OKX plans to wind down business in Canada

Crypto exchange OKX emailed consumers in Canada that the company would no longer offer services or enable users to establish new accounts in the country.

The rules will apply from March 24, 2023. The exchange cited new regulations as the reason for the shift. Withdrawals from OKX will continue to be accessible, the exchange noticed.

According to OKX, Canadian clients have until June 22, 2023, to close open positions in options, margins, perpetual, and futures. In addition, fiat currency or tokens must be removed by the specified date.

The firm stated that funds would be protected until the customers decide to take it out of there. Users will also be able to withdraw dollars to the bank account connected to their wallet and cryptocurrency to the wallet they keep in self-custody or to the cryptocurrency account they have on another exchange.

Some have, however, questioned the email’s credibility, weighing the possibility of a scam.

OKX confirmed the news and said that its departure from the Canadian market is “temporary,” The exchange is now working with regulatory authorities to solve this problem. 

Canada is going hard on crypto

On July 29, 2022, the cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex Global off-boarded Canadian customers after providing an early warning. Like the previous one, this notification cited regulatory changes as grounds for departing the nation.

In a notice released on February 22, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) demanded that cryptocurrency exchanges make additional legally enforceable commitments while they awaited registration with the regulatory body. 

The new endeavor restricts, among many other things, purchasing or depositing stablecoins via crypto contracts without the prior written authorization of the CSA.