CZ comments on Binance's decision to leave Canada | Invezz

Binance withdrew from the Canadian market early in May, citing crypto regulation challenges in the region. That came after the CSA (Canadian Securities Administrators) announced new rules (in February 2023) that gave crypto exchanges a month to register or vacate the region.

Meanwhile, Changpeng Zhao commented on Binance’s decision to vacate the Canadian market during a Wednesday interview with market consultant Samir Azizi – a market consultant. When questioned about the developments that saw Binance halting its undertakings in Canada, CZ stated:

“..on crypto, though, I think Canada was a bit unfortunate… there was QuadrigaCX.. user’s money was lost. So, there was a lot of pressure on regulators to do something. And then I believe last year was the nail in the coffin…”

The Binance CEO believes events such as the QuadrigaCX and FTX’s debacle forced Canadian regulators to impose stiffer rules for the crypto space.

CZ highlighted some rules that had them surrender their operations in Canada. For instance, the rules required them to use 3rd party custodians that are smaller firms than Binance.

That limited the leading exchange from using its custodian service. CZ believes relying on less-tested third-party custodians posed higher risks. Moreover, the regulators allowed a minimum amount of tokens.

The exec trusts Binance can hardly fulfill the regulatory demand with its current products;

“In order to fulfill all those regulatory requirements, we cannot use our current products. We will have to do something new..”

More exchanges exiting Canada

Moreover, CZ commented on other exchanges leaving Canada. He commented about Bybit being the most recent to vacate, whereas Okcoin left the region a few months ago.

Possible comeback?

CZ reiterated that incidents such as QuadrigaCX and FTX’s debacle forced regulators to introduce stricter rules.

“The good players are having a hard time now, either being overly regulated or punished..”

Nonetheless, the Binance CEO believes Canada will turn back in the coming years, and they will keep in touch with the regulators to check if the region introduces rules that will favor Binance to resume its services in Canada.