The Canadian users of the cryptocurrency exchange OKX were notified via email on March 20 that the company, claiming “new restrictions,” “would no longer provide services or enable users to establish new accounts in Canada starting on Mar. 24, 2023, 12:00 AM EST.”
By June 22, 2023, current Canadian customers with open positions in options, margins, and futures are required to close them, according to OKX. By the specified date, any fiat or tokens must also be removed.
“Your funds will remain safe in your account until you withdraw them. You will be able to withdraw dollars to your linked bank account and cryptocurrency to your self-custody wallet or your cryptocurrency account on another exchange. “
According to OKX, its exit from Canada is “temporary,” and the exchange is collaborating with regulators to find a solution. Before this, cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Global informed its Canadian users that it would be exiting the country on July 29, 2022, citing the same regulatory issues.
Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published a notice on February 22 requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to execute additional, legally enforceable commitments as they wait to be registered with the regulatory body. The new initiative forbids “purchasing or depositing Value Referenced Crypto Assets (often referred to as stablecoins) through crypto contracts without the prior written authorization of the CSA,” among other things. However, it appears the judge has not had an impact on the stablecoin Dollar Coin (USDC).
At the moment, all bitcoin exchanges are required to register with Canadian regulators before accepting customers there. ByBit and KuCoin, two cryptocurrency exchanges, were fined millions of dollars by the Ontario Securities Commission on June 22, 2022, for operating as “non-compliant platforms” in the nation.
