Canada begins to regulate cryptocurrency firms

On June 1, 2020, Canada began regulating the activities of all cryptocurrency firms. Now they have toRegister with the Canadian Financial Operations Analysis and Reporting Center (FINTRAC).

Cryptocurrency firms providing services to residentsCanada's virtual currency exchange and transfer services will be regulated as financial services companies. They must fully comply with all requirements of the Center for Analysis of Financial Transactions and Reporting Canada (FINTRAC), as well as pass registration.

Any individuals or legal entities in Canadaare required to provide reporting on transactions with crypto assets worth more than 10,000 Canadian dollars. Such amendments were proposed by the government back in July last year. Francis Pouliot, CEO and founder of the Canadian cryptocurrency firm Bull Bitcoin, confirmed that the amendments have already entered into force.

Pulio considers this a great achievement despiteit took the country about five years to agree on which activities with digital assets should be regulated. The Canadian Parliament proposed incorporating Bitcoin provisions in anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws as early as 2014.

“Amendments to the law are far from ideal, but everything couldto be much worse. Bitcoin is money, so it must be regulated on a par with regular money. If I didn’t have to report on large transactions, I would call it a complete victory, ”Pulio said.

He noted that changes in legislationespecially affect the operators of bitcoin ATMs, as most companies working with bitcoin in Canada already comply with strict requirements for the KYC procedure. This is what payment processing partners require to prevent fraudulent transactions.

Let us recall that last winter the financial regulatorCanada (AMF) proposed to equate mining to securities transactions, and the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) were going to develop a regulatory framework for blockchain in order to reduce risks when introducing this technology into various areas.

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