Mogo sells $13.8 million of WonderFi stake to buy Bitcoin ahead of Robinhood deal

Vancouver-based FinTech firm Mogo has cashed out roughly $13.8 million CAD of its investment in Canadian crypto firm WonderFi, or nearly 50 percent of its holdings, ahead of that company’s expected acquisition by American financial services giant Robinhood Markets.

Mogo said in a statement that it sold the shares at a “modest discount” relative to the company’s proposed $250-million valuation under the Robinhood deal. It aims to hold remaining shares until Robinhood’s purchase closes, which is expected in the second half of 2025.

“This transaction reflects our disciplined approach to capital allocation and allows us to accelerate our Bitcoin treasury strategy.”
Greg Feller,
Mogo president

In its announcement, Mogo said it was using the sale to boost its Bitcoin investment to roughly $2 million after making a $1-million contribution to Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in June. The company said it holds a “strategic” Bitcoin treasury that treats the currency as both a capital benchmark and a reserve asset, and that the new purchase represented a “core pillar” of this strategy. Mogo further codified this strategy in July when its board of directors greenlit up to $50 million in Bitcoin allocations.

“This transaction reflects our disciplined approach to capital allocation and allows us to accelerate our Bitcoin treasury strategy,” Mogo President and CFO Greg Feller said in a statement.

The move comes just after a successful second quarter for Mogo. The company reported that its wealth management and payments revenues increased 48 percent and 23 percent year-over-year, respectively. It also claimed a net profit of $13.5 million, driven largely by $12.7 million garnered from the re-evaluation of Mogo’s WonderFi stake that quarter.

Robinhood said in May that it would buy all of WonderFi’s issued and outstanding shares for $0.36 per share in cash, a 41-percent premium compared to WonderFi’s closing price at the time. All of WonderFi’s staff is expected to join Robinhood Crypto’s Canadian team. WonderFi securityholders and the Supreme Court of British Columbia have since approved the deal.

Mogo has been one of the louder advocates for change at WonderFi, contending in 2024 that the Toronto crypto firm was underperforming the market. Mogo and Miami-based fellow shareholder Kaos Capital claimed that WonderFi’s board was “entrenched and disorganized,” and had squandered its status as a fully regulated exchange in Canada. WonderFi responded by accusing Mogo of trying to take control of its business without paying a premium to other shareholders.

Mogo was founded in 2003 by Feller and his twin brother David, who serves as CEO. It offers online trading, wealth management, and personal loans. The company raised $50 million through its initial public offering (IPO) in 2015 and obtained a Nasdaq listing in 2018.

A difficult crypto market and volatile tech stock valuations put Mogo at risk of being dropped from the Nasdaq in 2022 due to a minimum share price requirement. The company has since recovered and currently has a market capitalization of about $50 million.

Bitcoin has surged since the election of United States (US) President Donald Trump in November 2024. The price of Bitcoin against the US dollar has doubled year-over-year. The Trump administration says it aims to establish the US as a “crypto superpower,” which includes a digital asset stockpile and crypto-friendly regulation from bodies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Canada has not followed suit, but industry advocates have called for the government to embrace stablecoins (cryptocurrencies whose value is tied to conventional assets). Robinhood competitors like Coinbase and Kraken have made inroads in Canada by securing restricted dealer licenses that let them operate under certain conditions.

Feature image courtesy Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash.