Blockchain firms in Canada want to know gov’t stance on crypto space

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Canadian blockchain firms want to know the government’s position on the cryptocurrency and blockchain space. In a report by the Chamber of Digital Commerce, it’s revealed that the blockchain space in the country is thriving as more firms explore the technology. However, one of the biggest impediments to the development of the technology is the ambiguity with which the government has approached it.

The comprehensive report revealed a thriving blockchain ecosystem in the North American country, led by the private sector. A majority of the small and medium-sized companies had experimented with blockchain technology in the past five years. These businesses, which employ 90% of the Canadian population, believe in the potential of blockchain, with 56% planning to invest over 10% of the budgets into blockchain projects.

The rapid growth of the industry has led to a shortage in skilled labor, with 60% of the companies being forced to hire from outside the country. Nevertheless, the research found that Canadians who worked in the blockchain industry earned an average salary of $98,423, almost twice the national average. Business development, product development and blockchain technical engineering were the most popular fields.

But despite the progress, the blockchain industry in the country believes that more can be done. One of the biggest hurdles is lack of regulatory clarity, an issue entrepreneurs want the government to clear up. The entrepreneurs pointed to “the lack of harmonized legislative definitions and a consistent national taxonomy for categorizing and understanding digital assets, designed to distinguish securities from commodities tokens, non-fungible tokens, and stablecoins as some of the challenges.”

The report also reveals that industry stakeholders believe that the government’s actions have focused on bettering the industry for cryptocurrency tokens and not blockchain innovation in general.

Tanya Woods, the managing director for the Chamber of Digital Commerce commented, “There is an opportunity, and arguably a national mandate, to manage important risk factors beyond the mandates of securities regulators. In provinces, we need to see various departments of finance and innovation take pro-growth positions to support the non-securities aspects of digital assets and blockchain technology.”

Canada, which was home to the infamous QuadrigaCX exchange, has been beefing up its regulations to prevent another such disaster. Earlier this year, the Canadian Securities Administrators launched a move to tailor the current regulatory regime to cater to cryptos.