The Western Canadian province seeks to come out on top in the crypto "Wild West", and become the crypto hub of North America.
While the cryptocurrency market was under severe regulatory scrutiny in the past due to the trucker protests and their digital asset fundraisers, Canada has slowly been adopting blockchain technologies due to inherently being an "entrepreneurial" region.
Based on a report by Bloomberg, the Government of Alberta has expressed its interest in exploring the benefits of future finance by creating a set framework for digital assets so that it brings crypto companies to operate within the region.
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Likewise, the legislation would aim to capitalize on Alberta’s environment as there are several crypto miners already established in the province due to its "deregulated electricity system and abundant supply of natural gas."
Even though the regulatory framework is not as attractive to outsiders, some local firms were able to freely open up crypto-focused firms without much scrutiny compared to other provinces in Canada.
Vice President of Brane, which is a crypto custody service company, Emile Scheffel has high hopes for the Western Canadian province to become a national crypto hub, stating:
"I would say Alberta is close to unique, from what we’ve seen, in terms of how focused they are on attracting innovative financial technology companies."
On the other hand, other companies struggled to establish their crypto domains in Alberta due to the uncertain legislation and financial difficulties, making the United States a slightly better alternative.
Chief Legal Officer of Modern Mining Sebastian Elawny described the challenges that crypto miners encounter in Alberta:
"It's even very difficult to get a bank account if you're a crypto company in Alberta. We currently face a lot of challenges as a business trying to operate in Alberta, and we as a group are actually exploring our options outside of Alberta because we're falling behind already."
However, Alberta’s Minister of Jobs Doug Schweitzer said that fintech and crypto firms are highly interested in the province, and hopes that it can "play a leadership role in Canada by creating a home for these venture companies."
With the largest crypto exchange Binance being unsuccessful in securing its stay in Canada, the central bank has started its CBDC research and development project with MIT.
