The federal government has revealed its 2023 budget, and it contains some surprising promises for Canadians involved in cryptocurrencies.
Liberals Budget plans for 2023 propose granting law enforcement authorities new powers to freeze or confiscate cryptocurrency suspected of being linked to criminal activity. The proposed measures aim to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes.
The financial sector must also provide “sanctions information”. FINTRAC. In recent budgets, the government has emphasized its commitment to combating financial crime and announced the creation of a new Canadian Financial Crimes Agency in 2022, which is currently under consultation.
Regarding cryptocurrencies, the budget mentions the recent volatility in cryptocurrency markets and the decline of cryptocurrency trading platforms such as FTX. This suggests that financial institutions and pension funds will be required to disclose their exposure to crypto assets.
While the budget focuses on volatility, fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes that can impact individuals, companies and the broader financial system, it does little to recognize widespread cryptocurrency fraud. Beginners are especially vulnerable, and while Canadians are impacted by the behavior of institutions like FTX, there are few measures to protect individuals from everyday scams.
Unfortunately, cryptocurrencies are still the Wild West of the financial industry with little regulation and protection. At OCryptoCanada, our goal is to help Canadians trade cryptocurrencies safely. We recommend reading our articles Top Canadian Cryptocurrency Exchanges AND How to buy cryptocurrencies in Canada to be able to trade cryptocurrencies peacefully. We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with common cryptocurrency scams to avoid falling victim to them. You can read about typical cryptocurrency scams, what they look like and how to avoid them, in our article Common cryptocurrency scams and how to avoid them.
The government will propose further measures to protect Canadians from cryptocurrency risks in the upcoming fall economic and fiscal update. Perhaps the measures included here will meet the needs of everyday cryptocurrency traders and those needing better protection against fraud.
