The decision follows the Canadian Securities Administrators’ pledge to increase its monitoring of cryptocurrency exchanges in the wake of FTX’s bankruptcy.
According to an email to clients, Crypto.com, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, will remove USDT, Tether’s dollar-linked stablecoin, from its trading platform in Canada.
A representative for the exchange wrote in an email that the firm decided to comply with instructions from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) as part of our pre-registration commitment for a limited dealer licence.
As of 1 PM ET on January 31st, all USDT trading pairs, transactions, deposits, and withdrawals will be terminated. After that time, any USDT balances left on the exchange will be automatically changed to Circle-issued USDC.
Competition among the biggest stablecoins is intensifying. This move by Crypto.com comes as regulators worldwide tighten their scrutiny of centralised exchanges in the aftermath of the FTX crash.
Earlier this month, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the country’s top securities regulatory body consisting of regulators from 10 provinces and three territories, announced that it would increase its oversight of cryptocurrency exchanges by expanding existing requirements for the country’s trading platforms. According to the CSA, the organisation continues to monitor and examine the presence and role of stablecoins in Canadian financial markets.
The market valuation for USDT, the most widely used stablecoin, is $66 billion, putting it in direct competition with USDC ($44 billion) and BUSD ($16 billion). Since its inception, the token’s issuer, Tether, and the assets presumably underpinning its value have been mired in controversy, despite its prominent role in the crypto trading ecosystem.
According to crypto analyst John Paul Koning, Canadian digital asset trading platforms have hesitated to offer USDT. According to records presented to the CSA in 2021, both Coinberry and Wealthsimple have banned USDT from their platforms.