In a statement released on December 12th, 2022, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), announced the expansion of existing requirements for crypto trading platforms operating in Canada (CTPs).

More specifically:

• A CTP subject to securities legislation in Canada that does not provide a pre-registration undertaking (PRU) in the prescribed deadline to its principal regulator or cease operating, would be subject to all applicable regulatory options, including enforcement action.

• CTPs that provide PRU will have to comply with expanded terms and conditions that will include, among other things, requirements to hold Canadian clients’ assets with an appropriate custodian and segregate these assets from the platform’s proprietary business.

Furthermore, the CSA reminds CTPs that they are prohibited from permitting Canadian clients to trade, or obtain exposure to, any crypto asset that is itself a security and/or a derivative, and this may include stablecoins where the CTP determined that they fall under the definition of a security and/or a derivative.