Canadian Court Rules Crypto Exchange Not Liable for User’s $480K Scam Loss

A British Columbia Supreme Court has absolved Calgary-based cryptocurrency exchange NDAX Canada of responsibility after a user lost C$671,000 (US$480,000) to a fraudulent investment scheme. Justice Lindsay LeBlanc dismissed Victoria resident Yan Li Xu's lawsuit, finding the platform had issued four explicit warnings about suspicious activity prior to the irreversible transfers.

NDAX's compliance measures proved decisive. The FINTRAC-registered exchange flagged the transactions as high-risk through multiple alerts, including mandatory acknowledgment of crypto's irreversible nature. "The plaintiff did not heed the warning," Justice LeBlanc noted in the ruling, emphasizing the exchange's duty of care was fulfilled through proactive fraud prevention protocols.

The case sets a precedent for platform liability in Canada's evolving crypto regulatory landscape. Exchanges implementing robust warning systems may find judicial protection when users disregard explicit risk disclosures. This decision arrives as global regulators intensify scrutiny of digital asset consumer protections.