Binance plans to end all operations in Ontario at the end of this year.
In a short statement, Binance revealed that it will stop providing services to users in Ontario, following a warning from Japanese officials on Friday.
“As part of our ongoing compliance efforts, Binance has revised its Terms of Use to state that Ontario (Canada) has been designated as a restricted jurisdiction, with effect from 3:59:59 AM (UTC) on January 6, 2021.
Unfortunately, Binance will no longer be able to serve users in Ontario. Users in Ontario are encouraged to take immediate action to cancel all active holdings before December 31, 2021, according to a statement on its website.
Binance did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publishing.
Ontario has emerged as one of the most aggressive cryptocurrency regulators in recent weeks.
The regulator implemented new prospectus and registration requirements for bitcoin exchanges on April 19th.
The Ontario Securities Commission stated last week that it would start hearings against cryptocurrency exchange Bybit’s alleged “flouting” of Canadian law. In addition, earlier this month, the regulator took action against two Kucoin-related companies:
“KuCoin is operating an unregistered crypto asset trading platform, encouraging Ontarians to use the platform, and allowing Ontario residents to trade crypto asset products that are securities and derivatives,” the OSC wrote.
However, Ontario regulators aren’t the only ones who have scrutinized Binance’s actions in their jurisdiction.
The Financial Services Agency of Japan (FSA) issued a warning on Friday that Binance could be operating without a license in the country.
The warning comes after the Bank of Japan’s governor labeled Bitcoin as a “speculative asset” earlier this year.
Users in Japan and Canada who are concerned that service would be discontinued in their countries might take comfort in the fact that trading for some American users has continued on the main Binance site for months, despite calls for users to switch to Binance US.
Furthermore, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao revealed that Americans devise “clever” ways to get around the geofence.