Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, announced on Friday that it is “proactively withdrawing from the Canadian market.” The company thanked the regulators who worked with them and said that the Canadian market was “small.”
Binance Bows Out of Canada Due to Regulatory Guidance
The cryptocurrency exchange Binance has decided to withdraw from the Canadian market. The company noted that it was the home country of its founder and cited regulatory guidance as the reason for its decision. Binance claims that the new regulatory climate in Canada makes it less feasible for its digital currency business to operate in the country.
“Unfortunately, today we are announcing that Binance will be joining other prominent crypto businesses in proactively withdrawing from the Canadian marketplace,” Binance tweeted on Friday. The trading platform’s social media account added:
Unfortunately, new guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits provided to crypto exchanges makes the Canada market no longer tenable for Binance at this time. We put off this decision as long as we could to explore other reasonable avenues to protect our Canadian users, but it has become apparent that there are none.
The news follows the U.K. court setting aside an interim proprietary injunction against Binance. The court ordered Binance to keep a certain amount of cryptocurrency after a victim of cryptocurrency fraud claimed to have traced the stolen funds to the exchange. Additionally, last week, a report said Binance was being probed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over alleged Russian sanction violations.
In the announcement on Friday, Binance said Canadian users will receive an email containing crucial details about how their accounts will be affected in the future. Despite the regulatory climate surrounding stablecoins and investor limits, the exchange expressed its willingness to collaborate and communicate with Canadian regulators.
Although Binance does not necessarily agree with the current regulations, it said it remains open to working towards a solution. The exchange concluded that it remains optimistic that a thoughtful framework will be established in the future, which could potentially pave the way for Binance to resume its services for Canadians.
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