Canadian Crypto Companies Band together to Create New Industry Coalition

A new Canadian industry coalition hopes to persuade local, provincial and federal governments to embrace a national strategy for digital currencies. In addition to seeking new policies and fewer restrictions, the Council hopes to destigmatize the use of currencies through public education. 

The industry coalition, titled Canadian Web3 Council, was launched by eleven blockchain companies and digital asset exchanges, including Aquanow, Axiom Zen, Chainsafe Systems, Dapper Labs, Ether Capital, ETHGlobal, Figment, Informal Systems (Cosmos), Ledn, Wealthsimple and WonderFi Technologies Inc. Notably absent from the group are Tokens.com and CoinSmart Financial.

Crypto’s image has been plagued by it’s reputation for facilitating crime, as well as a number of high-profile hacks, stories of market manipulation and questionable business practices at exchanges. The Council aims to combat these negative perceptions by highlighting the new technological applications and economic potential that digital currencies offer.

The Council’s chosen name of “Web3” reflects this goal by communicating a “constructed and crafted narrative” about the benefits of cryptocurrencies, as noted by Jarrett Vaughan, a professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business. The concept of Web3 (also called Web 3.0) suggests that digital tokens and blockchain ledgers will usher in a new and improved phase of the Internet, distinguishable from earlier waves through greater decentralization and decreased reliance on traditional institutions, such as banks and governments. In contrast, Web 2.0 can be characterized by the current dominance of social-media giants such as Facebook and Google, while Web 1.0 references the early, primitive days of the Internet between 1991 and 2004.

Although Web3 creates the potential for all kinds of new internet technologies and businesses, debates about the social, economic and environmental implications of crypto and bitcoin mining are likely to continue. With the formation of this new Council, Canada’s cryptocurrency industry will be represented by one unified voice in these policy discussions going forward.