Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to the committee members for having me and my colleagues here to speak with you today.
My name is Dan Brock. I'm a partner at the Canadian law firm Fasken. I'm appearing today as the lead advocate for the responsible Digital Asset Mining Coalition.
The coalition is an informal association of 23 companies and organizations participating in Canada's growing digital asset mining industry. The coalition includes Canadian companies that conduct capital-intensive mining activities for digital assets. An example is Bitcoin.
The coalition was formed this past spring to oppose a legislative proposal published by the Department of Finance last February. My colleague Tamara Rozansky, from Deloitte Canada, will provide a little more detail shortly, but let me say that for the coalition, the tax proposal from the Department of Finance is arbitrary and harmful to Canada's digital asset mining industry.
Blockchain technologies and the digital assets they are capable of generating are emerging as a new value-creation sector in the Canadian economy and globally. Canadian companies involved in the new blockchain ecosystem require a sensible regulatory framework that will attract investment and encourage innovation, not tax policies that undermine their businesses.
I look forward to our discussion.
I now pass this on to my colleague, Mr. Morphy.