IIROC Grants Coinsquare Full Registration as Broker/Dealer & Marketplace Member

While Coinsquare, one of Canadas largest and most popular digital asset exchanges, awaits full registration by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), it has announced that it is now officially a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).

Coinsquare notes that it is the first native “Crypto Trading Platform (CTP)” to have been granted this registration in full.  With this hurdle now cleared, Coinsquare believes that it is, “carving the path for the rest to inevitably follow suit”.

What Does it Mean?

With digital assets functioning on a global scale, it can sometimes be hard to remember where a specific regulators influence lay, how long its reach is, and what it can offer investors.  With IIROC, the regulator is responsible for oversight of any investment dealer operating within Canada.  It, and Coinsquare, note the following as a few of the key benefits this oversight will afford investors.

• In the event of insolvency, all client accounts are insured for up to $1M CAD on FIAT holdings
• Client assets are held with Coinbase Custody and Tetra Trust Company (each fully insured third-party custodians)
• Financial auditing / monitoring
• Mandatory response to complaints

Another requirement of being IIROC registered is for Coinsquare to ensure clients are educated/informed on their investments.  As such, Coinsquare will be offering what it calls a “Crypto Asset Statement” for each asset listed on its platform.  These statements are meant to function as a “high-level” introduction to what is on offer, and a basic synopsis of what the asset entails.  It should be noted though that Coinsquare is not allowed to provide investment advice or recommendations.

CoinSmart Acquisition

Notably, news of Coinsquare being awarded registration through IIROC isn't the only major development the exchange has announced as of late.  Only three weeks ago, Coinsquare broke the news that it was acquiring Canadian exchange rival, CoinSmart.

With the acquisition, it is expected that CoinSmart will be compensated with $3M in cash, in addition to over 5.2M shares in Coinsquare (equating to roughly 12% equity).

In addition to being the oldest digital asset exchange within Canada, these developments mean that Coinsquare is now not only one of the largest, but the only to be fully registered with IIROC.