The Canadian Crypto Landscape Is About To Change, Here’s How Investors Can Prepare

The Crypto Landscape Is About To Change Forever

Canada has continued to be at the forefront of the cryptocurrency world, leading in areas such as innovation, DeFi, and cryptocurrency adoption.

According to Statistia, nearly 32% of all Millennials own cryptocurrency, a number that continues to grow on a yearly basis.

This growing adoption and interest in cryptocurrency has led the Canadian Government to push forward on the boundaries of innovation as well, bringing about change that will forever shape the cryptocurrency landscape in Canada.

This change is regulation of all cryptocurrency trading platforms that wish to operate in Canada  and provide services to Canadians.

Investors need to prepare in order to ensure they’ve got complete control over their cryptocurrency investments, and are able to take advantage of the opportunities that will be available to them.

Regulation – Security, Standardization, and Investor Protection

As adoption of cryptocurrency continues to increase, both new and existing investors want to ensure they’re protected.

The new regulatory frameworks that the government is putting in place help ensure that investors are working with companies that are fully compliant, protect their data, and are adequately insured.

Unlike the numerous exit-scams that the industry has seen over the years, regulation pushes to bring protection and standardization with security, and will reduce the likelihood of a trading platform closing with investors' funds.

Temporary Closure of Trading Platforms

Exchanges that do not follow the regulatory framework will need to cease providing services to Canadian investors, or will need to exit the country altogether. A failure to do this will result in extremely heavy fines imposed by the Canadian government.

Unfortunately this means that many Canadian investors' current trading platforms will close or stop offering services. Investors need to prepare for the short notice and quick turnaround time that a trading platform may be required to take to reduce or restrict services.

While it is uncertain how many trading platforms will temporarily or permanently close their doors to Canadians, these reductions could result in blocked accounts, crypto seizure, or an inability to access any investment. This has already happened with Binance ceasing operations in the United States, and has happened with Binance announcing it’s ceasing of operations in the province of Ontario.

Investors should expect to see an increase in trading platform closures across the country, leaving only those who are regulatory compliant in operation.

Temporary Reduction in Crypto Offerings

Investors should also expect to see a temporary reduction in crypto offerings while the Canadian regulatory environment makes a transition.

More specifically we will see a reduction in the amount of coins that are available, as regulatory compliance will mean trading platforms will have to undertake extra scrutiny in terms of coin offerings.

Additionally, crypto loans, interest bearing DeFi products, and trading products like options or leveraged trading will also temporarily be reduced until they can be fit under the regulatory framework.

While the regulatory framework will adjust to include these products eventually, in the early days of the new regulatory environment, investors should expect to have limited access to these products if at all.

Investing on Regulatory Compliant Trading Platforms

The broad sweeping implementation of regulation on the Canadian crypto landscape means that investors will need to start trading with regulatory compliant platforms.

Investors looking to move money to regulatory compliant trading platforms will want to ensure the platform of choice is registered as an MSB (Money Services Business) with FINTRAC (Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada), and is registered with the OSC (Ontario Securities Commission) or similar in their respective province.

While many trading platforms in Canada do not fall into the regulatory compliance category, Coinberry is on the brink of being the first fully-regulated cryptocurrency trading platform in Canada with the OSC.

Having predicted the need for a regulatory environment years ago, Coinberry has spent the better part of 2-years working with Canadian regulators to ensure their trading platform is fully regulatory compliant and that investors are fully protected within the boundaries of the law. This  means that once regulatory implementation is put in place in the next 2-5 months, investors will still be able to fully access their cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency trading capabilities on the Coinberry platform.

The Future Is Bright

Canada’s cryptocurrency landscape is filled with potential and possibility.

Home to many of the leading minds in the cryptocurrency space, and some of the top innovations in the space, Canada will continue to provide cryptocurrency investors and innovators with an environment that fosters growth.

Canadian regulators are already moving ahead of the pack, but continuous work will need to be done to ensure Canadian investors are protected and new opportunities can develop.

Investors who understand the shifting landscape and the points listed above, will be able to continue to invest in a way that’s safe, secure, and profitable.