Submitted by nsscadmin on
You may have been hearing a lot about Stablecoins, also known as Value-Referenced Crypto Assets (VRCAs), lately. Countries across the globe have been drafting legislation focusing on stablecoins, including here in Canada where they were included in the fall federal budget.
As rules, regulations, and legislation around VRCAs slowly take shape, what are the current securities laws that apply to them?
Before we delve into the current laws, let’s define what a VRCA is under those laws. According to CSA Staff Notice 21-333, “A VRCA is a crypto asset that is designed to maintain a stable value over time by referencing the value of a fiat currency or any other value or right, or combination thereof.” In layman’s terms that means a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value by pegging its price to a stable asset, most commonly a “fiat currency” like the Canadian dollar.
According to 21-333 VRCAs may constitute securities and/or derivatives in Canada. When a VRCA is determined to be a security, securities regulators have required the issuer of the VRCA, and platforms that trade the VRCA (crypto asset trading platforms, or “CTPs”), to meet certain investor protection requirements. These can be found in Appendix A of 21-333.
The most important of these requirements are the following:
- The VRCA references, on a one-for-one basis, the value of the Canadian dollar or United States dollar.
- A holder of the VRCA can redeem the VRCA for the reference currency within a reasonable period.
- The issuer of the VRCA maintains a reserve of assets that is in the reference currency and composed of cash or liquid and secure investments.
- The issuer of the VRCA makes financial and other information publicly available.
For the full list of terms of conditions that a registered CTP must follow, please see Appendix A of 21-333.
The Nova Scotia Securities Commission does not provide investment advice. We are not advising or recommending investors to trade in VRCAs. This post is simply to educate investors on VRCAs so they can be informed when making investment decisions. The information in this post is accurate as of posting on February 25, 2026. As the laws around VRCA can change rapidly, this may not be the case in the future. This post will be updated as needed, but we cannot guarantee those updates will occur as quickly as changes to VRCA rules do.