Coinbase Suspends Canadian Dollar Services Amid $10.5M Raise From Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ

San Francisco-based Coinbase, a leading Bitcoin exchange offering numerous services and products, has informed its Canadian users they must liquidate their CAD holdings by July 29th. 

“As of August 1, Coinbase’s Canadian payments provider, Vogogo, will be shutting down its payment processing business,” Coinbase stated in an email to users seen by Bitcoin Magazine. “When this occurs, Coinbase will no longer be able to support Canadian EFT transfers, Interac transfers or the storage of customer CAD on Coinbase.” 

Canadian dollars stored at Coinbase must be withdrawn off the site or converted to digital currency by July 29th. “If you are unable to withdraw or exchange your CAD before July 29th, Coinbase will suspend your account and significant fees will be incurred for CAD withdrawals.” 

The company added: “We are disappointed to lose the ability to offer these payment methods for our Canadian customers and hope to provide additional payment methods in the future.”

According to a July 5 press release by Vogogo, a special committee of the board of directors have examined “alternatives to enhance shareholder value, including a sale of all or a portion of the existing business as well as various financing and recapitalization alternatives.” The company had begun notifying third parties. 

Vogogo had provided payment processing and related transaction risk services, having developed software for multiple electronic payment types such as card payments, pre-authorized debit, direct deposit, peer-to-peer and online banking payments. 

Vogogo suspension of services may have ripple effects throughout the Bitcoin industry, as other popular Bitcoin exchanges, such as Kraken, also use the service. 

Coinbase only expanded to Canada in August 2015. Despite this news, Coinbase has been busy in the past year, announcing the Shift Payments debit card and introducing Ethereum to its digital currency trading platform, the Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX).  

The company also announced a $10.5 million fundraiase from Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Silicon Valley based venture capital firm Sozo Ventures. The company does not yet offer exchange services in Japan.

“Partnering with leading global financial institutions is a key part of our strategy and we are thrilled to be working with BTMU,” Coinbase wrote on its blog. 

It added: “While we do not yet offer digital currency exchange services in Japan, we are committed to continued international expansion.”

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