🐎 The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced the shutdown of the cryptocurrency platform TradeOgre and the seizure of digital assets worth 56 million Canadian dollars ($40 million). This is the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the country’s history.

Reasons for closure

The investigation began in June 2024 based on information from Europol. Law enforcement discovered that TradeOgre was conducting unregistered financial services activities, did not conduct customer verification (KYC), and violated anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

According to the RCMP, most of the funds on the platform came from criminal sources.

“The main appeal of such exchanges is that they allow hiding the origin of funds. This is a common tactic of criminal organizations engaged in money laundering,” police stated.

Operation details

As part of the seizure, Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, and Tron were confiscated. According to Arkham, about $32 million was transferred to government wallets: 126 BTC (~$15 million) and $17 million worth of ETH.

Trading on the platform was halted on July 30. On the official TradeOgre website, a banner is now displayed: “This site and its crypto assets have been seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”

The crypto service’s account on social network X was last active on May 28, 2025.

About the platform

According to CoinGecko, TradeOgre is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2018 and registered in the United States. Before its closure, it operated without KYC, attracting both regular users and criminal flows.

User reaction

The actions of the RCMP sparked a wave of criticism in the crypto community. Users noted that anonymity and the lack of KYC are not crimes in themselves.

MetaMask’s Head of Security Taylor Monahan wrote: “Looking forward to evidence and compensation for all innocent people whose money you seized without notice and due process.”

Firo co-founder Reuben Yap added: “You’re just taking the balances of everyone who didn’t pass KYC? This is theft from many innocent users.”

🛑 What’s next

The investigation continues. Experts warn that recovering funds will be extremely difficult. Victims will have to provide extensive on-chain and off-chain documentation to prove the legality of their assets.

According to lawyers, the procedure may drag on for years. “The burden of proof is enormous: extensive on-chain and off-chain documentation is required,” experts explained. At the same time, compensation will most likely be incomplete, since the state values cryptocurrency at the rate at the time of seizure, not at its potential future growth.

The investigation regarding the suspects continues, but no charges have been filed yet.