Canada Will Ban Nearly 4,000 Crypto Atm Machines

Canada is set to ban its crypto atm network after a public inquiry found the country lacked a cohesive anti-money-laundering strategy. Officials say the machines have been used by scammers to defraud victims and by criminals to launder the proceeds of crime.

The move would hit nearly 4,000 cryptocurrency ATMs in a country that has the most per capita in the world. This week, the governing Liberals also advanced legislation to create the Financial Crimes Agency, which would investigate and prosecute financial crimes while reducing the role of Fintrac and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in this area.

Fintrac and the new agency

For more than a quarter of a century, Fintrac has served as Canada’s financial intelligence unit. Last year, Fintrac uncovered $45bn in transactions tied to money laundering, counterterrorist financing, sanctions and evasion disclosures, but Fintrac does not track and arrest criminals. Under the new legislation, the newly formed FCA would take on investigation and prosecution.

The bill to create the Financial Crimes Agency completed its first reading in parliament this week. Jessica Davis, a former intelligence analyst with Canada’s spy agency and now a consultant, said: “The fact we’re actually seeing the creation [of a] new enforcement agency is a meaningful investment and hopefully signals the understanding of the seriousness of the challenge.”

Jessica Davis on scale

Davis also said: “It’s a figure that could be too high or far too low – we just don’t fully know the scope of financial crime in this country” and added: “The challenge for the RCMP is that it has been unable and unwilling to actually investigate and sustain investigations related to financial crimes.” She said: “There is a lack of funding, a lack of skills, lack of resources and a lack of political will.”

The ban lands as Canada moves against an installed payment network that officials link to fraud and laundering, while the new FCA would give the government a more direct enforcement tool. The latest step is parliamentary: the bill has already had its first reading, and the legislation now moves through the rest of the lawmaking process.

Trump, Zhao and the US contrast

The Canadian move also comes after Donald Trump’s government issued a high-profile pardon of Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. Binance had previously been ordered to pay a record $4.3bn penalty for its role in facilitating terrorist financing.