Singapore-based company Crypto. com has become the first international cryptocurrency platform to become officially regulated in Canada.

By signing a pre-registration undertaking with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), Crypto. com has become the first of its kind to do so in the country. The undertaking signals the company’s intent to offer crypto products and services in line with the OSC’s regulations.

The company CEO, Kris Marszalek, highlighted the North American market as a key area of potential growth for cryptocurrency. The platform already operates in Canada under the regulations of the Autorité des marches financiers (AMF) and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC). The announcement is the latest in a slew of similar endeavors for the company, which has been actively expanding its operations and offerings across the globe.

Earlier this month, it received regulatory approval as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in the Cayman Islands, and won licences to operate within South Korea by acquiring two companies in the country. In July, it received regulatory approval in Italy and Cyprus. The same month, it introduced an in-app purchase feature in Google Pay which allowed users to buy crypto.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore gave it an in-principal nod in June for its Major Payment Institution License. Founded in 2016, Crypto. com has over 50mln users worldwide and operates in 90 countries.

Digital currencies in Canada: increasing interest from citizens but scepticism from policymakers The Bank of Canada’s 2022 Financial System Review showed that cryptocurrency is enjoying a steady growth in popularity among Canadians, as the number of bitcoin holders rose from 5% of the population to 13% between 2020 and 2021. Bitcoin being too volatile to be used as a form of payment, most users continued to hold it for speculatory purposes. Separate survey results from Statista show that the share of Canadian respondents who said they either used or owned cryptocurrencies rose from 5% in 2020 to 11% in 2021.

Canada’s central bank has, in the past, expressed reservations about the safety and accessibility constraints of cryptocurrencies offered by the private sector. In the wake of the pandemic and the consequent rise of digital payments, the Bank of Canada accelerated its preparations for the possible introduction of a digital Canadian currency (an electronic version of cash), called the Central Bank Digital Currency, which would address the concerns it has about private cryptocurrencies. In March 2022, the central bank announced that it was embarking on a 12-month project with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to explore the impact of advanced technologies on the design of a CBDC.

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