Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency Scam in Canada
Wednesday. August 14 at 4:30 AM
1 min. readThe Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform ezBtc and its founder, David Smillie, were found guilty of defrauding customers by misappropriating around 13 million Canadian dollars ($9.5 million) of their cryptocurrency investments for gambling purposes. The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) discovered that ezBtc used customer funds for personal use, leading to actual financial losses for users. Despite claiming to store all crypto investments in cold storage, ezBtc accumulated over 2,300 Bitcoin (BTC) and 600 Ether (ETH) between 2016 and 2019. Sanctions, including monetary penalties and market participation bans, are expected by Sept. 24. The slow adoption of cryptocurrencies in Canada is attributed to a preference for cash and card payments, with only 3% of the population using Bitcoin for daily transactions. E-transfer remains a popular alternative to traditional payment methods in the country.