If Robinhood's proposed acquisition of WonderFi is approved, the U.S. fintech company would gain control of Bitbuy and Coinsquare as well as more than $2.1-billion in assets under custody.Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Vass Bednar is a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail and host of the podcast Lately. She is the managing director of the Canadian SHIELD Institute and co-author of The Big Fix.

So far, much of our conversation around sovereignty has focused on the tangible, like shifting our own spending toward made-in-Canada products or rescheduling a summer vacation. It’s not enough.

If mindful consumption was the first front, the next phase of sovereignty means saying no to mergers that hollow out national infrastructure. Earlier this year, the federal government gave itself more power to do just that. It’s already time to use it.

Regulators must carefully review the proposed acquisition of WonderFi Technologies Inc., a Canadian digital asset platform, by Robinhood Markets Inc., a U.S. fintech company. If approved, Robinhood would gain control of Bitbuy and Coinsquare (two of the largest regulated crypto exchanges in Canada) as well as more than $2.1-billion in assets under custody.

This is not a marginal transaction. WonderFi is one of the last major Canadian-owned players in........

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