Cryptoasset exchange Coinsquare Ltd. said it scored a “partial victory” in negotiations with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) over the disclosure of its clients’ account history and trading data.
The Toronto-based firm announced that it reached a deal with the CRA that requires it to turn over data on only its largest customers.
The agreement follows the CRA’s filing of a federal court application seeking an order to compel disclosure from the firm on all accounts and trading activity, ostensibly to ensure compliance with tax laws.
On March 19, a federal court judge issued an order requiring the company to provide the CRA with disclosure for a subset of its clients — including clients with accounts worth $20,000 or more at year-end between 2014 and 2020, and the 16,500 largest traders in terms of volume in those years.
“Instead of providing the CRA with all client data dating back to 2013 as was initially requested, Coinsquare and the CRA have agreed that information relating to 90-95% of our clients will not be disclosed,” the company said in a statement.
“Coinsquare negotiated to protect our client’s privacy, and limit any disclosure to only what was absolutely required by the CRA under Canadian tax law,” it said.
“We believe this agreement is a partial but significant victory for Coinsquare and the digital asset industry in Canada,” the firm said. “We hope that our victory will set a precedent for other companies in the cryptocurrency industry to defend their clients’ privacy and to limit any disclosure to only what is absolutely required under Canada’s tax law.”