The Ontario Securities Commission of Canada Sues Poloniex

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The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the financial regulator of Canada, has filed a lawsuit against cryptocurrency trading platform Poloniex for allegedly violating the countries regulations.

According to a notice published by the regulator, Poloniex failed to comply with the securities law, in addition to other violations. As a result, Poloniex will have to attend a hearing on June 18.

The Ontario Securities Commission claims it contacted Poloniex in April 19 in order to discuss with the platform how it could comply with national securities laws. However, the exchange ignored the regulator’s request, which is the reason why the OSC decided to file a lawsuit against Poloniex.

The regulator claims the trading platform holds trading accounts for Ontario residents and offers its services to Canadians. The OSC said:

“While Poloniex purports to facilitate the trading of the crypto assets in its investors’ accounts, in practice, Poloniex only provides its investors with instruments or contracts involving crypto assets. These instruments or contracts constitute securities and derivatives.”

This is why the OSC believes Poloniex’s actions fall within its jurisdiction. While more than 70 crypto exchanges contacted the regulator to comply with the regulations in force, Poloniex was not one of them.