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.
- The Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the EU, which is comprised of finance ministers of all 27 member states, unanimously approved the MiCA crypto regulation.
- The EU’s finance ministers also also gave their consent to new measures that will allow tax authorities to collect data on individuals’ cryptocurrency holdings.
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- The U.S. SEC claimed in its response that it was under no obligation to issue new regulations for crypto, and that rules for crypto were already published and were sufficient.
- The agency also tried to distance itself from any public comments made by its chair Gary Gensler, particularly regarding his statement that most cryptocurrencies are securities.
- The cryptocurrency exchange is estimated to have more than 100,000 creditors, and between $500 million and $1 billion in both assets and liabilities.
- The Chapter 11 filing came less than a month after the U.S. SEC filed charges against Bittrex and its former CEO, claiming they were operating an unregistered securities exchange.