Crypto Exchange OKX to Exit Canada by June 2023
- Crypto exchange OKX noted that its decision to cease operations in Canada and exit the country was due to “new regulations”.
- New users will be unable to open accounts starting 24 March, while all other users have until 22 June to close trading positions and withdraw their crypto and fiat assets.
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Cryptocurrency exchange OKX will be ceasing its operations in Canada, and exiting the country by June 2023 due to “new regulations”, the company said in an email sent to its Canadian users on 20 March.
According to the announcement, the exchange will no longer allow new Canadian users to open accounts or access its services starting 24 March. All other Canadian OKX users will have until 22 June to close all their positions in options, margins, perpetual, and futures trades, and withdraw their crypto or fiat currencies. The company said in its email:
“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.”
OKX assured users that its exit from Canada was “temporary”— noting that it is collaborating with regulators in the country to resolve the issue — and expressed its desire to welcome back Canadian users to the platform in the future. The last crypto exchange to leave Canada was Bittrex Global, which off-boarded Canadian users in July 2022 also citing regulatory development as the reason.
Back in February, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) issued a notice mandating that all crypto exchanges had to sign a new legally binding undertakings — such as prohibitions on purchasing and depositing Value Referenced Crypto Assets (stablecoins) without prior consent of the CSA — while waiting for their registration in the country.
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Former CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the Federal Court in New York after pleading not guilty, 3 January, 2022.
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