Crypto Exodus: Binance’s departure marks Canada’s latest wave of exchange closures

• Binance to exit the Canadian market, citing new crypto guidelines.
• It joins a long line of crypto enterprises that have exited the country since the introduction of new guidelines.

Leading crypto exchange Binance has decided to depart the Canadian market, becoming the latest in a long line of crypto enterprises to do so.

Binance announced on Twitter that new Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) guidelines surrounding stablecoins and investor limits imposed to crypto exchanges make the Canadian market unviable for Binance at this time.

The exchange said,

“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.”

Binance also stated that it expects to continue working with Canadian regulators on a complete regulatory framework. It stated that it planned to return to the market when regulatory issues are in accordance.

Binance advised its Canadian customers to close their open positions by 30 September 2023 as beginning 1 October, customers will be put into liquidation only mode.

It is joining other crypto exchanges in the Canadian exodus that follows the introduction of new crypto guidelines issued by the CSA on 22 February. It required exchanges to file new preregistration undertakings and comply with additional restrictions.

OKX exited the Canadian market in March. Crypto exchange dYdX and blockchain fintech Paxos exited the Canadian market in April. Now, Binance has also departed.

Stringent guidelines pull back crypto operations

The new CSA guidelines forbid organizations from “allowing Canadian clients to enter into crypto contracts to buy and sell any crypto asset that is itself a security and/or a derivative,” thus stablecoins were categorized as a security.

According to the CSA, 11 platforms are “Authorized to Do Business with Canadians.”

The exchange was operating in all the provinces of Canada with the exception of Ontario, which it exited in March 2022 following a protracted dispute with the province’s authorities.

Binance has received increased scrutiny from North American regulators within the last 12 months. The exchange appears to be scaling back its activities in the region.

The exchange said earlier this year that it was considering cutting relations with its partners based in the U.S.