Canada comes up among the first results when you search for countries that are leading the crypto movement. Innovative Canadian initiatives like QuadrigaCX and Ethereum have seen spectacular success. A look at its stock market shows that the country is getting the world’s first crypto brokerage desk. At the same time, the government is trying to figure out how to monitor transactions using Blockchain.
We hope our WorldCrypto Map instalment will help you understand the state of things with crypto in Canada today.
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Embracing innovations
Here’s a good example to illustrate Canada’s desire to embrace crypto. The country is now getting the world’s first stock exchange cryptocurrency desk, which will be operated by TMX Group. Initially, Bitcoin and Ethereum will be available on the platform and additional virtual coins will be added if there is demand laters. Or would it’ve been better to put “when” instead of “if”? The move is seen as a breakthrough in the industry development as it is forcing investors to truly incorporate cryptocurrencies into their strategies.
Moreover, some of Canada’s largest banks allow their customers to buy cryptocurrencies with debit or credit cards. TD Bank, for instance, says that it permits such activity “as long as the merchant is authorized to accept Visa, Mastercard, Interac or Visa debit and the transaction isn’t determined to be fraudulent”.
So Ethereum is…. Canada?
Actually, Ethereum was not born there. But some people believe the country’s love for blockchain innovations stem in part from Toronto being home to Vitalik Buterin. Despite the young geniuses moved from there a couple of years ago, his project is still the talk of the town.
Recently, the Canadian government has gone to the extent of establishing an Ethereum blockchain explorer. Simply put, it is launching a decentralized platform that should help it make financial information transparent to the public. For the trial, the National Research Council (NRC) is going to use a Canadian-made product built on the Ethereum blockchain to publish the data on fundings and grants in real time. Here’s the official statement published on the NRC website regarding the project:
“Blockchain technology is something many innovation experts are heralding as the way of the future. On the simplest level, blockchains are public ledgers that record transactions shared among many users”.
Quebec mining perspectives
Quebec is considering a province-wide halt on mining operations in the region. It seems the influx of mining operators from abroad and the increased demand for electricity has overwhelmed the French-Canadian province. Quebec offers some of the lowest electricity rates in North America, a climate that keeps cooling costs down, and political stability. For now, Quebec has decided to suspend cryptocurrency mining to give legislators time to “think about adopting a rule to better formulate construction permits for these types of businesses in the territory,” says Robert Desmarais, Director General of Quebec’s Municipal Regional Council.
Cryptocurrency regulation is coming
The bitcoin and cryptocurrency laws in Canada have been, for better or worse, fairly hands-off. But things are going to change. The Canadian government has released an official draft of new regulations. The document sees virtual currency exchanges as money service businesses (MSB). This classification requires them to report all transactions over $10,000 CAD ($7700 USD). Furthermore, the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) limit will be set at $1000 CAD ($770 USD), which means that traders can’t transact a bigger amount of money unless they have provided their personal information (name, address, telephone number, occupation and etc.). Not everyone is happy with this development as it might be difficult to keep details of every transaction over $10,000. For their part, the officials say the measure is focused on preventing money laundering and will have a positive impact on the country’s international reputation.
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