Canada's OSC probes Binance over whether crypto exchange tried to skirt rules

Just two days before Binance said it will withdraw from the Canadian market, a Canadian securities regulator sent an order to the cryptocurrency exchange to probe whether it tried to circumvent the country's regulations and compliance controls, the company disclosed Wednesday in a filing. The Ontario Securities Commission's order "authorizes an extremely broad inquiry into whether Binance may have taken steps to circumvent Ontario securities law and compliance controls in relation to Binance.com or engaged in conduct contrary to Ontario securities law and/or the public interest," Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Binance's legal representative, said in the filing . "We consider this latest action by the OSC to be ungrounded," a Binance spokesperson told Seeking Alpha in an emailed statement. "The OSC has made a request to access virtually limitless private data in the hope they may find something untoward." Binance in early 2022 struck a deal with the regulator "committing to several actions, including restricting Ontario users and providing quarterly reporting to the OSC. Since signing this agreement, Binance has diligently fulfilled its terms." Over the last few years, Binance has come under increased regulatory scrutiny, having most recently been sued by the U.S. Commodity and Futures Trade Commission for allegedly violating certain trading and derivatives rules, a move that briefly roiled crypto prices. In March, a handful of U.S. senators called on Binance to disclose its finances and raised doubts over its regulatory compliance . The regulatory clampdown on crypto combined with a lingering market downturn has resulted in a notable drop in Binance's still-dominant market share. The company earlier confirmed that it has cut a portion of its workforce deemed to have not performed adequately and not culturally fit. More on Binance Binance joint venture to launch Thai crypto exchange by Q4 2023 Binance commingled customer funds with its revenue in 2020, 2021 - report Binance: Could CFTC Lead To Bigger Problems?