Bank of Montreal closes Cointrader's accounts

On Monday, Vancouver-based Bitcoin exchange Cointrader announced in a blog post that their corporate and customer account have been closed by the Bank of Montreal. The decision by Canada’s forth-largest bank follows recent negative comments about cryptocurrencies from Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.

Flaherty’s comments noted that Bitcoin and related currencies represented a “threat” to the nation’s fight against criminal money laundering and “terrorist financing.”

Writing on the Cointrader blog, CTO and co-founder Paul Szczesny said:

In the wake of this rhetoric, we were informed this morning by our bank that the last remaining Bitcoin-friendly charter bank, Bank of Montreal, is closing all Bitcoin-related business accounts across Canada. Despite the fact that Cointrader has already implemented an anti-money laundering regime to comply with potential FINTRAC regulations which was vetted by BMO itself, the bank has decided to sever our account as well. These actions were taken immediately following the remarks made last week and without any other provocation or evidence of wrongdoing.”

It’s unclear what impact this recent action by the Bank of Montreal will have on Canadian Bitcoin investment, but Szczesny goes on to note that if Canada’s regulatory tone doesn’t change, Cointrader and others “will be forced to relocate to more forward-thinking economies.”