Investors using Wealthsimple app will now be able to trade 14 new coins and tokens, including Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Maker and Dogecoin.EDGAR SU/Reuters
The Ontario Securities Commission has given Wealthsimple approval to offer more digital coins and tokens on its trading platform – beyond just bitcoin and Ether – expanding the financial services company’s foray into the booming crypto economy.
A decision released last Friday by the OSC allows an expansion of the types of crypto assets that investors can purchase, hold or sell on Wealthsimple Crypto, the company’s cryptocurrency trading platform.
As a result of the decision, investors using Wealthsimple’s platform will now be able to trade 14 new coins and tokens, including Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Maker and the hugely popular Dogecoin, among other crypto assets.
Regulators are still placing some restrictions on the platform. In provinces other than Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec, Wealthsimple clients are not allowed to invest more than $30,000 in crypto assets other than bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. Therefore, an investor in Ontario will be able to buy a maximum of $30,000 worth of Dogecoin a year through the platform.
Investors will also be prohibited from trading the controversial token Tether, which is being investigated by U.S. federal authorities because of its alleged role in manipulating the price of bitcoin in 2018.
“Starting today, you can buy and sell way more coins and tokens,” a Monday post on Wealthsimple’s blog read. The company went on to say that it plans to offer other tokens soon, but chose the 14 new coins and tokens as a result of feedback from clients.
“We thoroughly review each asset for factors such as security and audits, governance, maturity, demand and liquidity,” the blog post stated.
The regulator’s decision also allows Wealthsimple Crypto to move its clients’ assets between various crypto wallets and from other cryptoexchanges.
Many of the largest and most popular crypto-trading platforms, such as San Francisco-based Coinbase and New York-based Gemini, are subject to very few regulatory restrictions in terms of the kinds of crypto assets that investors can buy and sell. Coinbase, for example, recently gave its clients the option of trading Dogecoin, with no limits placed on the amount that could be purchased.
Neither Coinbase or Gemini are registered as regulated securities dealers in Canada and it is unclear if they have begun the process of getting regulated. Wealthsimple Crypto, which launched in August, 2020, remains the only digital-asset trading platform that is fully regulated in Canada.
The OSC has recently intensified its crackdown on unregistered crypto-trading platforms that offer services to Ontario residents. Platforms had until April 21 to contact provincial regulators to begin a process of getting registered, but as of early June, only 48 out of hundreds had done so.
In the past month, the regulator has pursued enforcement actions against three crypto platforms: Poloniex and KuCoin, both based in the Republic of Seychelles, and Bybit, incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
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