About this Statement
Coinsquare Capital Markets Ltd. (“Coinsquare”) is offering crypto contracts to purchase and sell Ethereum Classic (ETC) in reliance on a prospectus exemption granted by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) in the amended and restated exemptive relief decision dated October 11, 2024. The statutory rights of action for damages and the right of rescission in section 130.1 of the Securities Act (Ontario) and similar legislation in the other CSA jurisdictions do not apply in respect of a misrepresentation in this statement to the extent that a crypto contract is distributed under the above-noted prospectus relief.
No securities regulatory authority in Canada or any other jurisdiction has expressed an opinion about any of the crypto assets (or crypto contracts) that are available through Coinsquare’s platform, including an opinion that the crypto assets are not themselves securities and/or derivatives.
Coinsquare has compiled the information contained in this Crypto Asset Statement to the best of its ability based on publicly available information.
About Ethereum Classic
In 2014, Ethereum founders Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, and Jeffrey Wilcke began work on a next-generation blockchain designed to implement a general, fully trustless smart contract platform. In 2016, following a controversial hard fork to recover funds from "The DAO" hack, the Ethereum mainline adopted new consensus rules, while the original, unaltered chain continued as Ethereum Classic. Today, Ethereum Classic remains committed to the principle of "Code is Law" and has emerged as the largest proof-of-work (PoW) smart contract blockchain following Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake in 2022. The network is currently undergoing the Olympia Upgrade, targeted for late 2026, which introduces protocol-level DAO governance (ECIP-1113) and an EIP-1559-style fee burn mechanism (ECIP-1111) to enhance long-term sustainability and decentralization.
Risks
As with all assets, investing in Ethereum Classic is not without some general risks. Many of these risks are identified and explained in our Risk Statement [hyperlink to risk statement]. In addition to the general risks, we outline some risks that are specific to Ethereum Classic below. While we make an effort to identify every source of risk, we encourage you to do your own research and ensure you are comfortable investing in Ethereum Classic.
51% Attacks Against the Ethereum Classic Network
While the Ethereum Classic network experienced three significant 51% attacks in August 2020, the development community has since implemented critical security upgrades to mitigate these risks. Following these incidents, the network adopted Modified Exponential Subjective Scoring (MESS) to prevent large-scale chain reorganizations and the "Thanos" upgrade (ECIP-1099), which recalibrated the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) to allow a wider range of mining hardware to secure the network. These improvements, coupled with Ethereum Classic's status as a primary destination for miners after the Ethereum Merge, drove the network hashrate to record highs exceeding 300 terahashes per second (TH/s) by 2025. This substantial growth in computational power has significantly increased the cost and difficulty of executing a successful attack, though investors should remain mindful of the network's historical security challenges when evaluating ETC.
Coinsquare’s Due Diligence for Digital Assets
To be made available for trading on Coinsquare’s platform, a digital asset must pass the following due diligence reviews:
Coinsquare undertakes these three levels of due diligence in order to determine whether the digital asset is compliant with our legal and regulatory obligations, is secure, and has historical data supporting a beneficial business case. Coinsquare’s New Product Committee must provide final approval for a new digital asset to be made available on the platform.
