In the latest blow to the embattled Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare, reports are accusing the platform’s top executive of orchestrating a wash-trading scheme in clear violation of securities law. Wash-trading refers to an exchange artificially inflating its trade volume through executing larger zero-fee market trades into their own orders, creating the appearance of large trading activity without any assets changing hands. The practice is illegal in traditional asset markets due to its propensity for price manipulation. The accusations levied at Coinsquare were reported by Vice on June 13, with the publication claiming to have obtained leaked emails, Slack messages, and …

The Ontario Securities Commission, or OSC, claims that the crypto exchange Quadriga collapsed in 2018 because of fraud committed by its late founder, Gerald Cotten, who passed away on his honeymoon in India. The report released on June 11, revealed by CBC Canada, says Cotten opened several accounts under aliases and credited himself with “fictitious currency,”. He traded this currency with unsuspecting clients of his Vancouver-based crypto exchange. The deceased Quadriga founder was unable to meet his client’s withdrawal requests when the price of crypto assets fell. He then created a Ponzi scheme, covering the demand using funds from other …

Peer-to-peer Bitcoin (BTC) trading activity in the United States surged to a new all-time high during the week of June 7, according to data published by UsefulTulips. Over the past seven days, nearly $29 million worth of Bitcoin has changed hands for U.S. dollars on leading P2P marketplaces Localbitcoins and Paxful. The past week saw only North America and Middle Eastern/North African trade increase, with all other regions posting slight declines in seven-day volume. Over $24 million in Bitcoin changed hands on Paxful in the United States alongside $4.6 million traded on Localbitcoins. With roughly $1 million trading on Canada’s …

The Norwegian-based producer of farmed-salmon, Kvarøy Arctic, has become the latest firm to join IBM’s Food Trust — the tech giant’s blockchain-based supply chain solution for the food industry. Kvarøy Arctic is a supplier for numerous restaurants and Whole Foods retailers in the United States and Canada, and will now utilize blockchain technology to provide detailed information on the origin of its produce to restaurants and consumers. Raj Rao, IBM Food Trust’s general manager, described the partnership as “promoting transparency and sustainability in the seafood supply chains.” Blockchain boosts transparency Information regarding the origin of salmon farmed by Kvarøy Arctic …

Hackers have obtained more than 5,000 email addresses and phone numbers from Canada-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinsquare. Now, they’re reportedly hoping to use the data to perform SIM swapping attacks. One of the alleged hackers spoke to VICE Motherboard on June 2, explaining that the collective originally intended to sell the information, but realized they could “make more money by SIM swapping the accounts.” Coinsquare’s CEO Cole Diamond told Cointelegraph the theft was from a third party and not the exchange itself. “Coinsquare’s systems have never been breached,” he said. “As stated to VICE, this was an employee theft of data …

Experts predict that Bitcoin ATMs (BATMs) will face stricter regulations worldwide, with countries including Canada and Germany already moving to tighten up anti-money laundering requirements. A June 2 report from CipherTrace estimates that 74% of transactions made from U.S.-based Bitcoin ATMs were sent out of the country during 2019. The report also found that 88% of funds sent from U.S. crypto ATMs to virtual currency exchanges were transferred overseas. The figure has seen exponential growth over recent years, doubling annually since 2017. In an interview with Law360, CipherTrace CTO John Jeffries predicted that BATMs will become “a greater point of …

Cryptocurrency exchanges and payment processors are now legally recognized as Money Service Businesses (MSB) within Canada. June 1 saw the enactment of amendments to Canada’s Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act that were passed in June 2019 to address holes in the then-existing framework. Candian crypto firms must now report all transactions exceeding 10,000 Canadian dollars ($7,403), and register and comply with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC). Recognition brings relief On May 29, the CEO of Canadian crypto asset exchange BullBitcoin, Francis Pouliot, tweeted: “Today is my last day as an unregulated …

Canada’s York University School of Continuing Studies today announced two new university-level continuing blockchain programs — the part-time Certificate in Blockchain Development and the full-time Post-Graduate Certificate in Back-End and Blockchain Development. The university said their new courses aim to meet the rising demand for blockchain developer roles in Canada, especially in the Greater Toronto Area, where it has risen by 374% in the last two years. Helping people upskill and reenter the workforce The two courses, which are scheduled to start this September, will help students upskill and build a portfolio in the blockchain field so they can secure …

Toronto-based cryptocurrency exchange, Bitbuy, now offers full insurance on all Bitcoin (BTC) deposits in an apparent first for the industry, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on May 27. The platform claims that the full value of its Bitcoin cold storage holdings is insured as a result of a partnership with Knox, a Canadian Bitcoin custody provider which normally caters to institutional investors and service providers. “The funds that Bitbuy are transferring into our custody system are insured for the full value of the holdings, and this is effective immediately,” Knox CEO Alex Daskalov told Cointelegraph. According to …

Leading cryptocurrency payments platform Crypto.com announced that it has received regulatory approval for its Visa card program in Canada, and will soon be rolling out MCO Visa cards in the country. MCO Visa cards are prepaid cards that can be topped up with cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), XRP, and Crypto.com’s native MCO token. The company said that citizens of Canada can now book their crypto cards through a three-minute customer onboarding process and ID verification on the Crypto.com App. This comes only a few days after the company announced that it was expanding its MCO Visa …

Crypto venture capital firm and trading desk, Galaxy Digital Holdings, has been granted conditional approval to participate in the Toronto Stock Exchange’s TSX Sandbox. Announced during April last year, TSX’s sandbox offers a testing ground for new policy development, and an initiative intended to facilitate support for listing applications “that may not generally satisfy the requirements and guidelines of TSX.” Galaxy will graduate from the sandbox onto TSX after 12 months of trading without the occurrence of “a significant compliance issue.” Galaxy Digital enters TSX Sandbox Galaxy Digital founder and chief executive, Mike Novogratz, described its entrance into the sandbox …

Close to 17,000 creditors of the now-shuttered Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX have filed to reclaim their lost assets. Details of the claims were revealed in an interim status report published on May 12 by Ernst & Young (EY), the trustee for QuadrigaCX’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Details of submitted claims so far The report reveals that as of May 6, EY had received 16,959 proofs of claim denominated in various fiat and cryptocurrencies, many of which included multiple currency components. The currencies span United States dollars and Canadian dollars, as well as Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin …