Accounts held by Canadian residents of Gemini will be closed by December 31, 2024, in accordance with new regulatory mandates.
On September 30, an email notification was sent to Gemini Canadian subscribers, informing them that their accounts would be closed on December 31. There is a 90-day period during which consumers may withdraw their assets from the exchange.
“Gemini will close all consumer accounts in Canada with limited exceptions on December 31, 2024. Therefore, we will be terminating your Gemini account,” the organization stated in the email. The platform’s decision represents a substantial U-turn, as it had previously considered Canada to be a strategic market for international expansion.
In response to regulatory modifications implemented by financial regulators in Canada, support for Gemini Canadian users has been discontinued. In February of this year, Canadian securities regulators issued a notice mandating that all CTPs operating in Canada execute a pre-registration undertaking as a legally binding commitment in order to continue providing their services.
These include a pre-registration filing, which Gemini completed in April of this year. An official spokesperson for the company at the time emphasized the importance of the Canadian market.
Gemini’s departure is indicative of the ongoing trend of international exchanges withdrawing from Canada in response to the increase in regulatory supervision. Over the course of March and May this year, a number of prominent platforms, including OKX, Bybit, dYdX, Paxos, and Binance, experienced a decline.
In addition to the general regulatory tightening, the CSA also postponed the deadline for stablecoins, which are also referred to as VRCAs (value-referenced crypto assets), to comply with new regulations. These regulations impose a restriction on the use of stablecoins that are not tied to a single fiat currency, and their final enforcement is scheduled for April 2024.
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