunities that we can participate with our regulators to generate more regulatory clarity in the market.
COINDESK: Decentralized exchanges (DEX) are challenging centralized platforms such as coinbase in the United States. How do you see this trend that affects your business in Canada?
Lucas: I believe that decentralized finances will form a very healthy and significant part of our financial economy. I think that is the basis of technology and the ecosystem: to decentralize financial interactions in a reliable, safe and compliant way.
I believe that the decentralization of finance will be a healthy part of how some investors will choose to participate. But centralized exchanges provide a very valuable tool for the ramp and ramp outside the digital economy in a compatible way that helps governments and institutions around the world to obtain comfort in which platforms such as Coinbase manage the risks properly, managing money laundering, terrorist financing, ensuring that people on their platform act in good faith.
COINDESK: If you could say some things to the next administration, what would they be?
Lucas: I would say that the rest of the world is moving quickly to adopt cryptography and integrate it into its economy. It is time for Canada to do the same: integrate cryptography into our economy, build a national strategy and educate Canadians about why the world is becoming digital.
COINDESK: It seems that there is a patriotic element for its defense. Do you see Canada become a world leader in cryptography?
Lucas: I think Canada can be a cryptography leader. Canada has the opportunity to adopt this technology in a significant way to help this country rebuild and grow our economy.
I think we are entering at a time when we need to rethink how we organize our government, how we tax our government, how we generate income and how we spend money. I think we are entering a cycle in which governments are expected to do more with less. That is what entrepreneurs do with technology every day, and that is what the governments of the world are beginning to adopt is the opportunity to do more with less, to be more efficient, provide better government services through technology, to be more entrepreneur.
