Marketing Cryptocurrency Platforms In Canada

Many of our past articles on the intersection of securities law and cryptocurrency (and digital assets more generally) have focused on enforcement actions taken, or threatened to be taken, by members of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("CSA") and, more particularly, the Ontario Securities Commission. To date, securities law enforcement actions have been the epicentre of Canadian regulatory involvement arguably because of two factors: the offering of cryptocurrency derivatives through trading platforms and the existence of investors and users of those platforms who are identifiably resident in Canada.

Beyond these circumstances, the question of how Canadian regulators could apply securities laws to decentralized conduct arises. There remains a very valid question at law as to whether a transaction related to the transfer of cryptocurrency itself involves a security. There is also the challenge of jurisdiction: Where and how do cryptocurrency transactions take