Canada: Opened consultation on strengthening Canada's Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime including virtual currency, digital assets, blockchain and new financial technologies regulation

On 6 June 2023, the Government of Canada opened a consultation on strengthening Canada's Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime until 1 August 2023. Among other topics, the consultation addresses money laundering and terrorist financing risks posed by new financial technologies dealing in cryptocurrencies, including technologies such as crypto-mixers and crypto-tumblers, decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the metaverse, financial technology (Fintech), privacy-enhancing coins, and tokenized assets. In addition, the consultation proposes amending the Criminal Code in relation to challenges posed by digital assets and the amendment of the Canada Evidence Act for the admissibility of blockchain data as evidence.