Canadian Crypto-Exchange Coinsquare Acquires BlockEQ for 9 million

By Debarun Gupta

Canada’s leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare has acquired Stellar’s non-custodial crypto wallet, BlockEQ. The acquisition is a part of Coinsquare’s expansion plan that goes beyond its cureent role in crypto trading.

2018 has been a less-than-ideal year for cryptocurrency, with prices dropping sharply since early this year. As such, many crypto companies are taking steps to beat the unfavorable market conditions.

Coinsquare, one of the biggest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges that have come out of Canada, has acquired BlockEQ, a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet that allows users to store XLM and other tokens that run on the Stellar network.

According to the press release, the acquisition cost Coinsquare CAD 12 million or almost US $9 million, providing the company with necesaary funding to work on projects that will boost connectivity between exchange users and their digital assets.

The acquisition was Coinsquare’s first time buying out a smaller company and could be a sign as to how the company would play in the market in future. However, Coinsquare has affirmed that the acquisition will in now way affect BlockEQ’s internal autonomy or impede its freedom to work on core projects and will simply work as a subsidiary of Coinsquare.

The acquisition of BlockEQ helped Coinsquare establish a strong foundation in the Stellar ecosystem, which the company plans on leveraging to “provide new products and services using the Stellar Network.”

Cole Diamond, the CEO of Coinsquare had this to say about BlockEQ,

“They are one of Canada’s best tech teams, and the product they’ve built is immensely valuable. That combination in partnership with Coinsquare’s technology and team means that we have the opportunity to build amazing things for the cryptocurrency community in Canada and far beyond.”

The CEO of BlockEQ, Satraj Bambra stated that Coinsquare was originally one of the companies that inspired them to enter the cryptocurrency market and that the acquisition felt like “a natural step forward” for the company. He said that he was optimistic about the oppurtunities and new avenues that this move will open and the new products that the companies will build together, most notably the upcoming Coinsquare Stablecoin.

Although this is a big step for BlockEQ, it is but one step forward for Coinsquare, which has plans for being an exchange with global outreach. The crypto-exchange plans to expand into Europe by the end of 2018, according to Finance Magnets.