On May 12, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance made the announcement on Twitter that it would be leaving the Canadian market. It referred to its withdrawal as “proactive” as new direction gave by Canadian controllers keeps on negatively affecting the country’s crypto industry.
As a result of the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA)’s rulemaking on February 22, which mandated that smaller competitors file new preregistration undertakings and adhere to additional restrictions, Binance has joined the Canadian exodus.
In a tweet, Binance explained that it had reportedly filed a new preregistration undertaking:
“Unfortunately, the Canada market is no longer tenable for Binance at this time due to new guidance regarding stablecoins and investor limits provided to crypto exchanges.”
Stablecoins are categorized as a security under the new CSA regulations, which prohibit businesses from “permitting Canadian clients to enter into crypto contracts to buy and sell any crypto asset that is itself a security and/or a derivative.”
OKX pulled out of the Canadian market in Spring. Paxos, a blockchain-based financial technology, and the decentralized exchange dYdX followed in April.
In an email, Binance instructed its Canadian customers to close any open positions by September 30, 2023. From October first, 2023, Canadian clients will be placed into liquidation just mode,” it cautioned. Added to the exchange:
“We hope to continue to engage with Canadian regulators aimed at a thoughtful, comprehensive regulatory framework,” despite our disagreement with the new guidance.
Except for Ontario, where it withdrew its operations in March 2022 after a lengthy dispute with the province’s regulators, Binance was present in all Canadian provinces and territories.
Everything isn’t lost for Canadian cryptophiles, in any case. In March, Kraken submitted the new preregistration undertaking and stated that it would remain in Canada. The CSA records 11 stages “Approved to Work with Canadians.”
