Paxos to Exit Canadian Market by June

Crypto brokerage and stablecoin issuer Paxos has decided to withdraw its business from the Canadian market effective 2 June 2023, the company said in a notice on its website on 12 April.

According to the announcement, Canadian users are no longer able to create a Paxos account, and existing customers will be unable to transact from their accounts starting from 2 June, except for withdrawing their funds. The company also noted that customers who have zero funds in their Paxos accounts will have their accounts automatically shuttered on 9 May. Paxos’ notice reads:

“Your funds remain safely in your account and are reflected on your account balance and protected by our Terms and Conditions; however, we ask that you withdraw all balances from your account at your earliest convenience. Beginning June 2nd, you will no longer be able to transact from your Paxos account, aside from withdrawing your funds.”

The company noted that customers can wire their account balance to the bank account connected to their itBit account, and that even if customers miss the deadline they will still be able to retriev their funds. Although Paxos will no longer support Canadian customers, it will “continue to assess its readiness to re-enter the Canadian market” in cooperation with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).

Paxos did not mention the reason behind its departure from the Canadian market, but it is likely connected to the recent tightening of its regulations on cryptocurrency platforms. Back in February, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) gave crypto exchanges in the country until 24 March to commit to new stricter requirements.

Paxos is not the only company to exit the Canadian market in recent days, with decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX announcing it will no longer onboard customers from the country last week. In March, crypto exchange OKX also revealed it will be winding down its business in the country due to “new regulations”.