Key Takeaways:
Tetra Digital Group has launched CADD, a Canadian-dollar stablecoin, marking the first time a regulated financial institution in Canada has issued such a digital currency. The token, approved by the Alberta Treasury Board and Finance, is backed 1:1 by Canadian dollars held in trust and aims to modernize the country's payment infrastructure.
"CADD is issued by a regulated financial institution, with reserves held in Canada and compliance built in from day one," said Didier Lavallée, Founder and CEO of Tetra Digital Group. The launch enables Canadian dollars to move on blockchain networks "within a structure institutions recognize," he added.
The stablecoin is now live on the Base, Ethereum, and Tempo networks, with plans to launch on Solana soon. The project was supported by a $10 million funding round from a consortium of major Canadian institutions, including Shopify, National Bank of Canada, Wealthsimple, Purpose Unlimited, Shakepay, ATB Financial, and Urbana Corporation.
The launch addresses a significant gap in the Canadian market, which clears approximately $424 billion in payments daily, often using batch-based systems from the 1980s. While global stablecoin transaction volume surpassed $27 trillion in 2025, the market is dominated by U.S. dollar-pegged assets, leaving Canadian firms without a domestic, regulated option for on-chain settlements.
Tetra is positioning CADD for institutional use cases that are impractical on legacy payment rails. These include 24/7 cross-border settlement, real-time corporate treasury transfers, and direct fintech-to-fintech settlement, which avoids delays associated with correspondent banking.
In a December 2025 testnet phase, CADD was transferred between National Bank of Canada and Wealthsimple, demonstrating its capacity for real-world institutional flows. This was the first time a Canadian stablecoin had moved between two financial institutions, providing an early proof point for the project's viability.
CADD enters a relatively small but growing Canadian stablecoin market. Other players include Stablecorp's QCAD, which received regulatory approval in December but is not yet widely available, and CADC, which has processed over $200 million in transactions since its 2021 launch and is now managed by Loon, a Calgary-based firm.
Tetra's advantage lies in its existing regulatory footprint. The company was Canada's first regulated digital asset custodian and already provides custody for the country's first staking-enabled ether and solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This established trust and regulatory alignment provides a strong foundation for CADD's adoption among institutions requiring compliance from the outset.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
