Robinhood Closes $180M WonderFi Deal, Japan LDP Backs Crypto ETFs, Privy AI Agents Surge

Crypto News

Robinhood has stepped into the Canadian market through a $180 million stock acquisition of Toronto-based crypto technology company WonderFi, taking ownership of two of the country's largest digital asset exchanges, Bitbuy and Coinsquare. The deal, which closed Monday, transfers WonderFi's regulatory licenses and operating approvals to the US-listed trading firm and is expected to add roughly 300,000 funded customers. WonderFi's leadership and broader workforce will remain in place as the platforms integrate under Robinhood's banner. The acquired exchanges generated combined revenue of $49.8 million during 2025, giving Robinhood an established foothold in a regulated jurisdiction with growing retail demand for digital assets.

Stripe-owned wallet infrastructure firm Privy has reported that more than one-third of new developer sign-ups are now building artificial intelligence agents, a shift the company describes as evidence that agentic finance is moving from experiment toward production infrastructure. The marketing lead noted that AI-driven activity is among the fastest-growing segments of its developer base, prompting the release of a command-line tool that lets each agent hold its own wallet. The focus is on production-grade controls that allow agents to act within human-defined guardrails, placing Privy alongside Coinbase and Trust Wallet in the emerging autonomous decentralized finance category.

Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has submitted a proposal to the finance minister recommending a legal framework that would permit domestic trading of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds. The party panel also urged the government to actively promote yen-denominated stablecoins as part of a broader digital asset strategy. Approval would align Japan with the United States and Hong Kong, where spot Bitcoin ETFs already give institutional and retail investors regulated exposure to digital assets without requiring direct custody. The recommendation marks a notable shift for a jurisdiction historically cautious on retail crypto products and could open one of the largest savings markets in Asia to packaged crypto exposure.

Market sizing data places the Canadian opportunity at the center of Robinhood's international playbook. Industry estimates put crypto ownership at roughly 4.1% of the Canadian population, with the domestic market generating around $263 million in revenue during 2025 and forecast to surpass $1 billion by 2033. Canada is also currently the fastest-growing regional crypto market in North America, driven by retail demand for Bitcoin and altcoin exposure. The structured regulatory regime, combined with rising participation, gives Robinhood an immediate revenue base while expanding its addressable footprint beyond the US. WonderFi's stock had traded in a tight 34-36 Canadian cent band ahead of closing, consistent with the agreed take-out price of approximately C$0.36 per share.

The Stripe-Privy tie-up, announced in mid-2025 and following the payment processor's $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge, has opened a markedly different customer base for the wallet maker. Demand is now arriving from firms that want blockchain rails without absorbing the integration complexity, with Privy still operating as an independent product even as its infrastructure increasingly underpins Stripe's wider digital asset stack. A recent demonstration at Stripe Sessions showcased contactless stablecoin payments dispatched from a Privy wallet through Stripe Terminal hardware, the same point-of-sale infrastructure used by global merchants including Warby Parker and Glossier.

The yen-stablecoin push reflects a broader strategic calculation in Tokyo, where policymakers are weighing how to preserve monetary sovereignty as dollar-pegged tokens dominate global settlement volumes. A regulated yen unit could anchor cross-border trade flows within Asia and provide a domestic alternative for institutions exploring tokenized settlement. Combined with the ETF proposal, the policy package suggests the country is preparing a comprehensive update to its digital asset framework after years of comparatively restrictive treatment of retail-facing crypto products. Industry participants will watch the finance ministry's response closely, as formal endorsement could unlock significant institutional product development across Japanese banks and asset managers.

The week's headlines point to a single dominant arc: regulated infrastructure is consolidating around the major financial gateways of the consumer internet. Robinhood is buying its way into a licensed Canadian footprint, Stripe is embedding programmable wallets across mainstream payment rails, and Japan is moving to admit packaged crypto products into one of the world's largest pools of household savings. Together these developments show institutional and policy alignment shifting decisively toward integrating digital assets into existing financial plumbing rather than treating them as a parallel system, a defining feature of the current bull market cycle.