Canada outlines securities law requirements and application to crypto trading platforms

Thus, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) together with the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) published a notice outlining securities law requirements that apply to CTPs and how they may be tailored by regulators.

The CSA is the group that represents provincial regulators; each representative has individual authority to regulate securities within their jurisdictions. IIROC is the pan-Canadian self-regulatory organisation that oversees all investment dealers and their trading activity in Canada’s debt and equity markets.

The notice aims to offer guidance on securities law requirements applicable to platforms whether trading ‘crypto assets that are securities or derivatives or contractual rights or claims to underlying crypto-assets such as Bitcoin or Ether’, according to Crowdfund Insider.

The notice also outlines interim approaches that may be available to digital asset exchanges, and it also mentions key risks related to these crypto platforms. It does not introduce new rules specifically applicable to CTPs, as CTPs are already subject to existing requirements under securities legislation in Canada.