Key Takeaways
- DeFi platfrom WonderFi lists on Canadian stock exchange NEO
- This is the first public listing of WonderFi
- The platform, which has impressive portfolio of investors, will release a new app in about a month
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — Decentralised Finance (DeFi) platform WonderFi opened the market on Tuesday on the NEO stock exchange in Canada.
After receiving final approval from NEO, WonderFi launched on August 31, 2021. This is the first public listing of the DeFi platform.
The listing ceremony took place at 9:20 AM EST. Among those that attended the virtual event were WonderFi CEO Ben Samaroo and strategic investors Kevin O’Leary and Josh Richards.
WonderFi now trades publicly under the ticker WNDR.
Operating since June 2015, NEO Exchange is one of Canada’s largest stock exchanges trading across all Canadian-listed securities.
The NEO team kickstarted the listing event, led by President and CEO Jos Schmitt and Head of Marketing Aimee Morita.
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DeFi is here to stay
Presenting about the company at the virtual launch event, CEO Ben Samaroo claimed there is nothing like WonderFi in the market. Asserting that these are just the early stages of DeFi and the opportunities are endless, Samaroo hinted at the huge potential Decentralised Finance has.
“DeFi has huge potential to disrupt finance…which makes it the most important sector to focus on”,
the WonderFi CEO affirmed.
Samaroo also claimed that he and his team, who have all been in the crypto space since at least 2016, are long-term believers of Bitcoin and Ethereum and argued, that the technology “is here to stay“.
President and CEO of NEO Jos Schmitt seemed to agree with Samaroo’s views on DeFi, calling the technology “the future of finance.”
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WonderFi explained
WonderFi is a Vancouver-based technology company hoping to take the DeFi industry by storm. With the mission to make DeFi comprehensive and easy for the layman, the company acts as a gateway to the DeFi space, thus helping users with little or no experience to learn about and access DeFi.
Through its platform and soon to be released app, WonderFi aims to help investors get exposure to the world of Decentralised Finance.
In the words of CEO Ben Samaroo, the mission of WonderFi is “to create better access to DeFi”.
Among the list of WonderFi’s strategic investors is Alameda Research and FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried. Bankman brings years of experience in the crypto space to the table.
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WonderFi app: The next big thing?
While the launch on a premiere Canadian stock exchange marks a huge step for the company, WonderFi has bigger plans ahead.
During the virtual listing event, CEO Ben Samaroo claimed that the company plans to release the WonderFi app in about a month, with thousands of people already signed up and waiting for the launch.
WonderFi is developing an application that offers all DeFi applications in one convenient place. It helps investors avoid maintaining multiple different wallets, using the services of multiple exchanges and downloading multiple applications. The app will offer all of these tools under one roof.
Through the app, investors can also keep track of their investment goals. Moreover, the app will ensure that traders invest within the compliance boundaries of their jurisdiction.
The availability of the app will give a huge boost to the platform. The association of big industry names, coupled with the strong contacts of the executive team will help popularise the platform.
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Mr Wonderful, the sceptic-turned blockchain investor
WonderFi owes its name to its strategic investor Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr Wonderful. The Shark Tank star was one of the most outspoken opponents of cryptocurrencies. The multi-millionaire investor created headlines two years back when he said Bitcoin (BTC) is “garbage”, a “digital game”, and ultimately, “worthless”.
Today, O’Leary is one of the most vocal crypto bulls on Wall Street.
The platform was originally named DeFi Ventures. However, after O’Leary became a large shareholder, the company rebranded to WonderFi to mark the association with O’Leary’s “Mr Wonderful” image.
Before the name change, he led a $20 million funding round for DeFi Ventures.
Mr Wonderful had on a previous occasion admitted that he has invested 3 per cent of his portfolio in Bitcoin and Ether, the two most popular crypto coins.
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Disrupting the industry
In Mr Wonderful’s mind, one of the biggest issues, other than the huge amounts of money paid to forex, is the presence of middlemen that make trading hard and complicated.
By investing in DeFi, O’Leary wants to get rid of financial middlemen. Through this, he wants to make DeFi cheap and accessible to millions of people.
“I want to tell the story of WonderFi“, the Shark Tank judge said, talking about his plans to popularise the platform so many people will use it.
“This whole move into stablecoins and cryptocurrencies is to get rid of those middlemen. And we’re going to do it in the next three, four years. They should find other jobs, maybe they should start shining shoes or something.“
O’Leary had said when asked about his entry into the crypto space.
19 years old strategic investor Josh Richards became the youngest person to open the market on the NEO Exchange. According to the social media star, “financial literacy is extremely important” for the younger generation.
They are focused on disrupting the financial world while bringing important products to the market that everyone can easily use. I’m a believer in DeFi, and WonderFi is leading the way,”
Richard said.
Within 15 minutes of the launch, President and CEO of NEO Jos Schmitt announced that WNDR stock was up 85%.
In the meantime, we will have to wait to see if the company can cash in on the impressive investor profile to turn WonderFi into the next big thing.
