Canada’s Securities Administrators (CSA) on Dec. 12 barred crypto exchanges operating in the country from offering margin or leverage trading services to any Canadian client.
The regulator added that these crypto exchanges must hold their Canadian clients’ assets with an appropriate custodian and segregate them from the platform’s proprietary business.
The CSA stated that stablecoins may be securities or derivatives. The regulator reminded crypto exchanges that Canadians are not allowed to trade in or be exposed to crypto assets that are security or derivatives. CSA wrote:
“Crypto trading platforms are expected to have established policies and procedures to determine whether each crypto asset they provide exposure to is a security and/or derivative.”
CSA stated that its latest move was part of an effort to strengthen its supervision of crypto trading firms through expanding requirements for these platforms.
The regulator cautioned that crypto assets and financial products involving crypto assets pose high-risk investments despite the measures taken. Canadian investors were urged to be cautious before investing in crypto. The regulator also advised them to only use platforms that are registered with it.
