Binance discloses investigation by Canadian securities regulator
BNN Bloomberg
Crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd. said it has received an order from one of Canada’s securities regulators to investigate whether the platform attempted to find a way around local regulations and compliance controls while seeking approvals in the country.
The Ontario Securities Commission served the world’s largest digital asset exchange with an investigation order on May 10, the platform said in a filing this month with the Capital Markets Tribunal. Two days later, Binance announced it would be withdrawing from the market, citing new regulatory guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits.
The OSC’s order authorized “an extremely broad inquiry into whether Binance may have taken steps to circumvent Ontario securities law and compliance controls in relation to Binance.com or engaged in conduct contrary to Ontario securities law and/or the public interest,” Binance’s legal representation Borden Ladner Gervais LLP said in the filing.
Binance has faced increasing regulatory and legal scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions over the last few years, most recently finding itself and its Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao on the receiving end of a lawsuit by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. While the details of the order were not immediately publicly available, Binance said the OSC had relied on the CFTC’s lawsuit as its impetus.
