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What rules must a Canadian crypto platform follow to hold my XRP?

Confirmed Published 1 min read

The Ontario Securities Commission’s investor site said in September 2025 that a crypto trading platform may not hold all clients’ crypto in its own wallets and must use an acceptable third-party custodian holding at least 80% of it. Custody terms from a US XRP fund’s Form 10-Q filing (Bitwise XRP ETF) appear below as a comparison only.

The full answer

What rules does a Canadian platform have to follow to hold XRP?

The Ontario Securities Commission’s investor site said on September 8, 2025 that a trading platform is not permitted to hold all its clients’ crypto assets in its own hot or cold wallets. It said the platform must instead use an acceptable third-party custodian that it has conducted appropriate due diligence on, holding at least 80% of its clients’ crypto assets [23]. Whether crypto held on a platform is insured is covered on the page about whether crypto held on a platform is insured.

How do I check which custodian my platform uses?

As of September 30, 2026, I could not find any Canadian source stating where platforms must disclose their custodians. A separate page covers how to check that a crypto platform is registered, which is the first step before looking at custody.

What happens to my XRP if a platform leaves Canada or loses registration?

I could not find any source covering this as of September 30, 2026. Customer claims when a platform fails outright are covered on the page about what happens to your XRP if the exchange goes bankrupt.

How do US custody rules compare?

For the quarter ended March 31, 2026, the Bitwise XRP ETF’s filing states that Coinbase Custody, a New York State limited liability trust company, keeps the fund’s XRP in segregated accounts [1]. The filing states that this custodian is not insured by the FDIC and carries insurance from private carriers [1]. It also states that the fund’s sponsor can change the custodian at its sole discretion [1]. These terms apply to one fund, not to trading platforms that hold XRP for their customers.

What does custody by a third party not protect against?

How that happens, even at platforms that keep most assets offline, is set out on the page about how crypto exchanges actually get hacked.

What we know

  • For the quarter ended March 31, 2026, the Bitwise XRP ETF’s filing states that Coinbase Custody, a New York State limited liability trust company, holds the fund’s XRP in segregated accounts. [1]
  • The same filing states that the custodian is not insured by the FDIC but carries insurance from private insurance carriers. [1]
  • The same filing states that the custodian can be changed at the sole discretion of the fund’s sponsor. [1]
  • The Ontario Securities Commission’s investor site (September 8, 2025) says a crypto trading platform may not hold all clients’ crypto in its own wallets and must use an acceptable third-party custodian holding at least 80% of clients’ crypto assets.

What we reason Analysis

  • The Bitwise terms describe how one US exchange-traded fund holds XRP for its shareholders. They do not describe the rules for a trading platform that holds XRP for its own customers, in Canada or the US. This follows from the scope of the filing cited in [1].

What's still open

  • On February 3, 2026, CoinDesk reported that Canada’s investment regulator CIRO had introduced a Digital Asset Custody Framework with a tiered, risk-based structure, citing failures such as the QuadrigaCX collapse; a CIRO spokesperson told CoinDesk that many of the framework’s expectations were developed in close consultation with crypto-asset trading platforms and their custodians, with transition considerations applied case by case. As of October 2, 2026, I could not find the framework’s full text.
  • On February 22, 2023, CSA staff said in CSA Staff Notice 21-332 that an unregistered crypto trading platform unable or unwilling to meet the required timelines would be expected to identify and off-board existing users in Canada, impose access restrictions, and give notice and timelines to regulators, and that a registered platform must promptly stop clients buying or depositing a crypto asset found to be a security or derivative, except to let clients liquidate positions or transfer the assets to a blockchain address they specify. As of October 2, 2026, I could not find any statement addressing what specifically happens to client XRP when a platform leaves Canada or loses its registration.
  • As of September 30, 2026, I could not find any source on the custody rules that apply to US crypto trading platforms.

In plain English

This page is meant to explain the rules a Canadian crypto platform follows when it holds XRP for customers. The official documents that set those rules have not yet been collected for this site, so the page does not describe them yet. What it can show is how one US fund holding XRP describes its setup: a trust company keeps the XRP in separate accounts, it is not covered by US government deposit insurance, and the fund’s manager can change the trust company.

Key terms

Sources

  1. Bitwise XRP ETF, Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 — Bitwise Investment Advisers, LLC (SEC filing, copy on Stock Titan), March 31, 2026 Primary
  2. OSC alleges multiple breaches of securities law by offshore crypto asset trading platform — Ontario Securities Commission, October 2, 2023 Primary
  3. Bitwise XRP ETF Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2026 — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 2026 Primary
  4. Bitwise XRP ETF Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2026 — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) — Bitwise XRP ETF, 2026-05-08 Primary
  5. Bitwise XRP ETF (XRP) SEC Filings — StockTitan, read 2026-10-02 Primary
  6. CSA Staff Notice 21-332 Crypto Asset Trading Platforms: Pre-Registration Undertakings – Changes to Enhance Canadian Investor Protection — Ontario Securities Commission / Canadian Securities Administrators, February 22, 2023 Primary
  7. Canadian Securities Administrators Staff Notice 21-332: Crypto Asset Trading Platforms: Pre-Registration Undertakings - Changes to Enhance Canadian Investor Protection — Canadian Securities Administrators, February 22, 2023 Primary
  8. Crypto Asset Trading Platforms Pre-Registration Activities Undertaking — Ontario Securities Commission (hosted); addressed to the Autorité des marchés financiers and the Canadian Securities Administrators, 24 March 2023 Primary
  9. Canada’s investment watchdog rolls out crypto custody rules to avoid another QuadrigaCX — CoinDesk, 2026-02-03 Secondary
  10. CIRO's digital asset custody framework: institutionalizing crypto custody in Canada — Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, February 25, 2026 Secondary
  11. Division of Trading and Markets: Frequently Asked Questions Relating to Crypto Asset Activities and Distributed Ledger Technology — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, May 15, 2025 Primary
  12. Canada’s CIRO formalizes interim crypto custody framework — Cointelegraph, Feb 4, 2026 Secondary
  13. Investor’s guide: Cryptocurrencies — Canadian Securities Administrators, read 2026-10-03 Primary
  14. Satstreet Inc. Pre-Registration Activities Undertaking — Canadian Securities Administrators, March 24, 2023 Primary
  15. CIRO Issues Guidance on Digital Asset Custody for Crypto-Asset Trading Platforms — Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) via CNW, Feb 03, 2026 Primary
  16. Canadian securities regulators strengthen oversight, enhance expectations of crypto asset trading platforms operating in Canada — Manitoba Securities Commission, February 22, 2023 Secondary
  17. Statement on the Custody of Crypto Asset Securities by Broker-Dealers — SEC Division of Trading and Markets, Dec. 17, 2025 Primary
  18. Crypto@SEC — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Oct. 1, 2026 Primary
  19. Capital and Liquidity Treatment of Crypto-asset Exposures (Banking) – Guideline (2027) — Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, September 10, 2026 Primary
  20. Capital and Liquidity Treatment of Crypto-asset Exposures (Banking) – Guideline (2026) — Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, February 20, 2025 Primary
  21. CIRO Digital Asset Custody Framework | Canada Crypto Law — CryptoSlate, Last verified Jun 26, 2026 Secondary
  22. Crypto Custody — University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (David Hoffman faculty page), read 2026-10-03 Secondary
  23. getsmarteraboutmoney.ca — getsmarteraboutmoney.ca, September 8, 2025 Primary

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