Canada is tightening the noose around cash and financial privacy.
This is no longer just about banks reporting $10K+ cash transactions.
Bill C-2 keeps the door open to making it illegal to accept $10,000 or more in cash. That would shift Canada from “reporting cash” to criminalizing cash.
At the same time, the surveillance side is expanding.
Banks can now share flagged financial information with other banks and law enforcement without you being notified. That means your bank, lender, credit card company, and police could potentially be looped in before you even know there’s an issue.
More businesses are also being pulled into FINTRAC reporting rules, including check cashers, private ATM operators, leasing companies, and factoring companies.
Crypto is being tracked more closely too, with identity-linked transaction reporting headed to the CRA.
The message is clear:
Cash is being treated as suspicious.
Will they eliminate cash eventually ?