Can Tokenization Solve Canada’s Junior Mining Foreign Investment Problem?

Canadian junior mining companies are struggling to attract foreign investment due to tighter national security reviews, new provincial consultation requirements, evolving European ESG rules, and concerns about short selling on the TSX Venture. Meanwhile, younger investors are choosing tech and crypto over traditional mining stocks. Tokenized funds—already deployed by BlackRock, UBS, and Franklin Templeton—could solve both problems by making it easier for foreign investors to access Canadian mining through compliant digital infrastructure while offering tech-savvy investors a familiar blockchain-based interface. However, Canada needs to modernize its fragmented digital asset regulations and clarify how tokenized funds are treated under securities law for this solution to work.