Canada is reportedly accelerating efforts to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins, with the goal of including it in the federal budget scheduled to be tabled on November 4. Officials from the Department of Finance Canada and other agencies have held intensive discussions with industry stakeholders and regulators in recent weeks to finalize the proposal, Bloomberg said in a report.
The regulatory talks have reportedly centered on two main concerns. First is resolving the classification bottleneck for stablecoins, which have inconsistently been treated as either securities or derivatives under existing Canadian law. Second is addressing the risk of Canadian capital flowing to US dollar-backed tokens due to a lack of domestic options and clear regulation. Industry leaders have previously warned that continued regulatory delay could weaken the Bank of Canada’s control over the money supply.
Canada’s urgency mirrors a global move to regulate the sector. Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) has already implemented rules for stablecoin issuers, while countries across Asia, including Japan and Hong Kong, are also advancing their policies. Globally, the total stablecoin supply recently neared $300 billion. Analysts predict significant future expansion, with some estimates suggesting that as much as $1 trillion could exit emerging market bank deposits for US stablecoins by 2028.
