Canada revokes registration qualifications of 23 cryptocurrency companies

On March 18, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) took concentrated enforcement action against 23 money services businesses (MSBs) providing cryptocurrency-related services, revoking their registration qualifications. Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne described this action as a "significant acceleration in the pace of enforcement" and stated that the government will continue to maintain this level of intensity. Among the companies whose registrations were revoked are Finast, registered in Slovakia, and Commerce Plex, registered in the United Kingdom. The reasons involve compliance issues such as failure to respond to information requests on time, not meeting registration requirements, and not updating records promptly.