Canada’s ICO regulations largely repeat the US policy

The policy of Canada towards tokens and initial coin offerings largely resembles the policy of the neighbor country - United States. The recent statement made by the Ontario Securities Commission spokeswoman leads to believe that tokens are equal to securities in Canada and the violators are not tolerated. Several of the new-found ones will now be under investigation.

The exchange platforms listing tokens without the corresponding permission are violating laws on securities, the governmental agency stressed. Anyway, it is possible for ICO founders to hold this kind of enterprise in Canada as long as the project has credible documents and transparent structure.

The recent statement fully corresponds with the notice issued by the Canadian authorities in August last year. In that announcement, the authorities of the country also noted that the rules of ICO regulation apply to even those firms working outside Canada while their client base has Canadian citizens, which is once again very similar to the approach taken by the U.S. financial crimes enforcement organizations.

With all this in mind, the leader of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has recently noted that some tokens are too primitive to be qualified as securities, which is something the Canadian authorities have not repeated yet.

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