Canada Follows U.S. in Regulating Stablecoins, Budget Earmarks $10M for Oversight

• Canada to establish new stablecoin laws, mirroring the U.S. GENIUS Act passed in July.
• Stablecoins are gaining worldwide attention for their ease of use in payment transactions.

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Canada is on track to introduce new regulations for stablecoins. The Canadian government has unveiled plans to create new federal laws to regulate fiat-backed stablecoins under its 2025 budget.

Canada Moves Forward with Stablecoin Regulations

As disclosed in the government’s 2025 budget released on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, stablecoin issuers will need to meet certain criteria under the proposed legislation.

These requirements include holding sufficient reserves and establishing redemption policies. In addition, they must implement risk management frameworks to protect personal and financial data.

Beginning in the 2026-2027 fiscal year, the Bank of Canada would allocate $10 million over two years to ensure smooth sailing. Subsequently, stablecoin issuers would pay an estimated $5 million in annual costs, regulated under the Retail Payment Activities Act.

Essentially, the government aims for faster, cheaper, safer digital transactions for 41.7 million Canadians. This is also part of modernizing the entire payment system.

For now, Canada does not have a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Canada canceled its digital loonie plans in September 2024. At the time, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said, “No strong case yet.”

However, Canada shifted focus from digital currency development to modernizing its domestic payment systems. As we discussed earlier, the National Bank of Canada took an unexpected move by adopting a bearish stance toward Bitcoin. 

Notably, they filed documents with the SEC in the United States to exercise a put option on BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF holdings at more than $1.3 million.

Despite this move, Canada does not want to fall behind in regulatory pressure and global competition. The move to establish a stablecoin law follows the U.S. passing the GENIUS Act in July 2025.

Stablecoin Market Expansion

Crucially, the introduction of regulatory frameworks for stablecoins in both the U.S. and Canadian markets comes amid the sector’s expansion.

The stablecoin market currently sits at $309.1 billion, and the US Treasury estimated in April a surge towards $2 trillion by 2028.

In a recent update, we covered that Tether (USDT) and USDC stablecoins dominated the local Latin American market. For instance, in Argentina, stablecoins constituted 72% of all cryptocurrency purchases in 2024, vastly exceeding Bitcoin, which accounted for only 8%.

Furthermore, DeCard recently partnered with Polygon Labs to enable stablecoin payments across over 150 million merchants worldwide. Users can convert popular cryptocurrencies like USDT and USDC into traditional fiat currency that can be spent anywhere cards are accepted.

In Canada, Payments platform Tetra Digital is one of the top players in the stablecoin space. The platform has raised $10 million to create a digital version of the Canadian dollar. This follows investments from Shopify, Wealthsimple, and the National Bank of Canada.

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