What’s Next for Canada and How Do I Learn More?

By: Yash, Zeneca, Canadian Web3 Council

Congratulations, you’ve completed our 12 days of Web3 course! Before we leave you to explore more on your own, we wanted to ensure you had an understanding of how Web3 is regulated in Canada and what’s next for the industry.

How Is Web3 Regulated in Canada?

The Web3 space in Canada is regulated at the federal and provincial level by various agencies, such as: 

• The Canadian Securities Administrators: primary provincial regulators of crypto trading platforms. Impacts how crypto trading platforms operate such as what tokens can be listed, what kind of products can be offered, investment limits, segregation/custody of assets and disclosure requirements.
• Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC): fraud prevention measures with which the industry must comply.
• Canada Revenue Agency (CRA): tax treatment and reporting for Crypto Trading Platforms and Canadians who invest in crypto.
• Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI): capital and liquidity treatment of crypto for registered banks, insurers, trust and loan companies and private pension plans.
• Bank of Canada: overseeing monetary policy and currently doing research on a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

We have much to be proud of in Canada, with several crypto regulatory initiatives first happening here, including green lighting publicly listed crypto companies, a regulatory pathway for crypto trading platforms, and the approval of spot crypto ETFs. Regulated crypto trading platforms in Canada, bolstered by strong corporate governance and investor protection policies, present considerably lower investment risks than some other jurisdictions due to our robust regulatory regime.

However, regulators are facing considerable challenges regulating the Web3 sector, where the rate of innovation and change is rapid. There are improvements that could be done to make our current regulatory framework more clear, consistent and efficient. 

We believe that provincial and federal governments and industry can play an important role in creating a cohesive national approach to Web3. With our collective efforts, governments can create a harmonised regulatory framework to protect consumers and to make Canada a supportive and competitive environment for Web3 businesses

For more information on what type of regulation is needed in Canada, visit www.web3canada.ca 

How Do I Learn More?

Web3 is an endless rabbit hole. You could spend 24/7 learning about it and still be just scratching the surface. Here are some great ways to dive in further:

1. Visit the CryptoStudyHall Learn Portal and pick your learning path (e.g., Intro, DeFi, NFT, DAO). Contribute to writing these paths by joining our community.
   
   
2. Check out Peter’s curious beginners guide to web3 article.
   
   
3. Sign up for ZenAcademy’s 30 Days of NFTs course for a deeper dive on NFTs.

Feel free to reach out to the writers of this course (Zeneca and Yash Bora)  on Twitter with any questions you have. Getting people excited about web3 is so much fun for us – we’d love to help in any way we can!

Thanks,

Zeneca, Yash, and the Canadian Web3 Council