Breaking: Paxos To Shut Down Operations In Canada; More To Follow?

The New York-based crypto platform, Paxos, recently announced that it would stop offering services to customers based out of  Canada. This comes after a number of Canadian users reported receiving an email from the firm stating that it would be winding down services from early next month.

Paxos Ends Support For Canada

What comes as a surprise to many, Paxos abruptly notified its Canadian users on Wednesday of an early departure as it plans to disable all customer accounts on May 9. In its email, the crypto firm was quoted as saying:

Paxos has determined it will no longer support customers in Canada moving forward. Given your Paxos account remains unfunded, your account will be disabled.

According to Block’s report, the sudden decision came as a part of growing regulatory concerns in the country. Earlier this week, another reputable cryptocurrency platform dYdX — which operates as a decentralized crypto derivatives exchange (DEX) — said that it would no longer be accepting new members based in Canada.

Read More: Is Bankrupt FTX Exchange Looking For A Comeback In Q2 Of 2023?

Growing Regulatory Concerns

This recent closure comes against the backdrop of new regulations set by the Canadian Securities Administrators in February. The financial watchdog issued a warning to all operational crypto exchanges and trading platforms to comply with increased “investor protection commitments”.

As reported earlier on CoinGape, Paxos is also being pressured by U.S. regulators amid the ongoing crypto crackdowns. The firm received a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in February informing that the agency was investigating the company’s BUSD stablecoin partnership with the Binance exchange. Paxos received an additional order from the New York Department of Financial Services to cease the issuance of BUSD as it was deemed to be an unregistered security.

Also Read: U.S. Fed President Hints At More Interest Rate Hikes Following CPI Report