Canadian Crypto Ownership Hits 25% As Adoption Goes Mainstream

One in four Canadians now holds digital assets or crypto investment funds, according to a new survey by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). The figure marks a sharp shift from 10% in 2023 and 13% in 2022.

Coinbase Canada Country Director Eric Richmond called the data a confirmation that digital assets have entered the mainstream. "1 in 4 Canadians now own crypto, and trade more with Coinbase than any other platform in the country," he wrote on X. "Digital assets are now mainstream in Canada, and they look for platforms they can rely on to do just that."

Nearly 39% of Canadian investors now own some form of crypto product. Awareness is also climbing. Almost 59% of Canadians can correctly identify what a crypto asset is, up from 54% in 2023 and 51% in 2022. Still, many respondents said they misunderstand how regulation, investor protection, and insurance coverage work.

The survey found crypto is moving beyond pure speculation. Among current owners, 74% said they had actually used their digital assets. Stablecoin usage was higher: 89% of stablecoin holders reported using their holdings, and 20% said they had used them for international money transfers.

Portfolio diversification was the most-cited reason for buying crypto, at 28%, according to the survey. Long-term belief in crypto and blockchain technology followed at 27%, and speculative investing came in at 26%. Other common motivations included transferring money digitally.

Investor diligence also looks to be improving. Among crypto owners, 50% said they check whether a trading platform is registered before investing, up from 38% in the previous survey. That shift was largely absent during the early years of crypto adoption in Canada.

The OSC released the survey as part of its ongoing effort to track retail crypto exposure across the country. No date has been set for the next report.