The national police force in Canada has confiscated digital currency valued at $56 million CAD (approximately $40.5 million USD) from the cryptocurrency exchange TradeOgre, the largest crypto seizure ever in the history of the country. On Thursday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) also indicated that it had shut down the platform after conducting an international probe into financial offences.
Canada’s RCMP Cracks Down on TradeOgre
The seizure was in response to an investigation initiated in June 2024 by the RCMP Money Laundering Investigative Team on the basis of the intelligence received by Europol. Law enforcement claims that TradeOgre was a money services company that was not registered yet, and did not submit to Canadian financial regulation, as well as the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements.
“Investigators have reason to believe that the majority of funds transacted on TradeOgre came from criminal sources,” the RCMP said in an official statement. “The main attraction of this type of platform, which doesn’t require users to identify themselves to make an account, is that it hides the source of funds.”
On the website of TradeOgre, there is now a banner provided by the RCMP that bears the message, “This site and its cryptoassets have been seized by the RCMP.” The exchange, which had long prided itself on user anonymity, had not been posting on its official X (previously Twitter) account since May 28, 2025.
Authorities have reported that no one has been charged so far who was related to the site. The case is still ongoing, and the police have not revealed any suspects.
The confiscation indicates an expansion of a global initiative to limit the consumption of cryptocurrency in illegal financial operations. Only a few days before the declaration of the RCMP, Israeli authorities issued another seizure order on wallets purportedly attached to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran (IRGC), which again fomented an alarm in the world about the abuse of digital currencies.
Israel Confiscates 187 Crypto Wallets Linked to IRGC
A division called the National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) of Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced that it had ordered 187 crypto wallets to be taken. The state agency alleged that the wallets were utilized by the IRGC, which is an autonomous military group, yet it is assumed to be a state military organization, not tied to the traditional Iranian armed forces.
The Israeli government did not include any details of how the wallets were identified, or the exact amount of crypto that was stolen, but blockchain analytics company Elliptic reported that the wallets had already been deposited with more than $1.5 billion worth of Tether (USDT), a widely used stablecoin tied to the U.S. dollar.
“It is not possible to verify whether all of these transactions are directly linked to the IRGC since some of the addresses may be controlled by cryptocurrency services and could be part of wallet infrastructure used to facilitate transactions for many customers,” said Tom Robinson, co-founder of Elliptic.
Of the 187 wallets, 39 are blacklisted by Tether as of September 13, which has the effect of freezing approximately 1.5 million dollars of assets stored in those addresses. The other wallets are alleged to have little finances.
Tether spokesperson refused to comment on the particular seizure order, but said that the company works regularly with many law enforcement agencies, among them the NBCTF, to freeze illegal funds. The response to the allegations has not been made by the IRGC. Iran has constantly refused Israeli accusations that claim that Iran funds the militant activities in the region.
The back-to-back actions of the Canadian and Israeli governments are a good sign of the growing cooperation between countries to avoid the use of crypto-based funds in money laundering, financing of terrorist activities, and violations of sanctions. Both examples highlight where anonymous or loosely regulated crypto infrastructure may be used to commit crimes and how governments are currently working to destroy those routes.
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