Grant Wingo, CEO of the Ontario Securities Commission, reiterated the regulator’s technically neutral stance on cryptocurrency, saying that many Canadians plan to become fraudsters in the near future.
In a keynote address to the Canadian Economic Club on October 6, Wingow said that the regulatory framework for stocks and bonds applies equally to crypto contracts, with “the vast majority of crypto entities” falling within the OSC’s purview. According to the head of the OSC, the regulator was primarily looking at Bitcoin (
BTC
Methods
$19,528
) and ether (
Ethereum
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$1,326
) as commodities, while “market arrangements with investors” are securities.
“As securities regulators, none of the characteristics of crypto assets or their underlying technologies, whether positive or negative, affect our regulatory approach,” Wingo said. “We are not here to pick winners and losers from among investments. We take a prudent and technically neutral approach to all new products entering our market and apply the same logic when evaluating them.”
He added that the growing cryptocurrency market, which has become interconnected with the financial system, could be cause for concern, citing the collapse of digital asset exchange QuadrigaCX:
“We know from our research (published later this month) that more than 30% of Canadians plan to purchase crypto assets next year […] Banning non-compliant companies from providing services in Canada. With limited budget and limited law enforcement personnel to cover all Our capital markets, there’s not much we can do. But we are making progress.”
Related Topics: Clean Encryption: How Much Enforcement Is Too Much?
The Canadian regulator has taken enforcement action against crypto firms Bybit and KuCoin, mostly alleging violations of securities laws and use of unregistered platforms to trade crypto assets. As of August 15, nine companies are listed as registered crypto companies under the OSC, including Fidelity Digital Assets, Newton Crypto, and Bitbuy.
