A Bank of Canada staff paper found Aave V3 avoided bad debt in 2024, but said the model pushed losses onto borrowers during liquidations. A Bank of Canada staff paper found that Aave V3 reported zero non-performing loans in 2024, with overcollateralization and automated liquidations helping prevent lender losses in its Ethereum lending market. Using transaction-level data from Jan. 27, 2023, to May 6, 2025, the study found that positions were typically liquidated before collateral values fell below outstanding debt, helping contain lender losses across the sample. But the model came with a tradeoff, the paper said. While it protected lenders from unrecovered losses, it also shifted risk onto borrowers and constrained capital efficiency compared with traditional lending systems. Read more
A new bill in Canada would ban crypto donations to political parties, a move which election overseers have supported in past recommendations to Parliament. A new bill in Canada, if passed, would ban political parties and other third parties in elections from accepting cryptocurrency donations in a bid to prevent election interference. The Strong and Free Elections Act would also ban contributions made by money orders and prepaid cards, citing these methods as difficult to track. The bill notes the potential for foreign actors to influence elections through difficult-to-trace digital payment methods, ensuring Canadian elections “remain free, fair and secure at all times,” according to Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon. Read more
A similar bill was proposed in 2024 but it failed to advance past the second reading in the House of Commons and ultimately died before it could become law. Canada’s federal government has proposed a total ban on cryptocurrency donations to political parties, citing concerns that foreign entities could exploit the technology to interfere in elections. Known as the Strong and Free Elections Act, the bill was introduced on Thursday and proposes to amend the Canada Elections Act to prohibit political parties and third parties involved in the election process from accepting donations in crypto, money orders and prepaid cards to prevent anonymous and “hard to trace contributions.” The bill's sponsor, Steven MacKinnon, the government House leader, said in an X statement on Thursday that the measures are intended to block foreign interference and other threats to elections. Read more
The crypto industry has seen a number of regulatory changes over the past year, with the Canadian government taking a risk-management, rules-first approach. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology have increasingly become part of Canada’s core financial system over the past year. In November, the country introduced stablecoin regulations as part of the Canada Stablecoin Act. Introduced as part of the budget, it gives the Bank of Canada the power to regulate stablecoins in the country. Elsewhere, policymakers are finalizing amendments to laws for crypto asset funds, including those for cold wallets and custodians. Read more
Dubbed “Operation Atlantic,“ the effort involves law enforcement agencies from the three countries and is aimed at preventing phishing attacks involving cryptocurrencies. The US Secret Service, UK National Crime Agency, and Canadian authorities have partnered to disrupt fraudulent schemes related to crypto, raise awareness of scams, and recover stolen funds. In a Monday notice, law enforcement agencies from the three countries — including Canada’s Ontario Provincial Police and the Ontario Securities Commission — said that they had launched “Operation Atlantic,” focusing on identifying people at risk of losing or those who had already lost crypto through “approval phishing” schemes. “Approval phishing and investment scams cost victims millions in financial loss each year,” said Brent Daniels, deputy assistant director for the US Secret Service’s Office of Field Operations. The agencies said they hope to identify and disrupt these scams in near real-time. Read more
A pilot involving the central bank and major financial institutions tested whether distributed ledger infrastructure could streamline bond issuance, trading and settlement. Canada has completed a pilot program testing the use of distributed ledger technology in bond markets, culminating in the issuance of the country’s first tokenized bond, according to a Friday announcement from the Bank of Canada. The experiment, known as Project Samara, involved the Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada, Royal Bank of Canada and TD Bank Group, and explored if blockchain-style infrastructure could streamline bond issuance, trading and settlement. As part of the pilot, Export Development Canada issued a $100 million Canadian dollar ($73.6 million) bond with a maturity of less than three months to a closed group of investors. The security was issued, traded and settled on a distributed ledger platform, with payments processed using wholesale central bank deposits rather than commercial bank money. Read more