BCSC grants time-limited regulatory relief to Netcoins

Canadian regulators have granted relief to crypto trading platform Netcoins Inc., which is publicly traded through parent company BIGG Digital Assets Inc., making it one of the first crypto platforms to be both regulated and publicly traded.

Vancouver-based BIGG, which is traded on the Canadian Securities Exchange, controls two operating companies — Netcoins and Blockchain Intelligence Group.

On Wednesday the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) published a decision by the firm’s principal regulator, the B.C. Securities Commission (BCSC), granting Netcoins relief from certain registration, prospectus and trade reporting requirements, allowing it to trade cryptoassets with Canadian investors.

Under the “regulatory sandbox” program, the Canadian Securities Administrators have been offering relief by allowing firms to trade cryptos in a regulated environment without fully complying with the traditional regulatory requirements.

“The overall goal of the regulatory framework is to strike a balance between being flexible to facilitate innovation in the Canadian capital markets, while upholding the regulatory mandate of promoting investor protection and fair and efficient capital markets,” the decision noted.

As with the other cases where the OSC has provided some relief to crypto trading firms, the decision imposes a variety of conditions on the firm, including investment limits on crypto contracts not based on Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin cash or Litecoin.

The relief expires in two years or once the firm becomes registered as an investment dealer.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.