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Canadian Regulator Sets Tighter Crypto Custody Standards to Curb Losses

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Canadian Regulator Sets Tighter Crypto Custody Standards to Curb Losses

Canada’s top investment industry watchdog has rolled out a new set of rules aimed at tightening how crypto assets are held and safeguarded, as regulators move to limit losses linked to hacks, fraud, and weak governance.

Key Takeaways:

  • Canada introduced new interim crypto custody rules to curb losses from hacks and fraud.
  • Custodians now face tiered limits based on capital strength, oversight, and resilience.
  • The framework adds stricter governance, insurance, and audit requirements while supporting innovation.

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) on Tuesday published its Digital Asset Custody Framework, outlining detailed expectations for dealer members that operate crypto asset trading platforms.

The framework is designed as an interim measure and will be enforced through membership terms and conditions, allowing CIRO to react more quickly to emerging risks while longer-term rules are developed.

Canada Introduces Tiered Custody Rules

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CIRO said the framework directly addresses the “technological, operational, and legal risks unique to digital assets,” drawing on lessons from past failures, including the collapse of QuadrigaCX in 2019, which left thousands of customers unable to recover funds.

At the core of the new regime is a tiered, risk-based structure for crypto custodians. Under the model, custodians are placed into one of four tiers based on factors such as capital strength, regulatory oversight, insurance coverage, and operational resilience.

Top-tier custodians may hold up to 100% of client crypto assets, while lower-tier providers face progressively tighter limits, with Tier 4 custodians capped at 40%.

Dealer members that choose to custody assets internally are limited to holding no more than 20% of the total value of client crypto.

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The framework also imposes a broad set of operational requirements. These include formal governance policies covering private key management, cybersecurity controls, incident response procedures, and third-party risk management.

Custodians must carry insurance, undergo independent audits, provide security compliance reports, and conduct regular penetration testing.

Custody agreements are required to spell out liability in cases where losses stem from negligence or preventable failures.

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CIRO said the approach is intended to be proportionate, balancing stronger investor protection with room for innovation and competition.

The rules were developed in consultation with crypto trading platforms, custodians, and other industry participants, and were benchmarked against international practices.

Canada Steps Up Crypto Enforcement After Major FINTRAC Fines

The move comes amid heightened scrutiny of crypto compliance in Canada. In October, the country’s financial intelligence agency, FINTRAC, fined local exchange Cryptomus roughly $126 million for failing to report suspicious transactions tied to darknet markets and fraud.

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Earlier in the year, FINTRAC also imposed penalties on offshore platforms KuCoin and Binance for similar breaches.

As a self-regulatory body, CIRO has the authority to investigate misconduct among its members and impose sanctions, including fines and suspensions.

As reported, Canada is preparing to roll out its first comprehensive framework for fiat-backed stablecoins under the 2025 federal budget, closely mirroring the regulatory path taken by the United States earlier this year.

The Bank of Canada is expected to spend $10 million over two years, starting in fiscal year 2026–2027, to oversee the rollout.

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The move comes just months after the US passed its GENIUS Act in July, a landmark stablecoin bill that heightened global regulatory momentum.

The post Canadian Regulator Sets Tighter Crypto Custody Standards to Curb Losses appeared first on Cryptonews.

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Crypto World

XRP Spot ETF Hits 11-Week Inflow Record

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XRP Spot ETF Hits 11-Week Inflow Record

XRP spot ETFs recorded $17.11 million in net inflows on April 15, their largest single-day intake in nearly 11 weeks, as four consecutive days of positive flows pushed combined assets under management above $1.25 billion.

Summary

  • XRP spot ETFs drew $17.11 million on April 15, the strongest single-day inflow since February 3, 2026, bringing a four-day total to $38.86 million.
  • Combined US-listed XRP ETF assets under management crossed $1.25 billion as the token rallied 6% to $1.42 on Thursday, reclaiming fourth place by market cap.
  • Analysts say the CLARITY Act roundtable and Ripple’s new tokenized bond pilot with Kyobo Life are adding regulatory and utility tailwinds behind the inflow surge.

XRP (XRP) spot ETFs logged their largest single-day inflow in nearly 11 weeks on April 15, with $17.11 million flowing into US-listed products, per SoSoValue data. The figure marks the strongest daily intake since February 3, 2026, and extends an inflow streak to four consecutive sessions for the first time since March.

Over those four days, US-listed XRP ETFs drew a combined $38.86 million, pushing total net assets to over $1.25 billion. XRP itself rose 6% to $1.42 on Thursday, outperforming every other token in the top 10 by market cap.

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The timing aligns with a broader improvement in crypto market sentiment driven by US-Iran ceasefire diplomacy and easing macro risk. XRP specifically has been benefiting from additional catalysts beyond the macro backdrop.

The SEC’s CLARITY Act roundtable, which kicked off in Washington today, is being closely watched by the XRP community as it could clarify the regulatory treatment of digital assets used in payments, an area where XRP has direct exposure. The prospect of legislative progress has brought institutional buyers back to the ETF market.

Ripple’s announcement on April 14 of a tokenized government bond pilot with South Korea’s Kyobo Life Insurance also reinforced XRP’s real-world settlement utility, adding a fundamental narrative alongside the technical inflow momentum. XRP ETFs posted a record $119.6 million across global products the week ending April 11, driven largely by European buyers, before Wednesday’s US-led single-day surge reset the domestic record.

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What Analysts Are Watching

XRP remains roughly 23% below its January 2026 high despite Thursday’s rally. Analysts say the $1.60 level, which aligned with XRP’s March 17 high, is the first meaningful resistance test. A sustained hold above $1.40 is needed to avoid a false breakout reading on the chart.

The four-day inflow streak is constructive because XRP’s exchange supply has dropped to multi-year lows, meaning ETF accumulation is absorbing tokens from an already thin exchange order book. When ETF demand meets low exchange supply, price elasticity tends to increase on the upside.

XRP price has rallied 6% to $1.42 with its market cap moving back above $87 billion, with further upside contingent on clarity from today’s SEC roundtable and continued ceasefire progress reducing the macro headwinds that have kept risk assets pressured since February.

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Bitcoin’s Quantum Migration May Reveal Number of Satoshi Coins: Adam Back

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Bitcoin's Quantum Migration May Reveal Number of Satoshi Coins: Adam Back

Blockstream CEO Adam Back said Thursday that a future post-quantum migration of Bitcoin could help clarify how many coins linked to Satoshi Nakamoto remain accessible, because any owner wanting to protect vulnerable holdings would need to move them to a new address format.

Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week, Back said such a migration would likely give users ample time to move funds and argued that coins left unmoved after that process could reasonably be treated as lost.

“This migration to post-quantum address format may tell us how many of those coins [Satoshi] still has,” said Back, adding that the pseudonymous creator has an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Bitcoin (BTC).

Satoshi’s Bitcoin stash has ignited heated debate among Bitcoin holders concerned by the quantum computing threat. On Wednesday, Jameson Lopp and five co-authors published a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal aimed at restricting the future movement of coins held in quantum-vulnerable address formats, including older coins whose public keys have already been exposed.

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Adam Back, keynote speech at Paris Blockchain Week in 2026. Source: Cointelegraph

Blockchain data platform Arkham estimates that Nakamoto-linked wallets hold 1.09 million Bitcoin, currently valued at $81.6 billion.

Related: Bernstein says Bitcoin market already priced in quantum risk

Back sees long runway on quantum

Back said Bitcoin developers and holders still have substantial time to prepare, arguing that a quantum breakthrough capable of threatening Bitcoin signatures is at least 20 years away.

He argued that today’s quantum computers are “less powerful than a $5 calculator” and that some of their issues become more pressing as these systems scale, such as their energy consumption.

Back said that runway should give developers and users ample time to develop a post-quantum path and migrate to a new quantum-resistant standard underpinned by hash-based signatures.

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Hash-based signature schemes for Bitcoin, research paper. Source: Blockstream Research

In December 2025, Back’s Blockstream Research released a paper proposing a hash-based signature scheme that offers a “promising path for securing Bitcoin in a post-quantum world,” as a quantum-safe replacement for the ECDSA and Schnorr signatures. Under the proposal, security would rely solely on hash function assumptions, similar to the ones currently used in Bitcoin’s network design.

The Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) uses elliptic-curve cryptography to verify the authenticity and integrity of a message. Schnorr signatures are another signature scheme praised for enhancing privacy and reducing data size, due to their ability to combine multiple signatures into one.

Magazine: Bitcoin vs. the quantum computer threat — Timeline and solutions (2025–2035)