Toronto firm approved under existing stablecoin framework, but will be ready for new federal strategy.
Stablecorp claims its QCAD cryptocurrency is the first Canadian dollar-linked stablecoin to receive regulatory approval.
The Toronto-based company has spent nearly six years building out the necessary rails required to support its CAD-denominated stablecoin. The digital infrastructure firm services the QCAD Digital Trust, an arms-length trust that holds QCAD’s reserve assets and is overseen by an independent trustee.
Stablecorp has spent nearly six years building out the necessary rails required to support its CAD-denominated stablecoin.
QCAD Digital Trust submitted its final prospectus (relevant disclosure documentation) to the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) earlier this year, and received approval last week. As a result, Stablecorp CEO Kesem Frank told BetaKit that QCAD Digital Trust now complies with the CSA’s existing framework, which was published in 2023, while it awaits Canada’s new stablecoin strategy.
Stablecoins are a form of digital currency that are pegged to a traditional fiat currency, typically the United States dollar. In response to industry demands and similar legislation in the US, the federal government recently revealed a draft framework to regulate stablecoin issuers in Canada.
To comply with existing regulation, Frank said the QCAD Program established the trust to hold the reserve assets, filed the prospectus with regulators, and received exemptive relief from “various securities law requirements that are or should not be directly applicable to a stablecoin program.”
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“This prospectus and accompanying exemptive relief were reviewed by members of the Canadian Securities Administrators for almost a year as we worked through and addressed all of their comments and questions during this period,” Frank told BetaKit.
The CSA confirmed to BetaKit that a receipt was issued for the prospectus of QCAD Digital Trust on Nov. 20, 2025, qualifying the distribution of QCAD Tokens, but would not comment on if QCAD was the first CAD-denominated stablecoin. The regulator stressed that the receipt for a final prospectus “should not be construed as an endorsement” of the issuer or QCAD Token, and that compliance with securities laws is the issuer’s responsibility.
Stablecorp said QCAD will now roll out to the public through its network of exchanges and partners. Stablecorp and the QCAD Trust have developed a “future-proofed” structure for whenever the new proposed federal framework becomes law, Frank told BetaKit.
“It remains to be seen what will happen to this interim provincial framework when the federal prudential framework becomes law, but either way we will be ready and overall, this is a very positive development for Canada.” Frank said.
Feature image courtesy Stablecorp.