Crypto exchange Gemini has joined Binance and OKX by leaving the Canadian market.
The news comes after the Canadian regulator announced a basket of new restrictions on crypto exchanges back in February 2023, enforcing far stricter standards when it comes to custody of funds and providing leverage.
Under the new rules, crypto exchanges will also need to provide daily batches of financial data to the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and will need explicit permission to offer customers stablecoins.
Gemini, founded and operated by the Winklevoss twins, will close all Canadian accounts on December 31. Gemini called on users to withdraw their cash and crypto before then.
The exchange did not provide a reason for leaving the Canadian market, though the move does put them in good company alongside some of the world's largest exchanges.
Binance announced a similar move in May 2023, citing “new guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits provided to crypto exchanges” which it said made the Canadian market “no longer tenable” for the company.
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
Crypto exchange OKX announced in March 2023 that it was leaving Canada, telling users to withdraw their cash and crypto by June 2023. Stablecoin firm Paxos also left Canada in response to the ban, as did crypto exchange Bybit in May 2023.
Though Gemini may be leaving the country of its own accord, many other crypto firms haven't been so lucky in the past. Canada has previously shown its willingness to kick out firms that don't meet its compliance requirements.
KuCoin and Poloniex were both banned in Canada in 2022 as a result of failing to meet the requirements of Canadian securities law as set out by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC).
Despite Gemini and many of the largest players having left the market, Canadians still have a selection of usable exchanges including Kraken, Coinbase, and Bitget.
The CSA claimed it's tightening up the rules on exchanges was in the interest of protecting customers, citing many of 2022 crypto winter's most prominent insolvencies such as FTX, BlockFi, Voyager, and Genesis.
The regulator recently pushed back the deadline for complying with the regulations on crypto exchanges until the end of 2024, from the original date in October, to give firms more time to comply with the requirements.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.