Is Monero legal in Canada? The rules in 2026

As of November 2026, Monero is legal to own and use in Canada, and no law bans it. Businesses that exchange or transfer it for customers must register with FINTRAC, Canada’s anti-money-laundering regulator, and the CRA taxes it like other crypto-assets.^[1][2] Kraken stopped Monero trading for Canadian clients on 2 September 2025, citing compliance requirements in Canada.^[3]

Is Monero legal in Canada?

Yes. No Canadian law bans owning, buying, selling or using Monero. Canada regulates the businesses around it instead: FINTRAC’s rules for money services businesses, and securities rules for crypto trading platforms. For individuals, the CRA expects you to report income or gains when you dispose of crypto-assets.^[2]

What does FINTRAC require of businesses that deal in Monero?

Dealing in virtual currency makes a business a money services business (MSB). That covers exchanging money for virtual currency, virtual currency for money or one virtual currency for another, and transferring virtual currency for clients.^[1] An MSB must register with FINTRAC before it starts operating in Canada, even if a province or territory has already registered or licensed it. A foreign MSB must register too if it has no place of business in Canada but directs its services at people in Canada and serves clients there. FINTRAC can impose administrative monetary penalties on businesses that don’t comply.^[1]

Registered businesses must then keep records and report to FINTRAC:

Every exchange ticket must list the transaction identifiers and the sending and receiving addresses. For an exchange worth $1,000 or more requested by a person, it must also include their name, address, date of birth and occupation. Records must be kept for at least five years.^[4]

The travel rule has applied since 1 June 2021. Businesses must include it when they send virtual currency, and take reasonable measures to make sure it comes with incoming transfers that need a record.^[5] So a registered business holds your name alongside your transfers, whatever the blockchain hides. Our guide How private is Monero? explains what the coin itself hides.

The rules are enforced. In September 2025 the RCMP seized more than $56 million in cryptocurrency from TradeOgre, an exchange that it said had failed to register with FINTRAC and did not verify its users’ identities. The RCMP called it the first time Canadian law enforcement had dismantled a cryptocurrency exchange. Its investigators opened the file in June 2024 after a tip from Europol, and it said charges may follow.^[6] Global News reported that TradeOgre appeared to have been popular with users of Monero.^[7]

What do securities regulators require of crypto platforms?

Crypto trading platforms that operate in Canada and trade securities or derivatives must follow securities law, including registering with securities regulators.^[8] In February 2023 the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the umbrella group of provincial and territorial regulators, toughened the terms for unregistered platforms that wanted to keep operating while they applied.

Those platforms were expected to give an enhanced pre-registration undertaking, a written set of commitments covering the custody and segregation of clients’ crypto assets, no margin or leverage for any client, and no letting clients buy or deposit stablecoins without the CSA’s prior written consent. Platforms that couldn’t give one were expected to off-board their Canadian users.^[8]

The notice doesn’t single out privacy coins. Registered platforms must decide whether each crypto asset they offer is a security or derivative, and stop clients buying or depositing one that a regulator says is.^[8]

Can you buy Monero in Canada?

Not on Kraken. It paused Monero deposits for Canadian clients, then disabled trading on all Monero pairs on 2 September 2025 “due to compliance requirements in Canada”. Clients were asked to withdraw their Monero to a personal wallet or convert it before then, and withdrawals stayed open after trading ended.^[3] The notice doesn’t say which requirement it meant. Our guide to why exchanges delist Monero looks at the rules that usually lie behind moves like this.

Exchanges change what they offer, so check that a platform is registered with Canadian securities regulators and with FINTRAC, and that Monero is on its own asset list, before you sign up.

How is Monero taxed in Canada?

When you dispose of a crypto-asset, the CRA says you must report either business income or a capital gain (or loss).^[2] A disposition includes:

• trading or exchanging Monero for government-issued money, such as Canadian dollars, or for another crypto-asset
• using it to buy goods or services, which the CRA treats as a barter transaction
• giving it away or donating it

Moving Monero between wallets you own is not a taxable disposition. If you sell goods or services for Monero, the CRA says you must include in your income the value of what you provided or of the cryptocurrency you accepted, whichever is more readily valued.^[2] Whether your gains are business income depends on how you deal in crypto: the CRA lists factors such as how often you trade, how long you hold and how much you know about the markets. For business income you report the full profit. For capital gains, half the gain is included in income, and allowable capital losses can only be deducted against taxable capital gains.^[2]

What’s changing in Canada?

Canada plans to adopt the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), under which crypto platforms would collect information about their users and share it with tax authorities. The government put it in Bill C-31, the Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 2, introduced in May 2026.^[9] As of November 2026 the bill was at report stage in the House of Commons and had not become law.^[10]

Rules differ a lot from country to country. See our country-by-country guide, or the pages for the US and the UK.