The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) recently approved a
settlement agreement with eToro (Europe) Limited (eToro), a
Cyprus-based brokerage firm that operates an online cryptocurrency
and stock trading platform, imposing over C$2.8 million in
penalties on eToro for violating registration and prospectus
requirements under Ontario securities laws. eToro admitted to
operating trading accounts for Ontario residents in which contracts
for difference (CFDs), which the OSC previously confirmed
constitute "investment contracts" and
"securities" for the purposes of Ontario securities
laws,1 were traded and distributed without registration
and without a prospectus or an exemption from the prospectus
requirement. CFDs are derivative products that allow investors to
obtain exposure to price movements in an asset, such as a share or
other publicly traded security, an index, a currency or a
commodity, without acquiring ownership of the asset.
