On April 12, the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange advertisement that it had filed a pre-registration commitment with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), which oversees capital markets in Canada’s most populous province. The pledge is a prerequisite to becoming a restricted dealer in Canada and is required for all cryptocurrency exchanges wishing to conduct business in the country. Cynthia Del Pozo Garcia, Gemini’s director of strategy and corporate development, wrote:
“As one of the largest and most developed markets in the Americas, Canada has played an essential role in Gemini’s international expansion.”
According to Del Pozo Garcia, Gemini holds “many licenses globally” such as state money transmitter licences, an e-money license from the UK Financial Conduct Authority and an e-money license from the Central Bank of Ireland. “In connection with our licences, Gemini is required to undergo annual audits of our financial statements and is subject to bank examinations conducted by the New York Department of Financial Services,” the director said.
On February 22, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published a notice requiring all crypto asset trading platforms to sign a legally binding pre-registration commitment in order to continue operating in the country. Among many other restrictions, exchanges will be prohibited from allowing Canadian clients to purchase or deposit stablecoins without prior approval from the CSA.
“In light of recent insolvencies involving a number of PFTs, including Voyager Digital, Celsius Network, the FTX group of companies, BlockFi and Genesis Global (collectively, recent PFT insolvency events), we are introducing important new investor protection provisions in the standard PRU form”.
Since the new regulations went into effect, cryptocurrency exchange OKX has announced that it will cease operations in Canada in June 2023. For its part, fintech company Paxos said it would withdraw from Canada, citing regulatory uncertainty. Since then, Binance and Kraken have stated that they have presented the necessary pre-registration commitment to continue providing services in the country.
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