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Canadian personal wealth management firm WealthRocket published the results of a survey of 1,500 Canadian adults on their attitudes towards retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). More than half said they would be willing, to varying degrees, to use a CBDC. Of that total, 43% are somewhat willing, 11% are very willing, and 5% are extremely willing. A quarter of respondents, on the other hand, say they're not at all willing to use a central bank digital currency in Canada. And 16% say they don't understand enough to make a decision right now, suggesting a gap in public awareness.

The Bank of Canada published a study of the dynamics of Bitcoin awareness and ownership from 2016 to 2021. In 2021, Canadians' awareness of Bitcoin remained stable at about 90%, while ownership increased to 13% from the 5% observed in 2018-2020. Canadian Bitcoin owners in 2021 were more likely to be male, aged 18 to 34 years old, with a university degree or high income. They largely see Bitcoin as an investment. The increase in Bitcoin ownership was driven by widespread increases in savings and wealth by Canadian households during the pandemic, coupled with Fintech firms providing accessible and user-friendly platforms for buying Bitcoin.

The launch of Canada's Real-Time Rail (RTR) payments system has been pushed back from the middle of next year to an as yet undetermined date. Payments Canada says an extension will "provide additional time to validate and test the components and end-to-end integration". RTR will allow Canadians to initiate payments and receive irrevocable funds in seconds, 24/7/365. The system will tap the ISO 20022 messaging standard to support payment information traveling with every payment.

According to Payments Canada, while the value of cash used in purchases has declined 41% from 2017-2022, only 13% of Canadians report having gone completely cashless. Of the 87% that still use cash, 31% use cash for day-to-day purchases, and 37% hold on to it for emergencies. While cash is used less often for point-of-sale purchases, the prospect of cashless stores is a concern for 52% of Canadians. And they are divided on the prospects of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), 36% finding it appealing and 30% not. One in four say they would not use a digital Canadian dollar, with 63% who would still use cash if a digital Canadian dollar was introduced.

The Government of Canada's Fall Economic Statement includes a promise to implement an open banking banking framework in 2024. The statement also indicated that the government intends to amend the Canadian Payments Act to expand membership eligibility for Payments Canada to firms other than big banks. The framework legislation, to be introduced in Budget 2024, will prescribe a phased-in approach to scope and oversight of the technical standard, with the goal of adopting legislation and fully implementing the necessary governance framework by 2025.

The Bank of Canada and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will collaborate on a twelve-month research CBDC project. The Bank will work with the MIT Media Lab's Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) team to explore how advanced technologies could affect the potential design of a CBDC. The DCI is also working with the Boston Fed on its Project Hamilton CBDC project.

"The U.S., European allies and Canada agreed Saturday to remove key Russian banks from the interbank messaging system, SWIFT, an extraordinary step that will sever the country from much of the global financial system."

The Bank of Canada published the results from the 2021 Methods-of-Payment (MOP) Survey. It finds that while fewer Canadians are holding cash, those who do have cash tended to hold higher amounts over time. This is associated with fewer trips to obtain cash, but larger amounts withdrawn for a given trip, on average. Views about the features of cash have changed somewhat in recent years, though cash is still viewed quite positively in terms of acceptance, cost, ease of use and security. Most Canadians have no plans to stop using cash in the future.

The Canadian government Amended its Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act. Canadian and foreign crypto platforms must now implement a full AML/CFT compliance program and register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada.

"We find that Canada and Sweden show a similar long-term downward trend in small-denomination bank notes relative to GDP, reflecting declining cash use for transactions in both countries. These outcomes have been driven by the adoption of similar retail payment innovations in the two countries. "

Major Canadian investment fund manager 3iQ and blockchain firm Mavennet co-launched a new regulated stablecoin pegged to the Canadian dollar (CAD). Developed by Canada Stablecorp, a joint venture between 3iQ and Mavennet, QCAD is the latest CAD-based stablecoin and was officially launched on Feb. 11.

Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the QCAD stablecoin is the work of Canada Stablecorp, a joint venture between Canada's largest cryptoasset manager 3iQ and blockchain player Mavennet Systems.

The Canadian government has released the Retail Payment Activities Act (RPAA) under which all payment service providers (PSPs) will have to register and be supervised by the Bank of Canada. Currently, nonbank PSPs like PayPal and Western Union are unregulated, but that will no longer be the case. The RPAA seeks to implement the previously announced federal retail payments oversight framework, first outlined in a 2017 consultation paper.

Payments Canada has published Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC): Retail Considerations, the latest in a series of educational papers on CBDC. This paper explores the design considerations for implementation of a retail CBDC in the Canadian payments environment. A retail CBDC is aimed to take on traditional attributes of physical cash and would be used by consumers and businesses (relative to wholesale CBDC, which would be used by financial institutions).

U.S. and Canadian merchants generally do not differentiate prices based on payment methods. They pass through their total costs of accepting payment methods evenly to all customers through higher retail prices. However, credit cards are more expensive for merchants to accept than debit cards or cash. These pecuniary costs include merchants' costs of accepting payments that are passed on to customers, fees paid by consumers to financial institutions, and consumer rewards received for credit or debit card use. Using data from the two countries, this Bank of Canada paper finds that lower-income consumers incur a disproportionally greater net pecuniary cost than higher-income consumers. Card rewards and consumer fees paid to financial institutions may also benefit higher-income individuals more than those with lower incomes.

This Bank of Canada staff discussion paper discusses the competition and innovation arguments for issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). A CBDC could be an effective competition policy tool for payments. A CBDC could also support the vibrancy of the digital economy. It could help solve market failures and foster competition and innovation in new digital payments markets.

This Bank of Canada staff discussion paper discusses the competition and innovation arguments for issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). A CBDC could be an effective competition policy tool for payments. On innovation, it argues that a CBDC could be necessary to support the vibrancy of the digital economy by helping solve market failures and fostering competition and innovation in new digital payments markets. Overall, the paper finds that competition and innovation are valid supporting arguments for issuing a CBDC.

The Bank of Canada published some survey-based insights into how COVID-19 has affected the demand for, and the usage of, cash. Cash in circulation increased from $83 billion before the pandemic to more than $100 billion by the end of 2020, mostly due to large-denomination bank notes ($50 and $100). Actual cash usage was more prevalent among older, less-educated and low-income individuals.

Jennifer Robertson, the widow of QuadrigaCX founder Gerald Cotten, is transferring nearly C$12 million in assets to EY Canada, the bankruptcy trustee for the now-defunct crypto exchange.

Four Stikeman Elliott lawyers recently co-authored the Canadian chapter of The Virtual Currency Regulation Review (2nd ed.), published by Law Business Research Ltd. The chapter provides an excellent overview of this rapidly developing area of law.