canada

Canadian AI model startup Cohere is undergoing a large-scale financing round, with a valuation reaching 20.5 billion USD.Cohere stated that it has completed the first tranche of this financing round, with the total amount expected to reach up to 5 billion USD. The Canadian government and investors such as Nvidia have committed to funding, with the Canadian government agreeing to invest up to 1.14 billion USD.

According to CoinDesk, APX Lending, a lending institution in Toronto, Canada, announced on Wednesday that it plans to launch Bitcoin-backed mortgages in the first quarter of 2027, allowing homebuyers to raise down payments or full home payments without selling their Bitcoin.The company has opened a waiting list and claims it will become Canada's first regulated Bitcoin mortgage provider, but has not yet disclosed mortgage rates, repayment terms, loan-to-value ratio limits, or the trigger conditions for additional collateral or liquidation.

The criminal case involving Aiden Pleterski, who claims to be the "King of Crypto" in Canada, related to a Ponzi scheme involving digital assets, will be submitted to the jury for deliberation after closing arguments this week. Presiding Judge Shaun Nakatsuru has given the jury final instructions, and the jury is set to begin deliberations on Thursday. Pleterski is accused of defrauding approximately $30 million from fans on social media between 2021 and 2022, and was charged with fraud in 2024, subsequently awaiting trial for over two years.In his closing arguments, Pleterski declared his innocence. He stated, "I am not guilty of these charges, which is why I am not pleading guilty. This would have been proven if I had not been forced to represent myself. That's all I have to say." Due to his choice to represent himself, he is acting on his own behalf in court. If convicted of fraud, he faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.In another criminal case, five men are charged with kidnapping and torturing Pleterski in 2022, some of whom are reportedly victims of his scheme. Defendant Deren Akyeam-Pong has pleaded guilty to nine charges and is awaiting sentencing. Pleterski is one of several figures in the crypto industry facing fraud charges; former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 and is serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.

Honda executives stated that if the U.S. and Canada cannot reach a new trade agreement by the end of this year, the automotive industry will face a disastrous situation. Trump previously threatened that if the two countries fail to reach an agreement, tariffs on Canadian cars and parts will increase from 25% to 50% starting January 1.

The Canadian Ministry of Finance has launched a 60-day public consultation on the stablecoin regulatory draft, which will end on December 23. The draft maintains the prohibition on stablecoin issuers paying interest or returns to holders, including arrangements that encourage customers to hold tokens through third parties, although rewards related to transactions may still be allowed.The draft requires non-bank issuers to back circulating fiat-pegged tokens with reserves held by qualified Canadian financial institutions at a 1:1 ratio. Qualified institutions include banks, credit unions, and trust companies. Holders must be able to redeem stablecoins for conventional currency within three business days, with a redemption fee cap of 1%. Earlier this year, the government passed the Stablecoin Act, stating that the draft is necessary for the law to take effect and will specify the requirements for issuers to register with the Bank of Canada. The stablecoin framework is expected to take effect by the end of 2027.A spokesperson for the Canadian Bankers Association stated to The Logic in June that the association firmly supports the explicit prohibition of direct and indirect returns in the Stablecoin Act, as the banking industry is concerned that stablecoin returns may lead to deposit outflows and reduce available lending funds. Coinbase Canada has received permission from the Ontario Securities Commission this year to offer returns on eligible tokens, but must warn of risks and clarify that funds are not covered by deposit insurance. At the end of last month, Canada's six largest banks announced they are exploring a Canadian dollar tokenization system to expedite fund transfers between traditional financial institutions.

Canadian Prime Minister Carney stated that the trade negotiations between Canada and the United States have recently accelerated slightly, mainly due to a softening of the U.S. position. There are still differences between the two sides regarding the reduction of tariffs on steel, aluminum, automobiles, and medium and heavy trucks.White House economic advisor Hassett said that the two sides are very close to reaching an agreement, but the U.S. side believes that Canada's concessions are insufficient, and the prospects for negotiations remain unclear.

According to a Reuters report, sources say that the United States and Canada are working to reach an agreement to ease U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and automobile imports.

On October 24, the Canadian government published the draft "Stablecoin Regulations" in the Canada Gazette. The draft proposes to require regulated stablecoin issuers to allow eligible holders to redeem at face value, without setting a minimum redemption amount, and to complete the redemption process within three business days of receiving the request, with redemption fees not exceeding 1%.If there is insufficient liquidity in the reserve asset market, issuers may limit the daily redemption amount under specific conditions. The draft also requires issuers to maintain at least a 1:1 ratio of qualified reserve assets and prohibits providing interest or returns linked to holding behavior directly or through third parties to holders. The relevant rules are currently in the public consultation phase and are planned to be implemented in the fall of 2027.

Market news reports that U.S. President Trump is expected to cancel some tariffs on Canada.

Coldcard hardware wallet manufacturer Coinkite and its co-founders Rodolfo Novak and Peter D. Gray are facing a class-action lawsuit in Ontario, Canada. The lawsuit alleges that the standard firmware used by the Coldcard hardware wallet since around March 2021 has fundamental flaws, as it does not utilize a true random number generator but instead relies on a predictable software pseudo-random number generator, which could lead to the mnemonic phrases being reproduced and the Bitcoin held by users being at risk of unauthorized access.The lawsuit seeks class certification and claims that Coinkite violated the Consumer Protection Act and the Sale of Goods Act, while also involving allegations of negligence, breach of contract, and seeks damages.

According to a report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Aiden Pleterski, who claims to be the "King of Crypto," is on trial in the Ontario Superior Court. A senior forensic accountant from the Ontario Securities Commission testified that between 2020 and 2022, investors invested $36.3 million with him, of which he used nearly half for personal expenses. Specific expenditures included approximately $5.6 million on luxury cars, $4.9 million in credit card bills, $870,000 on travel and private jets, $598,000 on security costs, and nearly $3.7 million transferred to his parents. At the same time, he paid investors about $16.1 million as "returns."The accountant pointed out that investor funds were never transferred to the trading platform FXChoice as promised in the contracts, with only about $113,000 flowing to other forex and cryptocurrency platforms. The prosecution alleges that he guaranteed investment returns but did not actually trade, instead using the funds for personal consumption. Pleterski denies the charges of fraud and money laundering, and the case is still ongoing.

According to a report by Cointelegraph, a recent report from Chainalysis indicates that remittances from Canada to India, China, and the Philippines have surged by 141% year-on-year, reaching $2.36 billion, with digital asset payments continuing to expand in these three major remittance corridors.In the 12 months ending June 2026, there were a total of 3.56 million related transactions, with an average amount of $663 per transaction. Chainalysis noted that these three countries accounted for an increase in the proportion of Canada's cross-border stablecoin outflows from 10.9% the previous year to 19.4%.Eric Jardine, research director at Chainalysis, cited additional data provided to Cointelegraph, stating that crypto remittances from Canada to the Philippines alone reached $61.02 million, involving 73,564 transactions, representing year-on-year growth of 28% and 34.7%, respectively.The analysis counted Bitcoin and stablecoins that circulated between personal wallets with amounts exceeding $10,000. Chainalysis listed Canada as the largest peer-to-peer (P2P) crypto economy among the G7 countries and believes that the large overseas-born population and the high costs of traditional remittance services are potential driving factors for its increasing adoption.Morva Rohani, executive director of the Canadian Web3 Council, stated in the report that about 23% of Canada's population is born overseas, the highest proportion among the G7, with frequent use of remittance corridors to India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Pakistan, and China.The report also found that in June, stablecoins accounted for 44% of the Canadian dollar-denominated order book trading volume, up from 30% a year ago.

On October 2, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the establishment of the Prime Minister's National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council in Ottawa, which will provide independent and pragmatic advice on Canada's artificial intelligence transformation. The council will bring together stakeholders from the public and private sectors to provide input on the evolution of the AI for All national strategy, covering areas such as accelerating adoption, nurturing national leading enterprises, building sovereign artificial intelligence infrastructure, enhancing AI safety, protecting democracy, and ensuring that all Canadians benefit.Council members include Ajay Agrawal, Yoshua Bengio, Sanja Fidler, John Graham, Gillian Hadfield, Jordan Jacobs, Eric Lamarre, Valérie Pisano, Senator Thomas Pitfield, Jody Thomas, Louis Vachon, Michelle Zatlyn, and of course, Patrick Pichette as a member. The council is supported by a small team from the Privy Council Office, while policy decisions and implementation remain the responsibility of the relevant ministers and departments.Carney stated that the prosperity and sovereignty of the artificial intelligence era belong to countries that can build, adopt, and govern artificial intelligence according to their own conditions, and the council will provide recommendations on how to manage risks, seize opportunities, and improve the lives of all Canadians.

Canadian "Crypto King" Aiden Pleterski will appear in court on his own due to not being granted an extension. He faces charges of fraud and money laundering for allegedly defrauding investors of approximately 40 million dollars and squandering the funds.

The criminal trial of Aiden Pleterski, who calls himself the "King of Crypto," regarding allegations of cryptocurrency fraud will begin on October 5 in the Ontario Superior Court of Canada. He is accused of raising funds from investors between 2021 and 2022 by making false promises of "smart investments yielding high weekly profits," with the fraud amounting to approximately $30 million. Canadian authorities have filed charges of fraud and money laundering against him in May 2024.According to CBC News, Pleterski failed to obtain a postponement to hire a lawyer and is expected to represent himself in court. The trial is expected to last about four weeks, and if convicted on the fraud charge alone, he could face up to 14 years in prison.In December 2022, several men (some of whom are reportedly victims of the scam) allegedly kidnapped and tortured Pleterski for three days, threatening his and his family's safety, and forcing him to record a video detailing his role in the alleged fraud. Pleterski is one of many high-profile figures in the cryptocurrency industry facing criminal charges during the market downturn in 2022, with executives from the now-bankrupt FTX and Celsius also facing charges in the United States thereafter.

According to Catcher Predict monitoring, in the Polymarket event "Atlanta Dream vs. New York Liberty," the "Yes" option for the sub-market "Jordin Canada: Points O/U 9.5" has experienced a dramatic fluctuation in winning probability, soaring from 40.5% an hour ago to the current 55.5% (a fluctuation of 15%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

The six major banks in Canada announced a joint exploration of a tokenized Canadian dollar deposit system, aimed at accelerating the transfer of funds between financial institutions and ultimately connecting with other digital asset programs. TD Bank announced on Tuesday that the Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, and Toronto-Dominion Bank Group have jointly formed this joint venture project, with the possibility of more banks joining in the future.The first phase of the project will focus on promoting the transfer of tokenized deposits among participating banks. The parties stated in a joint statement that the first phase aims to enable efficient circulation of tokenized deposits among Canadian financial institutions, with the long-term goal of connecting with other emerging digital asset programs. Tokenized deposits are digital representations of funds and assets already held by banks, differing from independent stablecoins issued by crypto companies; this system allows for 24/7 programmable payments within a regulated banking system.Canada's move comes as global banks compete to put deposits on the blockchain. In the United States, regional banks are building a shared tokenized deposit network, while JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo have also launched their own institutional products. Recently, Swift has begun testing cross-border payments for tokenized deposits. Additionally, the Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, and Toronto-Dominion Bank completed the Project Samara test in March this year, issuing, trading, and settling CAD 100 million (approximately USD 71 million) bonds on a distributed ledger; in May, Shopify and National Bank of Canada also supported the launch of a regulated digital Canadian dollar.

According to data from Statistics Canada, Canadian investors net sold $31 billion CAD worth of U.S. stocks in July, setting a record for the highest monthly amount, primarily focused on stocks of large U.S. technology companies. At the same time, Canadian resident investors net sold $5.1 billion CAD worth of U.S. government bonds, marking the sixth consecutive month of reduction, bringing the total amount sold this year to $37.3 billion CAD.