The cryptocurrency exchange, Gemini has announced to cease its operations in Canada by December 2024. It has alerted its customers to withdraw their funds from the exchange within 90 days and all user accounts will be closed by the end of the year. Other crypto exchanges including OKX, Paxos, Bybit, and Binance have already exited from the Canadian market.
Why Gemini is leaving Canada?
Various crypto exchanges are leaving Canada due to strict regulatory requirements and the same reason is being attributed to the exit of Gemini from Canada. Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) started tightening the noose around crypto exchanges with the start of 2024. CSA had bound crypto exchanges in February 2024 to sign a pre-registration undertaking (PRU) to carry on their operations.
Fresh regulations also aimed to impose restrictions on stablecoins which meant that Canadian users will not be able to purchase or deposit stablecoins without the prior approval from the CSA. These regulations were introduced by the CSA with the aim of investor protection after various high-profile insolvencies in the crypto sector.
To implement the regulations, a deadline of April 30th 2024 was set which was first extended to October 31st 2024 but now has been further extended to December 31st 2024. After the lapse of deadline, the crypto trading platforms would be prohibited from allowing clients to buy or deposit.
Though Gemini had initially decided to follow the fresh regulations but now has decided to leave the country. Many other exchanges like Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Paxos have already left the Canadian market following the introduction of fresh regulations. While some like Coinbase have decided to stay firm. In fact, Coinbase responded regulations by announcing a stablecoin tied to the Canadian dollar.