Bitfinex To Close Accounts In Ontario 1 March 2022, Due To Regulatory Issues
Earlier this week, Bitfinex announced that it will close user accounts in Ontario at the beginning of March. The announcement was due to regulatory issues with the Canadian securities regulator.
“Bitfinex is making changes to the Services we provide to Ontario customers.
Starting on March 1, 2022, Ontario customers will no longer have access to any Services. Any Ontario customers who have open positions in our peer-to-peer financing markets are advised to immediately start exiting those positions in preparation for March 1, 2022.”
Canadian securities regulators have been increasing oversight of custodial cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bitfinex, requiring them to register as securities exchanges or exit those the markets.
Ontario houses the largest equities market in Canada, and the securities regulator has been very active in its efforts to impose regulation on crypto exchanges.
In August, the first two crypto platforms – Wealthsimple and Coinberry – received note from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) that had been barred from trading Tether.
Tether and Bitfinex share a parent company, iFinex.
The duo is no stranger to facing legal issues. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently fined them, and they are still fighting to keep the New York Attorney General from handing over details of the NYAG’s case against Tether and Bitfinex to CoinDesk.
