Canada is fast becoming a world leader in embracing cryptocurrency and blockchain technology behind the US and the UK.
Due to provincial research and development, low energy costs, high-speed internet and internal regulation, Canada, home of Ethereum, has become an established global leader in blockchain innovation.
Ethereum blockchain technology is now used around the world with a wide variety of applications in major sectors such as government, health, and education. A Cornell University study shows there is a clear difference of nodal distribution between Ether and Bitcoin around the globe. Emin Gun Sirer, Cornell professor, and computer scientist suggests:
“The Ethereum nodes are both in the latency space, and also geographically, more distributed around the world, as opposed to Bitcoin nodes, which tend to be located in data centers”
Toronto based Vitalik Buterin, who is the inventor of the Ethereum Blockchain, a second-generation open source software platform, is largely responsible for Canada’s current popularity as a major Fintech hub. The Ethereum Blockchain extended Nakamoto’s original bitcoin blockchain by adding the concept of smart contracts, which have changed the face of data protection and storage around the world.
The Blockchain Research Institute (BRI), based in Toronto, has currently invested in over 70 research projects which are looking at ways the blockchain technology can be used in industry. The BRI has joined with the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) of Canada and the Bank of Canada to build a nationwide blockchain system.
This year, Canada’s first Blockchain exchange-traded fund began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Bank of Canada piloted a research program to examine the possibility of a national cryptocurrency.
ConsenSys, an Enterprise Ethereum Alliance member for over 10 years, now offers some of the lowest electricity rates in North America, and Quebec has consequently become a crypto mining hub. This has drawn crypto-miners to the region. A local Quebecoise ether miner commented:
“Quebec is one of the best places in the world for mining, thanks to low cost electricity, cool temperatures, and high-speed internet. There’s a lot of data centers in Montreal and they’ll rent you a space for your own server or ZTE smartphone…”
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has granted regulatory relief to allow Ontario’s first regulated ICO under existing exemptions in securities laws.
