Canadian authorities have carried out the country’s largest-ever cryptocurrency seizure, confiscating more than 56 million Canadian dollars (about $40 million) in assets from the little-known exchange TradeOgre. The operation, led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), not only froze the funds but also resulted in the complete dismantling of the platform, the first time a crypto exchange has ever been shut down by Canadian law enforcement.
The takedown follows a year-long probe launched in June 2024 after Europol flagged suspicious activity to the RCMP’s money laundering division. Working with cybercrime experts, financial investigators, and blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, police traced illicit flows on TradeOgre, which they allege was being used by organized crime groups to mask dirty money.
In a statement, the RCMP accused TradeOgre of operating illegally in Canada by failing to register with Fintrac as a money services business and by ignoring know-your-customer (KYC) checks. Investigators believe that the majority of funds handled by the exchange were tied to criminal activity, pointing to the platform’s emphasis on anonymity as a key enabler.
Founded in 2018, TradeOgre earned a cult following among traders of privacy coins like Monero and niche altcoins, largely because of its minimalist interface and lack of compliance requirements. However, those same features made it a magnet for regulatory scrutiny. By July 2025, speculation about the exchange’s fate spread after its website went offline and its X (formerly Twitter) account went silent.
On Reddit, some users questioned whether they had fallen victim to an exit scam.
That mystery was partly solved when blockchain watchers noticed funds linked to TradeOgre being redirected to wallets carrying encoded Bitcoin messages. One such message read: “Crypto assets controlled by the RCMP.” The agency later confirmed the authenticity of those messages, declaring the move the largest crypto asset seizure in Canadian history and the first-ever dismantling of an exchange in the country.
With TradeOgre’s operations now shuttered, the RCMP said investigators will analyze seized data and expect criminal charges to follow. Arkham Intelligence confirmed that over $40 million worth of assets were removed from TradeOgre wallets in recent days and are now under RCMP control.
The case comes amid a wave of cross-border crackdowns on crypto crime by Canadian and U.S. authorities. In recent months, joint initiatives such as Project Atlas and Operation Avalanche have targeted fraud, money laundering, and phishing schemes, seizing hundreds of millions in illicit assets. In August alone, authorities froze over $300 million linked to scams across multiple jurisdictions.
The TradeOgre seizure underscores how regulators are increasingly zeroing in on unregistered and non-compliant platforms, particularly those that enable anonymity and avoid oversight. For Canada, the takedown signals a turning point: crypto exchanges are no longer untouchable, and the era of unchecked anonymity in digital asset trading is narrowing fast.