Industry committee  I can't speak to the internal discussions within Power, but the challenge with insurance, in my perception from being in the market and seeking coverage for our business and from otherwise talking with other players, is that to a certain extent the insurance companies themselves still view it as a new category of risk.

Industry committee  If I may, working in this industry, building businesses in this industry, requires employees with a range of expertise to operate crypto trading platforms. For example, we have engineers; we have designers; we have operational professionals; we have anti-money-laundering specialists and other regulatory specialists.

Industry committee  I do not have the numbers committed to memory, but I do recall that there is some information on that topic in the Ontario Securities Commission study that I referenced and undertook to provide to the committee. I'd also note that the Bank of Canada has done some studies in this area about not only who is holding bitcoin, but also the purposes for which they are holding it.

Industry committee  Very briefly, I would suggest adding taxation to your list. There are various issues relating to taxation of transactions of crypto assets that could bear some clarification to assist Canadians. It's also to ensure, to the extent Canadians are using foreign platforms, that the revenues and profits that those platforms are generating from Canadians' activities are being appropriately taxed and received by Canada.

Industry committee  I can assist the committee with that. I believe your question is getting at the number of Canadians who hold crypto assets. Do you mean with foreign platforms?

Industry committee  Or perhaps they are not regulated at all.

Industry committee  The Ontario Securities Commission recently did a survey that's quite instructive in this regard. It did more than capture the number of Canadians who own crypto assets. I believe I mentioned in my opening statement that it's about 3.75 million, or 12% of Canadians. The survey then goes on to break down the crypto trading platforms that are used by Canadians.

Industry committee  Thank you. There's one thing I would add that is specifically within what the federal government can do to protect Canadians in this area. As Mr. Garetson and I mentioned, crypto trading platforms like ours must keep our clients' crypto assets with custodians. These custodians are themselves regulated, and they are trust companies or banks.

Industry committee  If the question is directed to me, I can add a couple of comments. The United States in some respects is more developed, and in some respects less developed. The United States does not have a consistent national framework for the regulation of crypto trading platforms of the kind we have in Canada.

Industry committee  Thank you. Good morning. My name is Evan Thomas. I am the head of legal for Wealthsimple's crypto trading platform. I thank the committee for inviting me today. I hope today to help the committee better understand the Canadian crypto trading industry. Wealthsimple is a Canadian financial services company.