Though the mass euphoria surrounding all things crypto has subsided, one facet of the cryptocurrency space is still booming: fraud and unregulated activity.The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments recently reported that fraud-related cases tripled in the fourth quarter of 2022, largely as a result of complaints involving crypto investments.
“The regulator constantly has to play whack-a-mole,” said Ryan Clements, a fintech expert at the University of Calgary. The CSA cited the recent collapse of a number of trading platforms, including FTX, then one of the world’s largest. Those incidents “highlight the significant investor protection risks to Canadian investors of trading crypto assets,” the CSA said.
So far, the measures taken by Canadian regulators strike a pretty good balance between encouraging innovation and protecting investors, said James Kosa, a partner with a focus on information technology at law firm WeirFoulds. So far, 11 crypto asset trading platforms have registered to operate in Canada. But that doesn’t stop Canadian investors from accessing those that haven’t. There is evidence, for example, that some Canadian investors were accessing the unregulated FTX platform, which was domiciled in the Bahamas.