Binance Pulls Out of Canada Amid Tougher Crypto Regulation

Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, has said it is pulling out of Canada because of stricter regulation and oversight of crypto trading.

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

As CoinDesk notes(Opens in a new window), Binance would’ve been required to pass the CSA’s due diligence checks before being approved to allow customers to buy or deposit stablecoins. As Bloomberg reports(Opens in a new window), Binance’s Canadian affiliate had begun to register itself for the diligence checks in March before deciding to pull out. 

In a tweet(Opens in a new window) on Friday announcing the exit from Canada, Binance, whose CEO Chanpeng Zhao is a Canadian citizen, 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.”

The tweet added: “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.”

Tweet(Opens in a new window)

Meanwhile, in the US the DOJ and the Internal Revenue Service have been investigating reports that Binance has been used for money laundering schemes(Opens in a new window) since 2021, with prosecutors considering CEO Zhao to be a subject in the investigation alongside other executives. The crypto currency platform is also reportedly under investigation for allowing its users to bypass sanctions(Opens in a new window) leveled onto Russian banks.

Binance has however maintained(Opens in a new window) that it has one of the most “sophisticated anti-laundering systems in the world.”