Canadian Police Seize Historic $28M Crypto Haul - Largest in National History

Royal Canadian Mounted Police just pulled off the biggest digital asset seizure the country's ever seen—$28 million in cryptocurrency vanished from criminal hands overnight.

The Takedown Timeline

Months of investigation culminated in yesterday's coordinated strike against organized crime networks. Authorities targeted sophisticated money laundering operations using crypto to hide illicit funds.

Forensic tracking technology traced transactions across multiple blockchains before freezing assets mid-transfer. The precision operation demonstrates law enforcement's growing sophistication in combating crypto-enabled crime.

New Enforcement Era

This seizure shatters previous Canadian records and signals a watershed moment for financial enforcement. Police agencies worldwide are rapidly developing blockchain forensic capabilities that challenge criminal assumptions of anonymity.

While regulators debate frameworks, enforcement agencies are already executing—proving that transparent ledgers create permanent evidence trails. Another reminder that crypto's promise of anonymity often crumbles against determined investigation.

Canada’s Biggest Crypto Seizure

Crypto crime is at an epidemic level right now, but law enforcement agencies are still working to fight bad actors. According to local media, police in Canada made a breakthrough today, seizing over $40 million in crypto from an illicit exchange:

“RCMP Federal Policing – Eastern Region has carried out the largest cryptocurrency seizure in Canadian history. Thanks to the work of investigators specialized in financial crime, cybercrime, and cryptocurrencies, an estimated sum of over 56 million [CAD] ($40 million USD) was recovered from the platform TradeOgre,” police statements claimed.

Canada has levied hefty fines upon noncompliant crypto exchanges and aggressively pursued tax evaders, but this incident is different.

Police completely dismantled this exchange, signaling increased efforts to enforce compliance and combat money laundering in the digital asset sector.

So, what did TradeOgre do to warrant this crypto crackdown from Canada? Apparently, the investigation has been ongoing since June 2024, prompted by a tip from Europol.

TradeOgre did more than skirt KYC requirements, allowing users to set up accounts with complete anonymity.

This led to a predictable result. According to Canadian authorities, most of the funds transacted on the platform came from criminal sources.

Hey @rcmpqc, what are you going to do with the @TradeOgre funds that came from legitimate sources or are you just saying you can forfeit everyone's balances because we didn't KYC? That's theft from many innocent users. @zachxbt pic.twitter.com/zKBAr5KHEp

High-risk crypto exchanges are very skilled at money laundering, using sophisticated methods to disguise sanctions violations, clean stolen funds, and more.

Apparently, Canada’s law enforcement agencies are taking a firmer stance against the illegal uses of crypto. Local media also reported that other officials have been giving fresh warnings about social media scams.

Between this and the enforcement against TradeOgre, a trend could be beginning.

CANADIAN POLICE CONFIRM $40M CRYPTO SEIZURE

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has confirmed the seizure of $56M CAD (~$40M USD) of assets from TradeOgre, a centralized exchange.

This is the largest crypto asset seizure in Canadian history. As per the RCMP’s website, Arkham was… pic.twitter.com/YvkVPh8N7e

Still, outside observers probably shouldn’t worry that Canada is preparing a crypto crackdown. Although the current Prime Minister has criticized the industry in the past, his tenure has seen regulatory breakthroughs like an XRP ETF.

Hopefully, this escalation will focus on protecting consumers, not attacking Web3.