Canada Publishes Draft Stablecoin Regulations: What the October 24 Text Means for Crypto Casino Players
The Draft Rules Behind the Stablecoin Act
The Stablecoin Act received royal assent in March 2026, but a statute of this kind does little until its regulations exist. On October 24, 2026 the Department of Finance published the proposed Stablecoin Regulations in the Canada Gazette, Part I, together with amendments to the Retail Payment Activities Regulations. The notice gives the public 60 days from publication to comment, which runs to December 23, 2026, and states that the package is intended to come into force alongside the Act in fall 2027, on a date fixed by order of the Governor in Council.
The Bank of Canada is named as the supervisor. Its role, as the Bank describes it, is to register stablecoin issuers, supervise compliance, monitor risks around issuance and redemption, and take enforcement action. Issuers would have to register before issuing, and the Minister of Finance could review an applicant on national security grounds. An issuer already active on the day the Act takes effect would have 30 days to apply for registration or would have to stop issuing.
None of this is in force yet. A draft can change after consultation, and the dates below are the government's stated intentions, not deadlines that bind anyone today.
Redemption, Reserves and the Ban on Yield
The core of the draft is a set of obligations that make a registered stablecoin behave like a claim on cash. Each coin would be redeemable one-to-one in its reference currency within three business days of a request, with no minimum redemption amount and a redemption fee capped at 1% of the amount redeemed. Any fee increase would need at least seven days' notice on the issuer's website.
Reserves would have to equal or exceed the coins outstanding at the end of every day, and only a short list of assets would count: demand deposits including cash, government debt with three months or less to maturity, one-business-day reverse repos backed by that debt, and money market funds holding only those assets. The reserves would sit with a qualified custodian formed under a Canadian federal or provincial Act, which the notice says excludes foreign-incorporated institutions.
| Requirement | Draft rule (October 24, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Redemption | 1:1 in the reference currency, within 3 business days, no minimum amount |
| Redemption fee | Capped at 1% of the amount redeemed; 7 days' notice before any increase |
| Reserve assets | Demand deposits, government debt of 3 months or less, overnight reverse repos, qualifying money market funds |
| Custodian | Formed under a Canadian federal or provincial Act |
| Yield | No interest or yield for holding the coin, directly or indirectly; rewards tied to use allowed |
| Reporting | Monthly report to the Bank of Canada with an accountant's opinion on reserves |
| Complaints | Acknowledged within 7 days, resolved within 30 days |
Source: Canada Gazette, Part I, Vol. 160, No. 43, proposed Stablecoin Regulations and Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement, October 24, 2026.
The yield ban is the line most likely to reach ordinary holders. Issuers could not pay interest for simply holding a coin, and the draft also blocks doing it indirectly. Rewards linked to using a stablecoin remain allowed.
Who Is Covered: Foreign Coins, Platforms and Five Issuers
The impact statement is explicit that the regime is not limited to Canadian companies. The Act covers domestic and foreign issuers that are not already prudentially regulated, and the definition of issuing a coin captures stablecoins made available to people in Canada regardless of who ends up buying them. USDC, issued by Circle, is named as a current market participant; USDT is not mentioned in the text.
Today, stablecoins reach Canadians mainly through crypto trading platforms registered with provincial securities regulators, under the Canadian Securities Administrators' rules set out in CSA Staff Notice 21-333. The draft keeps a door open for that system: the Governor of the Bank of Canada could exempt an issuer already subject to a substantially similar provincial framework. Crypto platforms offering custodial wallets are among the payment service providers expected to come under the Retail Payment Activities Act.
The government's own cost figures show how small the regulated field is expected to be. The analysis assumes five issuers and about 30 additional payment service providers, with total annual compliance costs of $240,648: about $17,704 per issuer and $5,071 per provider. The Bank of Canada's supervision costs, estimated at $2.5 million a year, are to be recovered from registered issuers.
Stablecoins in the Cashiers We Track
Casino cashiers are not regulated by this package; an offshore casino accepting a coin is not issuing it. What the rules could change is the route Canadians use to obtain stablecoins before a deposit. To see how much rides on that route, we checked the coin lists in our tracked database of 68 active crypto casinos.
| Stablecoin acceptance | Casinos |
|---|---|
| Accept USDT | 54 of 68 |
| Accept USDC | 19 of 68 |
| Accept both USDT and USDC | 19 |
| USDT but not USDC | 35 |
| USDC but not USDT | 0 |
| No USDT or USDC | 14 |
Source: our tracked database of 68 active crypto casinos serving Canada, coin lists from operator cashiers and terms, October 2026.
Every casino in our set that takes USDC also takes USDT, while 35 accept USDT alone. Bitcoin is still the most widely accepted coin (62 of 68) and Ether follows (59), but USDT sits just behind Litecoin (55) and well ahead of USDC.
What It Means for Canadian Players
Nothing changes at a casino cashier because of the October 24 draft. The rules target issuers and payment providers, they are still open for comment, and the stated start is fall 2027. The practical questions are about access and cost on the way in.
- Watch the on-ramp, not the casino. If an issuer does not register once the Act is in force, Canadian platforms may stop offering its coin, which would push players towards other stablecoins or back to Bitcoin and Litecoin.
- USDC is the only coin the draft names. In our data it is also accepted by far fewer casinos than USDT, so a USDT-only cashier would not benefit from any USDC advantage.
- Redemption fees would be capped at 1% for registered coins, which matters to players who cash stablecoins back into dollars through a platform.
- Registered issuers could not pay yield for holding a coin, directly or through partners; rewards tied to spending would remain allowed.
- Comments are open until December 23, 2026 through the Department of Finance contact listed in the Gazette notice.
Sources
Canada Gazette, Part I, Vol. 160, No. 43 (October 24, 2026) — Stablecoin Regulations- Bank of Canada — Stablecoins (regulatory oversight)