Canadian Peer-to-Peer Trading Explodes Due to Bank Restrictions on Crypto Purchases

Following the trend of international banking institutions in limiting their customers' interaction with cryptocurrency associated accounts, Bank of Montreal, one of Canada's "Big Five," has taken a conservative stance on the new crypto economy.

The bank has now officially restricted users from making purchases with their own money - blocking debit transaction with cryptocurrency platform through Interac Online Payment and Mastercard in a decision made "To better protect the security of our clients and the bank."

Scotiabank has blocked all credit and Visa related purchases of cryptocurrency, while another major service provider, Toronto-Dominion Bank, now prevents customers from purchasing crypto assets using credit cards, as such purchases "Could expose them to substantially higher debt levels than they can repay."

Banks around the world have attempted to make a stand against the emerging crypto industry as financial institutions such as Citigroup, Commonwealth Bank, and Danske Bank continue to limit their customers' ability to acquire crypto assets - in some cases freezing user accounts with no warning or notice.

Canada's economically savvy crypto community has instead turned to local forums and trading posts, with sites such as Localbitcoins seeing a dramatic spike in Canadian traffic this month.

"Designed to leverage the combination of Shorcan Brokers' expertise in providing clients in the Canadian financial industry with liquid, efficient and reliable brokerage services with Paycase's premier cryptocurrency data aggregation platform and established worldwide network of industry leaders and participants".

Last year the firm announced its approval for public trading of Hashchain, a major trustware provider for decentralized financial services, alongside eight other cryptocurrency related startups.

With 50 more blockchain and cryptocurrency companies preparing to list on the TSX this year, the Canadian stock exchange continues to evolve and lead the Canadian fintech industry.

Buying and trading cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk activity.

Finally, CryptoSlate takes no responsibility should you lose money trading cryptocurrencies.