Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has agreed to stop facilitating trades for Ontario account holders and wind down its operations in the province.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) says the promise to cease operations was made in an undertaking with the regulator and is legally enforceable. Binance had made a similar promise to stop operating in Ontario last year but continued to facilitate cryptocurrency trades in Canada.
The new agreement with the OSC also includes promises to cease opening new Ontario accounts and provide fee waivers and reimbursements to some users as it winds down its business in the province.
Binance announced last June that it would withdraw services from Ontario following a March 2021 order forcing all cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms to register with the OSC or face enforcement actions.
The OSC says Binance was still allowing Ontario investors to trade cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), and had continued to advertise its services in Canada.
The OSC has been telling cryptocurrency trading platforms over the last year that they must register or face enforcement actions, but so far only six exchanges have registered their operations with the regulator.
Founded in 2017, Binance claims to be the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world in terms of daily trading volume.
