Author(s):
Matthew T. Burgoyne, Laure Fouin, Cody Richard
Dec 11, 2023
In years past, a series of industry failures and a lack of regulatory certainty threatened to chill the digital asset space. In 2023, the story changed. The digital asset market has stabilized as developers continue building new products and refining old ones. Meanwhile, Canadian regulators were busy publishing their views on existing regulations and their applicability to digital assets. The activity levels in 2023 are indicative of an industry and regulatory environment that is maturing.
However, despite 2023’s flurry of staff notices and guidance, the industry still has several unanswered questions. Hopefully further clarity will emerge in 2024 on a number of fronts. These include the implications of proposed interim terms and conditions for stablecoin issuers, registration or other regulatory requirements for digital asset custodians and regulation of decentralized finance (DeFi). Market participants should look for further refinements to the framework for registration of cryptoasset trading platforms (CTPs). We also expect new guidance from federal regulators with respect to cryptoasset exposures for federally regulated financial institutions. In addition, digital asset businesses involved in payments will want to be alert to the impact of the implementation of the Retail Payments Activities Act on their businesses...
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