Hi there. In this post I touch on the topic of this Tether news in Canada. I have received an e-mail from Netcoins, a Canadian crypto exchange that due to recent views from regulators to Canadian crypto trading platforms, Netcoins have decided to delist Tether soon (a few days).
With some more research I have come across some news articles about regulators banning Tether (USDT).
Coinberry & Wealthsimple Crypto Banned From Offering Tether
According to this Coingeek article, a Canadian securities regulator has been targeting Tether. Here is a part of the article.
A Canadian securities regulator has barred the country’s first two registered digital currency exchanges from trading Tether (USDT). The stablecoin, which is seemingly printed at will and has been deeply linked to alleged market manipulation, is the only prohibited digital asset in the country to date.
The Ontario Securities Commission has a history of being tough against digital currency operators. After giving exchanges an April deadline to license their operations, it has been cracking the whip on those that didn’t, from Poloniex to KuCoin, OKEx, and Bybit.
Now, it has set its sights on the world’s biggest stablecoin, USDT.
The commission has barred Coinberry and Wealthsimple exchanges from offering Tether trading services. The two are the first exchanges in Canada to receive an operating license allowing them to offer digital currency trading services across all the provinces in Canada.
Coinberry received its approval from the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) a week ago, allowing it “to offer Canadians crypto-based products and services on a regulated platform.” It boasts of being the first pure-play exchange to receive the license in Canada. Wealthsimple received the approval first, but unlike its peer, it doesn’t allow its users to withdraw their digital assets, much like Robinhood Crypto.
Despite receiving the regulatory approvals to serve Canadians, the two exchanges will not be able to offer USDT. The stablecoin was the only one listed under “Prohibited Crypto Assets,” with the regulator offering no reasoning for its decision.
With the e-mail I received from Netcoins as a Netcoins customer, you can add Netcoins with Coinberry and Wealthsimple to the list of Canadian trading platforms that will not offer Tether.
I am confused why the regulator is not offering reasoning for the decision.
There is another recent news piece about a Tether ban. This time it is based in Ontario (my home province). Here is a piece from the article.
Ontario’s securities watchdog has banned crypto platforms operating in the region from touching Tether (USDT) — reversing what should be a home court advantage for the maverick stablecoin.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), which regulates investments across Canada’s largest jurisdiction, issued a list of prohibited crypto assets late last month.
That list (filed under Appendix C in a favorable ruling for local exchange Coinberry) is incredibly short. In fact, it wasn’t really a list at all — there was just one banned cryptocurrency: USDT.
Appendix B named four assets that the OSC allows to trade freely in Ontario: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, and Litecoin.
While Tether’s ousting might seem insignificant, the largest and most liquid stablecoin is linked to Ontario in a number of curious ways.
When combined, the OSC’s decision is far more noteworthy.
Heh, only four assets are allowed according to the OSC. Just Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether and Litecoin. No lower cap altcoins. In a previous post, I did mention that the Canadian trading platform exchanges do not have a large selection of crypto options compared to the likes of Binance, Kucoin, FTX, Coinbase, etc.
This part is my opinion. Canada is fairly risk averse. Taking less risk is considered safe. However, there is less reward for playing it safe. I am somewhat not surprised by the local regulators regulating crypto. The largest companies in Canada are mostly banks, Energy companies, financial services companies and our cartel of Telecommunications companies in the form of Bell, Rogers & Telus. (You can check Tradingview and change the flag from USA to Canada and check out the large companies by Marketcap.) Maybe the regulators are protecting the banks from crypto??
Finding Alternatives To Tether
Prior to this news, I was moving away from Tether anyways for stablecoins. The next alternative for me was USD Coin (USDC). Now I am into TerraUSD (UST) and I could look into other stablecoins like DAI, PAX Dollar, Frax, Origin Dollar and Reserve.