{"id":8768,"date":"2021-08-27T17:46:47","date_gmt":"2021-08-27T16:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/?p=8768"},"modified":"2021-08-27T17:46:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T16:46:58","slug":"ontario-securities-commission-bars-wealthsimple-and-coinberry-platforms-from-trading-tether","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/ontario-securities-commission-bars-wealthsimple-and-coinberry-platforms-from-trading-tether\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario securities commission bars Wealthsimple and Coinberry platforms from trading Tether"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
According to regulatory documents, the Ontario Securities Commission<\/a> has prohibited a pair of crypto trading platforms from trading Tether.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\"Ontario<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wealthsimple and Coinberry, both based in Toronto, are the first of their kind to be accepted into “an interim, time-limited registration framework that would allow crypto-asset platforms to operate\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/g>\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n <\/clipPath>\r\n <\/defs><\/svg><\/span><\/a> within a regulated environment, with regulatory requirements tailored to the crypto asset platform's operations,” according to the Canadian Securities Administrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it appears that these permissions confine these sites to a small handful of accepted cryptocurrencies, namely bitcoin, ether, bitcoin cash, and litecoin. Tether is the only digital asset included in the “Prohibited Crypto Assets” appendix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both permission forms state that “the Filer will not trade Crypto Contracts based on crypto assets, digital or virtual currencies, or digital or virtual tokens indicated in Appendix C to this Decision.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither paper provides a detailed explanation for why the platforms in question are prohibited from trading Tether. Despite this, the OSC's filings state that its judgment “should not be considered as<\/a> precedent for other filers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OSC's representative wrote to The Block, saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We do not currently plan to introduce new rules specifically applicable to platforms, as platforms are already subject to existing requirements under securities legislation in Canada.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Rather, where appropriate, existing requirements of securities legislation may be tailored through terms and conditions on the registration or recognition of CTPs [cryptocurrency trading platforms] and through discretionary exemptive relief with appropriate conditions. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With respect to Tether and Bitfinex, the report by the New York AG likely did not provide comfort to the securities regulators and in the eyes of a government regulator<\/a>, is likely to be viewed as high-risk,” Christine Duhaime, a Canadian lawyer who specializes in financial technologies, told The Block.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“I anticipate that some digital currency organizations won't be allowed to operate in mature regulatory countries unless they bind themselves to a country with transparency and where digital currency holders have rights they can use if things go wrong,” Duhaime stated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Tether, the company behind USDT, resolved a lawsuit with the New York Attorney General in February, barring the stablecoin operator from doing business in the state and requiring it to provide more information about its activities. Despite a continual extension of disclosures, Tether<\/a> is said to be facing significant regulatory issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A broader regulatory framework<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Canada's securities regulators, particularly the Ontario Securities Commission, have been busy enforcing a new principle that states that exchanges holding crypto in custody are de facto offering securities, even if the cryptocurrencies involved are not securities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Risk disclosures that are more in line with securities trading<\/a> are required under the “crypto contracts,” i.e. the agreement between platform and user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before it began reviewing exchanges more closely, the OSC designated Wealthsimple as the sole completely registered crypto trading platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coinberry and wealthsimple<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Coinberry was also the only cryptocurrency exchange to file a report with the Ontario Securities Commission before the April deadline, following which the OSC initiated a series of legal procedures to force other cryptocurrency exchanges out. Coinberry is a traditional cryptocurrency exchange that accepts withdrawals.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wealthsimple is a cryptocurrency trading platform that allows users to obtain price exposure to the cryptocurrency market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to regulatory documents, the Ontario Securities Commission has prohibited a pair of crypto trading platforms from trading Tether. Wealthsimple and Coinberry, both based in Toronto, are the first of their kind to be accepted into “an interim, time-limited registration framework that would allow crypto-asset platforms to operate within a regulated environment, with regulatory requirements […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":8792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,26],"tags":[4084,4082,1103,4083],"class_list":["post-8768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-altcoin-news","category-cryptocurrencies","tag-coinberry","tag-ontario-securities-commission","tag-tether","tag-wealthsimple"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ontario-securities-commission-bars-Wealthsimple-and-Coinberry-platforms-from-trading-Tether.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinscreed.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}