Martin Piszel, the new chief executive of Toronto cryptocurrency-trading platform Coinsquare, wants clients who join the platform to stay there—whether they’re looking to trade Bitcoin, stocks or foreign currencies.

The company announced Piszel’s appointment Tuesday. In an interview with The Logic, the new CEO—who was most recently head of corporate development at TradeLogiq Markets—said he sees fintech firms like Questrade and Wealthsimple as Coinsquare’s competitors. The company is seeking registration with securities regulators as a broker-dealer and alternative trading system, which Piszel said will allow it to expand its product offerings for retail clients and hopefully eventually offer cryptocurrency trading to banks.

“We want to offer more products across the spectrum. Whether that’s equity trading, foreign exchange, more crypto-related products such as lending, interest—we want to be a leader,” Piszel said. “We want to keep our clients captive to our platform. That’s our goal.”

Piszel takes the helm at a time of increased regulatory scrutiny of crypto trading. Coinsquare is one of about 50 platforms seeking registration with the Ontario Securities Commission, with securities regulators in the midst of an effort to improve their oversight of an industry with hundreds of foreign and domestic companies allowing Canadians to buy and sell digital assets.

Wealthsimple is currently the only cryptocurrency-trading platform that has completed the process of registering through the CSA’s regulatory sandbox program. The Ontario Securities Commission has initiated enforcement action against three foreign platforms it says failed to meet its deadline for starting the registration process, with a fourth—Binance—announcing its exit from Ontario in June.

Coinsquare itself has run afoul of the OSC in the past. Piszel replaces Stacey Hosiak, who became CEO following a settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission in July 2020 over allegations of inflating trading volumes and retaliating against a whistleblower, which saw previous chief executive Cole Diamond agree to resign. With Piszel’s arrival, Hosiak will serve as the company’s president and chief legal officer.

Piszel said Coinsquare has since completely changed its approach to focus on operating in a regulated environment, with the implicated executives no longer involved in the company. “The whole approach from the board level down has changed. The type of people we hire has changed. I think that’s all for the better in the long term,” he said.

Piszel’s plan to offer a one-stop platform for a variety of investments beyond cryptocurrency puts it in competition with Mogo, which owns a significant stake in Coinsquare. The Canadian fintech firm has increased that stake this year, and currently owns 39 per cent of the company, with the option to increase that stake to 53 per cent if it exercises its warrants.

Piszel said it’s currently in both companies’ interest to grow their client bases under different brands and marketing strategies. “At some point, if Mogo decides to increase its ownership, we’ll work together,” he said.

A recent Mogo earnings report revealed Coinsquare’s revenue increased 500 per cent year over year in the first quarter of 2021, when cryptocurrency prices were skyrocketing. Prices have since tumbled and crypto-trading volumes have fallen with them, with large foreign exchanges reporting trading volumes were down over 40 per cent in June. Piszel said Coinsquare has seen volumes drop off at similar levels.

Cryptocurrency’s notorious volatility is one of the reasons why Coinsquare wants to expand into other areas, Piszel said, although he remains optimistic about the sector’s long-term prospects. “There’s volatility in this business. My job is to smooth that volatility through new products.”

Coinsquare was last valued at $345.9 million in 2018, according to PitchBook, a figure Piszel said should be “substantially higher” today, given how much the company’s business has grown and how much the market has matured since then. He said it is well capitalized and isn’t actively seeking new financing, although he is on the lookout for potential acquisition targets that could help Coinsquare grow.

The OSC’s crackdown has removed some foreign competitors from the market, but the cryptocurrency-exchange sector remains crowded. Piszel said he’s looking forward to the respectability and competitive advantage that will come with regulation, expecting that his less-capitalized competitors may not be able to continue to compete for long.

“We’re going to see a bit of a culling,” he said. “We think there are some opportunities there.”