September 2022 Volume 5 Issue 2

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCbKhV5FWGIPrHKrqOpIwRTA

You are the leader of the Canadian BlockchainConsortium (CBC) Legal Committee,what is the purpose of the committee?

I am the chair of the Legal Committee of the CBC. The Legal Committee is made up of private practice lawyers from some of the leading law firms in Canada. We have several lawyers from Calgary and Toronto on the committee. The purpose of the committee is to education the public and Canadian Blockchain Consortium members about Canadian law and how it gets applied to cryptocurrency and blockchain. We have webinars where a panel of experts discuss a specific topic(where the public is invited to participate), we write articles regarding current legal trends affecting the industry and post them on the consortium’s website. We have bi-monthly meetings where we discuss pan-Canadian issues of interest and what individual lawyers are seeing in their everyday practices. It’s a great forum to share intel and ‘war stories’ and it’s a very collegial group of lawyers (all from competing law firms!).

It is still the wild west in the crypto world. What is your biggest concern from a securities and legal point of view?

One of the burning topics is how certain activities in cryptocurrency that are gaining popularity are classified under Canadian law. For example, certain staking activities are popular but it is not 100% clear how the provincial securities commissions view the activity and whether it can be conducted in compliance with Canadian securities laws. Same goes for crypto lending. It is up to industry leaders to educate the regulators and bring issues to them and present ideas on how certain activities can be regulated. Without our feedback and guidance, I am concerned the regulators may ‘get it wrong’ and impose overly burdensome regulations which don’t actually achieve their intended purpose. Lawyers who act for clients in the space in Canada need to get more involved on securities regulatory committees and meet with regulators on a steady basis in order to bring certain issues to their attention.

There are a lot of buzz words like NFT, Metaverse, and it is still the wild wild west out there. What kind of legal advice do you have for this?

Please get proper legal advice before starting a project (not after), ideally from a practitioner who understands cryptocurrency and is active in the community.

What is next for you and the CBC Legal committee?

We intend to grow our committee by bringing on lawyers from other parts of the country, including Montreal and Vancouver. On a personal basis, I have just joined the international law firm of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, sitting in its Calgary office. I intend to grow my client base and continue to service both entrepreneurs and start-ups to some of the largest cryptocurrency companies in the world.

Canada Blockchain Summit on Oct.19th & 20th is an exciting multi-day event that brings together leading organizations, companies, and thought leaders to showcase how this emerging technology is transforming the future. For more information, visit our website - https://www.canadablockchain.ca/ canadian-blockchain-summit/