Regulatory overview · Not legal advice

Publishing Verified Trader Performance — Canada Regulatory Overview

How NakedPnL is positioned in Canada under the CSA, NI 31-103, the OSC and provincial securities regulators, CIRO, PIPEDA, and CRA crypto-asset guidance.

By NakedPnL Research·May 7, 2026·11 min read

TL;DR

NakedPnL is not registered as an Investment Fund Manager, Portfolio Manager, Exempt Market Dealer, Restricted Dealer, or Investment Dealer under National Instrument 31-103 in any Canadian province or territory.
Securities regulation in Canada is provincial; the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) coordinates national instruments. The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) of Quebec are leading regulators.
The platform does not advise in respect of securities and does not trigger the registration triggers in NI 31-103.
PIPEDA (federal) and provincial privacy statutes (Quebec Law 25, BC PIPA, Alberta PIPA) apply; data-subject rights are honoured.
Canada is not currently in the platform's lib/jurisdictions.ts mapping; users in Canada see the default disclaimer until a country-specific variant is added.

NakedPnL operates a public registry of verified investment performance produced by individual traders who voluntarily connect read-only exchange API keys or sign on-chain wallet attestations. Daily NAV snapshots feed a time-weighted return (TWR) calculation; results are recorded in an append-only, SHA-256 chained ledger and Merkle-anchored to Bitcoin via OpenTimestamps so any third party can independently re-verify them.

This page describes how that activity is positioned under Canadian securities, derivatives, and privacy law, with reference to the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) of Quebec, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC), the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC), and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organisation (CIRO).

How NakedPnL is classified in Canada

NakedPnL's activity is the production and distribution of factual performance data. The platform is not registered in any province or territory in any of the categories of registration set out in National Instrument 31-103 — Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations — and does not appear on the National Registration Search.

NI 31-103 and the registration triggers

Under NI 31-103, a person is required to register as an adviser where the person engages in or holds itself out as engaging in the business of advising others as to the investing in or the buying or selling of securities. The advising business trigger is interpreted by reference to factors set out in CSA Staff Notice 33-737 (e.g. carrying on the activity for compensation, with regularity, and as a directed business activity).

NakedPnL does not advise any specific user. The same registry data is shown to every reader of a given page; the platform does not collect know-your-client information, does not run a suitability assessment under §13.3 NI 31-103, and does not produce client-specific outputs. The platform's analysis is that the activity is general-information publishing and does not engage the advising business trigger.

Similar reasoning applies to the dealing business trigger. NakedPnL does not act as a dealer, does not effect trades on behalf of any client, and does not solicit subscriptions to any product.

Crypto trading platforms — CSA Staff Notice 21-327 and NI 21-101

CSA Staff Notice 21-327 (Guidance on the Application of Securities Legislation to Entities Facilitating the Trading of Crypto Assets) and the related Joint CSA/CIRO Notice 21-329 set out when a crypto trading platform is in the business of trading securities or derivatives. The triggers focus on whether the platform takes custody, facilitates transactions, or otherwise carries on a regulated activity.

NakedPnL is not a crypto trading platform. The platform does not facilitate the trading of any crypto-asset, does not custody crypto-assets, and does not take any role in transactions other than reading historical NAV through a read-only API key. Where individual traders use a CSA-recognised or CIRO-supervised crypto trading platform, that platform is responsible for its own registration.

What NakedPnL does not do

No copy trading. The platform cannot replicate a trader's positions into another user's account. Copy-trading services are likely to engage the dealing or advising business triggers under NI 31-103.
No personal advice or know-your-client suitability assessments.
No broker-affiliate links to registered or unregistered firms in exchange for fees.
No investor-trader matching.
No custody of securities, derivatives, or crypto-assets.
No execution. The platform never sends orders to any venue.

These design choices are encoded as feature flags in the codebase and protected by a continuous-integration test that fails the build if any flag is changed.

What Canadian users should know

Canadian users should treat the registry as factual performance data and nothing more. Past performance does not guarantee future results — a phrase the CSA and CIRO require regulated firms to display alongside past-performance information. NakedPnL applies an equivalent statement on every trader profile.

If a third party offers to manage your money based on a NakedPnL track record, check the National Registration Search and the relevant provincial regulator's database to see whether the third party is registered in the appropriate category. NakedPnL does not vouch for any third-party manager.

PIPEDA and provincial privacy statutes

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) is the federal private-sector privacy statute. It applies to commercial activities in provinces that do not have substantially similar legislation. Quebec (Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector, as amended by Law 25), British Columbia (Personal Information Protection Act, PIPA BC), and Alberta (Personal Information Protection Act, PIPA AB) have their own substantially similar regimes.

The platform's processing of Canadian users' data is conducted in line with PIPEDA's ten Fair Information Principles, with the additional requirements of Law 25 in Quebec (privacy impact assessments, automated decision-making transparency, breach notification). Data-subject access and correction requests are processed through the privacy contact. Withdrawing public-listing consent removes the registry entry from public endpoints. Complaints may be raised with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) or the relevant provincial commissioner (Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec, BC Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, etc.).

Tax considerations

Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) guidance treats most cryptocurrency transactions either as capital transactions (with 50% inclusion rate for capital gains) or as business income, depending on the nature of the activity. Folio S3-F9-C1 and the CRA Guide on Cryptocurrency are the primary resources. The platform does not produce CRA-facing statements; users are responsible for their own returns. A registered Canadian tax adviser is the right resource for specific questions.

Canada disclaimer variant

Canada is not currently mapped to a country-specific disclaimer variant in lib/jurisdictions.ts. Users in Canada therefore see the default publisher disclaimer, which states that NakedPnL is a publisher of verified data and not an investment adviser, broker, asset manager, or copy-trading platform. A country-specific variant may be added in a future release; this page will be updated accordingly.

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Is NakedPnL registered in any Canadian province or territory?

No. NakedPnL is not registered as an Investment Dealer, Mutual Fund Dealer, Exempt Market Dealer, Restricted Dealer, Portfolio Manager, Restricted Portfolio Manager, or Investment Fund Manager under NI 31-103 in any province or territory. The platform's posture is that its activity falls outside the registration triggers and therefore does not require registration.

Does the platform advise in respect of securities under NI 31-103?

No. The platform publishes the same registry data to every reader of a given page, does not collect know-your-client information, and does not provide tailored advice. The platform's analysis is that the activity is general-information publishing and does not engage the advising business trigger described in CSA Staff Notice 33-737.

Is NakedPnL a crypto trading platform under CSA Staff Notice 21-327?

No. NakedPnL does not facilitate the trading of any crypto-asset, does not custody crypto-assets, and does not take any role in transactions other than reading historical NAV through a read-only API key.

How do I exercise my rights under PIPEDA or Quebec Law 25?

Traders can withdraw their public-listing consent from account settings, which removes the registry entry from public endpoints. For broader access and correction rights, contact the privacy team via the channel listed in the privacy notice. Complaints can be raised with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) or the relevant provincial commissioner — for Quebec, the Commission d'accès à l'information.

Are gains from trading captured in the registry taxed in Canada?

Generally yes. CRA guidance treats most cryptocurrency and other investment transactions as either capital transactions (with 50% inclusion rate for capital gains) or business income, depending on facts. Folio S3-F9-C1 is the starting point. The platform does not produce CRA-facing statements; users are responsible for their own returns.

Why isn't Canada in the lib/jurisdictions.ts disclaimer mapping?

The current jurisdictions.ts mapping covers US, UK, EU/EEA, India, and the UAE. Users in Canada see the default publisher disclaimer. A Canada-specific variant may be added in a future release; this page is updated when material changes occur.

References