Canada Tax Collector Seeks to Force Crypto Exchange Coinsquare to Fork Over Client Records

The Canadian Revenue Agency is asking a judge to force cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare to hand over seven years of client data in a legal action that could help it audit Canadians for unreported crypto gains.

• CRA wants to check whether Coinsquare's users "complied" with their tax reporting obligations, according to the National Post.
• Canada's tax collectors appear to be testing a tactic their U.S. peers at the Internal Revenue Service deployed against Coinbase: pursue crypto customer records (with the help of the courts).
• However, CRA's demands for data on all customers dating back to 2013 is far larger than the IRS' comparatively limited request for documents on high-spending clients, a play that ultimately netted some 13,000 records.
• Coinsquare CEO Stacey Hoisak told the National Post her exchange is still deciding how to react in response to the CRA's September demand.
• It was not immediately clear if CRA's inquiry is related to the Ontario Securities Commission's July crackdown on Coinsquare's reported fake trading volume.
• Coinsquare's top brass resigned and paid hefty fines in a settlement where they admitted to orchestrating a wash trading operation.