Crypto Class Action Certified By Ontario Court Of Appeal

In its recent decision in Lochan v. Binance Holdings Limited, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the certification of a class action brought on behalf of Canadian investors who purchased cryptocurrency products (Decision). It is alleged that certain cryptocurrency trading companies traded in securities without registering and distributed securities without complying with applicable prospectus requirements, in violation of the Ontario Securities Act and various other Canadian securities law (Claim).

A lower court found that the Claim satisfied the requirements of the Class Proceedings Act in Ontario and certified the proceeding as a class action. In upholding the certification, the Court of Appeal found that the Claim sufficiently pleaded common law and statutory causes of action. The Court of Appeal also confirmed that the Claim raises common issues, as required by the Class Proceedings Act.