Coinbase is expanding its Canadian offering beyond plain crypto trading. The exchange now lets users in Canada buy tokenized stocks and participate in prediction markets, part of what the company calls an 'everything exchange' push. Eric Richmond, Coinbase's country director for Canada, said the goal is to create a single app for all financial experiences on blockchain.
What's included
Canadian users can already trade crypto on Coinbase. The new additions include tokenized versions of major US equities — essentially blockchain-based representations of stocks — and prediction markets where users can bet on outcomes of events like elections or sports. The move mirrors services Coinbase already offers in the US, where it has a stock trading feature and a prediction market platform.
Why Canada
Canada has a relatively clear regulatory framework for crypto, which makes it a natural testbed for broader financial products. Coinbase has been working with Canadian regulators to get the green light for these services. The company also has a deal with JPMorgan Chase for account linking and provides custody for firms like BlackRock, though those are separate from the Canada rollout.
Competition and context
Kraken, another major exchange, already allows stock trading and has said it plans to launch its own prediction market platform. Coinbase's move in Canada puts it in direct competition with Kraken on both fronts. Meanwhile, Coinbase is also navigating regulatory friction elsewhere: it recently received conditional approval from the OCC for a national trust banking charter in the US, but is in a dispute with banking executives over its yield-bearing stablecoin products.
Coinbase hasn't said whether it will expand the 'everything exchange' model to other countries. For now, Canada is the test case. The company is still working through the final regulatory steps to make tokenized stocks and prediction markets fully available to all eligible Canadian users.
