Last Updated on January 11, 2023 by Bitfinsider

User allegations that went viral on social media on January 10 claim that the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com will delist Tether (USDT) for Canadian users as of January 31. The exchange has informed its users that their Tether will be automatically changed into USD Coin if they do not remove or convert their USDT assets before the deadline (USDC). It stated: “You may incur a retrieval fee if deposits of USDT are made from external wallets after this suspension period, and fund retrieval may not be possible in some cases.”

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) accepted the company’s pre-registration undertaking for operations in Canada, according to a statement released by Crypto.com in August. Digital assets outlawed by the OSC, including USDT, are not allowed to be listed on cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the Canadian province of Ontario due to regulatory constraints. Similar to Coinsquare, USDT is not yet listed as one of its possible trading assets on Coinsquare, a cryptocurrency exchange governed by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).

The OSC never provided justification for its Tether restriction in its conclusion. The only U.S. dollars owned by Tether, allegedly supporting over 442 million tethers in circulation, were the about $61 million on deposit at the Bank of Montreal, according to a document that was unveiled on February 17, 2021. In the meantime, experts occasionally questioned the veracity of Tether’s audits and reserves.

Right now, in order to operate in Canada, all potential cryptocurrency exchanges must register with the IIROC. The OSC has previously had concerns with exchanges including Binance, Bybit, and Huobi about their regulatory status.