Tetra Digital Launches CADD: Canada’s First Regulated CAD-Backed Stablecoin for Institutional Payments

Tetra Trust Company has launched CADD, Canada’s first CAD-denominated stablecoin issued by a regulated financial institution. Receiving approval from the Alberta Treasury Board and Finance, the asset enables the movement of Canadian dollars on blockchain rails under a formal regulatory framework, addressing a critical gap in the nation’s aging retail payment infrastructure.

What was announced

CADD is a payment stablecoin backed 1:1 by Canadian dollars, managed via agent CAD Digital Inc. The asset is currently live on the Base, Ethereum, and Tempo networks, with a Solana integration expected shortly. The launch follows a successful testnet phase in December 2025, which saw CADD facilitate the first transfer of a Canadian stablecoin between two major financial institutions: National Bank of Canada and Wealthsimple. This pilot demonstrated the asset's ability to support real-world institutional flows within a compliant framework.

All funds used to mint the stablecoin are held in trust and dedicated exclusively to redemption. This structure is designed to meet institutional requirements for asset protection and transparency, particularly for banks and fintech platforms requiring regulatory clarity from the outset. The initiative is supported by a significant consortium of Canadian financial and technology firms, including Shopify, ATB Financial, Shakepay, Purpose Unlimited, Urbana Corporation, National Bank of Canada, and Wealthsimple.

By bringing Canadian dollars onto continuous, programmable networks, CADD aims to modernize a domestic payment landscape that currently clears approximately $424 billion per business day but remains largely dependent on batch-based systems dating back to the 1980s. The stablecoin enables institutional use cases that were previously difficult to execute on existing rails, such as 24/7 cross-border settlement, real-time corporate treasury transfers, and direct settlement between fintech partners without the delays associated with traditional correspondent banking.

"This milestone reflects the strong collaboration with Alberta’s government, industry partners and regulators to bring a compliant and scalable Canadian-dollar stablecoin to market. CADD is issued by a regulated financial institution, with reserves held in Canada and compliance built in from day one by a firm with Canada’s longest track record of operating regulated digital asset infrastructure. It enables faster and more efficient movement of Canadian dollars on-chain within a structure institutions recognize."

Didier Lavallée, Founder and CEO of Tetra Digital Group.

The companies involved

Tetra Trust Company is a licensed provincial trust company and holds the distinction of being Canada’s first regulated digital asset custodian. The firm has a long history of bridging traditional finance with digital assets, having previously supported the first staking-enabled Ethereum and Solana ETFs in the Canadian market. Its parent organization, Tetra Digital Group, is led by Founder and CEO Didier Lavallée and has focused on establishing institutional-grade custody solutions within the domestic market.

The CADD consortium includes several of the most prominent names in Canadian finance. National Bank of Canada, which participated in the initial stablecoin transfer pilot, is one of the country's major banking institutions. Wealthsimple, another key partner, is a leading digital investment platform that has significantly influenced the Canadian fintech landscape. Other consortium members like Shopify and ATB Financial represent a mix of global e-commerce and traditional regional banking, highlighting the broad intended utility for the stablecoin across different sectors of the economy. These companies provide the institutional scale necessary for the asset to function as a production-ready payment rail from its first day of operation.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely tracked the evolution of the Canadian financial sector, recently noting that Canadian Fintech Investment Hits $1B in H1 2026. This growth has been largely attributed to regulatory reforms and a shift toward scalable digital infrastructure. Additionally, the influence of CADD consortium members was highlighted when Wealthsimple, KOHO, and ABCorp Executives Appointed to CPPO Board of Directors, signaling a deeper integration between fintech innovators and the nation's payment governance bodies. These developments suggest a maturing market where regulatory clarity is becoming a prerequisite for institutional adoption of digital assets.

What this means

This launch moves the needle by providing a regulated alternative to the U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins that currently dominate the global market. For years, Canadian institutions have lacked a domestic on-chain asset that aligns with local law, forcing a reliance on foreign rails for blockchain-based settlement. By securing regulatory approval from Alberta, Tetra Trust puts pressure on traditional batch-processing systems that have failed to evolve since the 1980s. The primary question for the sector now is whether the broader Canadian banking establishment will migrate significant volume to these programmable rails or if CADD will remain a specialized tool for fintech-to-fintech settlement and corporate treasury management.