Canada is one of the leading countries in the world, with an educational system that has been home to a large number of society builders, some of which have significantly influenced the structure of cryptocurrency and blockchain with outstanding creations that have gone on to lead the pathway for digital currencies to thrive.
Two very profound examples would be the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin and Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Interestingly, both CEOs underwent their undergraduate programmes in two of the most prestigious Canadian universities; University of Waterloo and McGill University respectively. While Zhao went on to get a degree in computer science, Buterin dropped out of Waterloo in 2014 upon receiving the Thiel fellowship amount of $100,000.
As these individuals continue to pioneer digital technologies globally, the question of Canada’s level of adaptation in cryptocurrency is an important one which begins at the core of regulation. Initially, the Canadian government had delayed in the regulation of cryptocurrencies ahead of the 2019 elections.
At the time, it was expected that a new regulatory policy would be proposed in the year 2020 seeing that a 12 month time period was given before implementation. However, with the ongoing QuadrigaCX incident, cryptocurrency personnel have been voicing the need for a more defined cryptocurrency regulatory policy, one that covers both exchanges, brokers, traders, and investors.
In a bid to proffer an effective solution, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) along with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) has gone on to release a new proposed platform framework with a discussion paper aimed at tackling the problems.
While there is no authorization for cryptocurrency exchanges in Canada at this time, the proposed framework despite having being regulated suggests that securities laws should be included in the refining process when necessary.
