CoinJournal spoke with Justin Hartzman, founder and CEO of CoinSmart, about his platform and its many facets. Justin has long been curious about cryptocurrencies; his first encounter with crypto came in 2008 when he received Bitcoin as payment for a project while building an application for a client who couldn’t pay in fiat. At the time, Bitcoin was new and information was scarce.
Over the years, his involvement deepened. He made his first crypto trade in 2017 while on vacation in Florida. It quickly became clear to him that Canada lacked accessible cryptocurrency trading platforms. He teamed up with childhood friends Jeremy and Michael and launched CoinSmart to address that gap.
Today, CoinSmart is a Toronto-based cryptocurrency trading platform and one of the few regulated crypto exchanges in Canada. It is also the only publicly listed and fully regulated Canadian crypto exchange, with a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The company has secured regulatory licenses to operate from the Ontario Securities Commission as well as other Canadian regulators.
CoinSmart is one of only two crypto trading platforms that have achieved market registration in Canada, enabling Canadians to buy and sell crypto directly and safely on a regulated platform. CoinSmart’s mission is clear: to make crypto accessible to everyone. The company achieves this by simplifying the user experience, obtaining the appropriate regulatory licenses to operate securely, offering educational tools and crypto guides through its GetSmart hub, and providing omnichannel customer support 24/7.
What drove you to partner with the CHL rather than other sectors or organizations?
CHL’s national presence and geographic reach align with our goals. When we decided to partner with a sports organization, we wanted a partner that covers all of Canada rather than an entity focused on a single city or province. Another attractive element of CHL is its community emphasis, which matches our brand values of accessibility and a Canadian focus. Finally, the sports sector is highly competitive and dynamic, which is compelling for us. Crypto trading platforms tend to grow with volatility, and we expect strong synergy between sports fans and crypto enthusiasts.
Explain how your partnership with the CHL will look; what benefits will it bring to players and fans, and what can we expect to see from this collaboration? What about the local community?
Like the CHL, CoinSmart is proudly Canadian. Over the course of this multi-season partnership, we plan to tap into the passion of hockey fans and educate them about crypto trading, as the relationship between sports and crypto is well-established globally. We will engage fans through brand awareness initiatives, giveaways, contests, and content marketing. For the local community, we hope to promote a sense of national pride—whether it’s supporting your favorite team or your preferred crypto trading platform, we want this to be a 100% Canadian experience.
Sports partnerships in crypto have increased recently. Do you intend to expand further into this industry with more partnerships or advertising?
We are actively considering it. That said, the crypto sponsorship space will eventually reach saturation as many franchises and leagues secure crypto sponsors. We’re monitoring the landscape closely and will keep our audience informed about future collaborations and partnerships.
You say your mission is to make crypto more accessible and to educate people. Is there a connection between that mission and choosing to work with the CHL, which involves young players?
Although CHL players are at the junior level, many fans are older. Still, we want to introduce crypto to younger audiences so that when they’re ready and have the disposable income to invest, CoinSmart is a platform they know and trust.
Can you share details about planned promotions—anything you can reveal now?
We will launch CryptoSpin very soon, a unique crypto game within the CHL app that gives fans the chance to win weekly, monthly, and a grand prize. Weekly prizes will be USD 250, monthly prizes USD 1,000, and the grand prize will be 1 Bitcoin awarded at the end of the season. Throughout the partnership, we are also offering all CHL fans USD 30 in Bitcoin when they register with CoinSmart and make a first deposit of USD 100.
Can you comment on the regulatory environment? Your company is registered with the Ontario Securities Commission, while rivals like Crypto.com are not. Yet Crypto.com can demonstrate financial strength and secure partnerships with teams like the Montreal Canadiens. Internationally, large unregulated players also land deals with PSG and naming rights for the LA Lakers’ arena. Thoughts?
We believe franchises and leagues take on risk when partnering with unregulated exchanges. Entities like Crypto.com may face restrictions in the cities or provinces where they sponsor teams if they lack proper regulatory status, which can put pressure on the partnerships they build. Look at examples like FTX and Binance, which faced regulatory issues and were forced to withdraw from Ontario because they did not obtain regulated status. In regulated jurisdictions, advertising should be monitored and limited to compliant firms. Allowing unregulated companies that cannot legally operate in a region to advertise simply because they are well-funded creates an uneven playing field. This principle applies beyond crypto to other regulated industries as well.
Where do you see crypto and sports heading in the short and long term, and where does CoinSmart fit in? More sponsorships, sport-specific tokens, NFT involvement, etc.?
We expect to see more sponsorships until the market approaches saturation. NFTs are becoming the new trading cards, a trend already emerging in sports ecosystems. Another interesting area is enabling crypto payments for merchandise, tickets, and similar transactions. At CoinSmart, we are closely watching these opportunities and will pursue those that align with our mission and serve our community.