Europol Tip Leads to $40M TradeOgre Crypto Seizure by Canadian Police
Canada’s national police force said on Thursday it has seized C$56 million ($40 million) in digital assets from the crypto trading platform TradeOgre, calling it the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the country’s history.
The amount surpasses a 2023 Ontario case in which authorities seized C$13 million in BTC linked to a darknet fentanyl ring, underscoring the scale of the current operation.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said it dismantled TradeOgre later than determining that the platform had operated without a licence and likely facilitated laundering of funds linked to criminal activity.
Under Canadian law, crypto platforms are required to register with the Financial Transactions and (FINTRAC) as money services businesses (MSBs). Platforms must conduct know-your-customer (KYC) checks and file suspicious transaction reports — obligations that TradeOgre failed to meet.
The seizure followed a probe launched in June 2024 by the RCMP’s Team, later than a tip from Europol. Investigators concluded that TradeOgre was acting as an unregistered money services business and failed to implement basic anti-money laundering controls, such as identifying its clients.
Europol has previously flagged TradeOgre in connection with ransomware groups such as Conti and LockBit, which reportedly used obscure, low-KYC platforms to . Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has also identified wallets tied to TradeOgre that processed millions in suspected illicit flows between 2019 and 2024.
Criminal Funds Suspected
“Investigators have reason to believe that the majority of funds transacted on TradeOgre came from criminal sources,” the RCMP said in its 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.” The RCMP estimates that more than 90% of TradeOgre’s transaction volume was tied to anonymity-enhancing coins such as Monero (XMR), which are favored by cybercriminals because they obscure transaction trails.
No charges have yet been filed against individuals connected to the platform, with police stressing that the investigation remains ongoing. Canadian law enforcement has a track record of pursuing criminal cases years later than asset seizures; in the 2021 case of , charges followed long later than initial takedowns.
TradeOgre’s official website now displays a seizure notice from the RCMP: “This site and its cryptoassets have been seized by the RCMP.” The platform’s last activity on X was recorded on May 28, 2025.
Before its takedown, TradeOgre was known in online forums as a “no-KYC” hub that processed daily volumes averaging $5–10 million, primarily in Monero, BTC, and lesser-known privacy tokens. The site was registered under an offshore domain with servers reportedly located in Eastern Europe, making it hard for regulators to pin down jurisdiction.
