Binance withdraws from Canada, CEO Changpeng Zhao’s nation, although it vows to continue cooperating with regulators. The cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced its exit from the Canadian market on Twitter on May 12. It referred to its withdrawal as “proactive” as new regulatory guidelines from Canada’s regulators continue to harm that nation’s cryptocurrency market.

Binance is joining several of its smaller rivals in leaving Canada due to new regulations that the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) introduced on February 22 required them to submit new preregistration undertakings and follow new regulations.

Despite allegedly submitting a fresh preregistration undertaking, Binance withdraws from Canada clarified in a tweet:

“Unfortunately, new guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits provided to crypto exchanges makes the Canada market no longer tenable for Binance at this time.”

The new CSA regulations identify stablecoins as securities and forbid companies from “allowing Canadian clients to enter into cryptocurrency contracts to buy and sell any crypto asset that is itself a security and/or a derivative.”

Unfortunately, today we are announcing that Binance will be joining other prominent crypto businesses in proactively withdrawing from the Canadian marketplace.

We would like to thank those regulators who worked with us collaboratively to address the needs of Canadian users.…

— Binance (@binance) May 12, 2023

In March, OKX left the Canadian market. The decentralized exchange dYdX and the blockchain fintech Paxos came after it in April.

An email from Binance asked its Canadian users to cancel any open holdings before September 30, 2023. It said Canadian consumers would be forced into liquidation-only mode as of October 1, 2023. The conversation went on to say:

“While we do not agree with the new guidance, we hope to continue to engage with Canadian regulators aimed at a thoughtful, comprehensive regulatory framework.”

Except for Ontario, which ceased operations in March 2022 following a protracted dispute with the provincial authorities, Binance was active in all Canadian provinces and territories.

However, all is not lost for Canadian cryptophiles. Kraken pledged to remain in Canada when it submitted the new preregistration undertaking in March. The CSA lists 11 platforms as “Authorised to Do Business with Canadians.”