CSA Staff Notice 46-307 Cryptocurrency Offerings is Canadian securities-regulatory guidance published by the Canadian Securities Administrators on August 24, 2017. It explains how existing provincial and territorial securities laws may apply to initial coin offerings, initial token offerings, cryptocurrency investment funds and platforms that trade crypto assets. As of June 25, 2026, the British Columbia Securities Commission classifies the notice as current. The document is staff guidance rather than legislation and explains existing requirements rather than purporting to create a stand-alone crypto licensing regime.
What CSA Staff Notice 46-307 covers
The notice was issued after CSA staff observed growth in token-based fundraising and requests for regulatory guidance. It states that Canadian securities laws may apply where securities are sold from within Canada or to Canadian investors. Depending on the facts, a crypto product may also be a derivative. The notice therefore addresses prospectus, registration and marketplace requirements, together with issues raised by cryptocurrency investment funds and the former CSA Regulatory Sandbox.
When a cryptocurrency offering may involve securities
CSA staff emphasizes substance over form. Calling a coin or token a software product does not determine its legal treatment; the economic realities of the complete offering or arrangement matter. Each ICO or ITO must be assessed on its own characteristics. The notice says many offerings reviewed by staff involved securities, including investment contracts.
For the investment-contract analysis, the notice identifies four elements derived from Canadian case law: an investment of money, a common enterprise, an expectation of profit, and profit expected to come significantly from the efforts of others. A token used only to access a functioning service may present different facts from a token whose value is tied to the future success of a business.
Prospectus exemptions and offering disclosure
Where coins or tokens are securities, the notice says the distribution must proceed under a receipted prospectus or an available prospectus exemption. It discusses accredited-investor and offering-memorandum exemptions, while stressing that all applicable conditions must be met. A whitepaper is not automatically equivalent to a prospectus or offering memorandum. Investor disclosure must address material facts and must not be false, misleading or overly promotional.
Registration, marketplaces and secondary trading
An issuer or intermediary may trigger dealer-registration requirements when its activities amount to trading securities for a business purpose. The notice points to factors such as broad solicitation, internet marketing and raising significant capital from many investors. It also states that a platform facilitating trades in security tokens may be a marketplace subject to recognition or exemption requirements. Resale restrictions can affect whether tokens distributed under an exemption may trade on a platform.
Cryptocurrency investment funds
For proposed crypto investment funds, the notice highlights retail distribution, exchange due diligence, registration categories, valuation and custody. Staff expected firms to examine an exchange’s regulation, identity-verification and anti-money-laundering controls, trading volumes and recordkeeping. Custodians were expected to have relevant expertise, including secure storage and asset segregation. Later CSA Staff Notice 81-336 provides more current guidance for public crypto asset funds.
Current status and later CSA guidance
CSA Staff Notice 46-307 remains listed in the CSA’s Financial Innovation Hub publications, and the BCSC marks it as current. CSA Staff Notice 46-308, published in 2018, supplements the analysis for token offerings, including tokens described as having utility. Later CSA materials continue to cite both notices when discussing whether crypto assets or related activities fall within securities law.
The original document’s Regulatory Sandbox references are historical operational context. The CSA subsequently described FinHub as the successor to the sandbox and launched the Collaboratory for regulatory experimentation. The notice should therefore be read with later CSA publications and the rules and guidance applicable in the relevant province or territory. This profile is a reference summary, not legal advice.