Binance to Close Canadian Shop Citing Recent Regulatory Changes

The world’s largest crypto trading platform said it will be winding down its Canadian arm two years after being greenlighted to operate in the country.

Binance mentioned a recent amendment in the local legislation that affected stablecoin deposits and purchases on exchanges.

• Binance announced its intentions on Twitter, saying it will “be joining other prominent crypto businesses in proactively withdrawing from the Canadian marketplace.”
• The exchange admitted that it was a small but “sentimental” market, which it intended to keep working in. However, a recent decision by the Canadian Securities Administrators stands in its way.
• The CSA announced new guidelines in February that make it mandatory for local exchanges to seek its permission before accepting stablecoin deposits or allowing users to buy such assets. The watchdog has multiple due diligence tests in place making the process lengthy.

“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.”

• Canada’s overall approach to crypto has been relatively positive, with a few traditional financial institutions investing in the industry. The country also approved one of the first spot Bitcoin ETFs a few years back, but its recent policy change harmed several exchanges, including Crypto.com.
• Binance has been on an expansion roll for the past several months, receiving multiple licenses to operate in Dubai, a few European countries, Kazakhstan, as well as Japan.