[Canada] Binance pulls out over stricter crypto regulation

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has announced that it is pulling out of Canada in response to stricter regulation and oversight of crypto trading, PCMag reports.

The move follows the Canadian Securities Administration (CSA) - responsible for enforcing cryptocurrency regulation in Canada - unveiling new guidance that prevented crypto trading platforms from allowing customers in Canada to buy or deposit stablecoins without the agency’s approval.

According to CoinDesk, Binance would have been required to pass the CSA’s due diligence checks before being approved to allow customers to buy or deposit stablecoins. 

Bloomberg reported that Binance’s Canadian affiliate had begun to register itself for the diligence checks in March, prior to its decision to pull out. 

Binance’s CEO Chanpeng Zhao is reportedly a Canadian citizen. In a tweet from Binance’s official account on May 12 announcing the exit from Canada, the company said, “We had high hopes for the rest of the Canadian blockchain industry. Unfortunately, new guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits provided to crypto exchanges makes the Canada market no longer tenable for Binance at this time.”

“We put off this decision as long as we could to explore other reasonable avenues to protect our Canadian users, but it has become apparent that there are none… We are confident that we will someday return to the market when Canadian users once again have the freedom to access a broader suite of digital assets.”

In the US the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service have been investigating reports that Binance has been used for money laundering schemes since 2021. Prosecutors are reportedly considering CEO Zhao to be a subject in the investigation alongside other executives. The cryptocurrency platform is also said to be under investigation for allowing its users to bypass sanctions levelled on Russian banks.

Binance has however maintained that it has one of the most “sophisticated anti-laundering systems in the world.”

Source: PCMag

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has announced that it is pulling out of Canada in response to stricter regulation and oversight of crypto trading, PCMag reports.

The move follows the Canadian Securities Administration (CSA) - responsible for enforcing cryptocurrency regulation in Canada - unveiling new guidance that prevented crypto trading platforms from allowing customers in Canada to buy or deposit stablecoins without the agency’s approval.

According to CoinDesk, Binance would have been required to pass the CSA’s due diligence checks before being approved to allow customers to buy or deposit stablecoins. 

Bloomberg reported that Binance’s Canadian affiliate had begun to register itself for the diligence checks in March, prior to its decision to pull out. 

Binance’s CEO Chanpeng Zhao is reportedly a Canadian citizen. In a tweet from Binance’s official account on May 12 announcing the exit from Canada, the company said, “We had high hopes for the rest of the Canadian blockchain industry. Unfortunately, new guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits provided to crypto exchanges makes the Canada market no longer tenable for Binance at this time.”

“We put off this decision as long as we could to explore other reasonable avenues to protect our Canadian users, but it has become apparent that there are none… We are confident that we will someday return to the market when Canadian users once again have the freedom to access a broader suite of digital assets.”

In the US the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service have been investigating reports that Binance has been used for money laundering schemes since 2021. Prosecutors are reportedly considering CEO Zhao to be a subject in the investigation alongside other executives. The cryptocurrency platform is also said to be under investigation for allowing its users to bypass sanctions levelled on Russian banks.

Binance has however maintained that it has one of the most “sophisticated anti-laundering systems in the world.”

Source: PCMag

(Links and quotes via original reporting)