In Canada, an official draft of new regulations on crypto exchanges and payment processors has been released by the government, says a Canada Gazette reports.
The draft will tackle areas identified by a 2015-16 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) evaluation, principally strengthening Canada’s Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime (AML/ATF). The FATF is an intergovernmental organization that develops policies to combat money laundering.
New regulations will treat crypto exchanges and payment processors as money service businesses (MSB), which requires them to report transactions over CAD 10,000 Canadian dollars (USD 7,700). The new Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures will now have a threshold set at CAD 1,000 CAD (USD 770).
Canada’s move towards further cryptocurrency regulation and transparency reflect the growing trend with governments around the world to tighten the regulatory grip on the industry as a whole. The US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has been particularly active this year in tracking down and prosecuting fraudulent cryptocurrency exchange activity, according to Bitcoin News.
Francis Pouliot, co-founder of Montreal-based blockchain consulting firm Catallaxy, was particularly unhappy with current developments, and tweeted his response to the latest draft.
New requirement: "Large Virtual Currency Transaction Record" means businesses required to ask for and keep details of every transaction over $10,000, like large-cash transaction reports. That's going to be extremely difficult and invasive to implement. I will object to this. pic.twitter.com/PdabH0uGj4
— Francis Pouliot
(@francispouliot_) June 8, 2018
The draft reveals the regulations would cost about CAD 61 million (USD 47 million) over the next ten years, with the Canadian government maintaining that implementing these regulations will have a positive impact on the country’s international reputation.
This year, Canada’s first blockchain exchange-traded fund began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Bank of Canada piloted a research program to examine the possibility of a national cryptocurrency.
Canada has been referred to as one of the most transparent countries globally when it comes to understanding laws surrounding the digital currency industry, aside from Switzerland, which reportedly wants to be “THE crypto-nation”.
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