Canada’s financial crime agency has imposed its largest penalty to date against a crypto exchange, fining Cryptomus C$177mn (US$126mn) for widespread anti-money-laundering and sanctions violations, according to a press release.
Canadian Firm Cryptomus Faces Record C$177mn Fine for Money-Laundering Failures
23 October 2025 - 10:18 CEST
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) said the British Columbia-based exchange failed to report thousands of high-risk crypto transactions between July and December 2024.
FINTRAC found that Cryptomus had neglected to flag more than 1,000 suspicious transfers linked to darknet markets and wallets associated with child sexual abuse material, fraud, ransomware, and sanctions evasion.
Nefarious crypto
The regulator also identified 7,557 unreported transfers from Iran and 1,518 large-value crypto transactions exceeding C$10,000 during the same period. It said Cryptomus lacked sufficient know-your-client procedures, risk assessments, and monitoring systems, describing its compliance framework as “incomplete and inadequate”.
The exchange, which was banned from trading securities in British Columbia earlier this year, now faces the highest monetary penalty ever imposed by the agency.
“Given that numerous violations in this case were connected to trafficking in child sexual abuse material, fraud, ransomware payments and sanctions evasion, FINTRAC was compelled to take this unprecedented enforcement action,” said Sarah Paquet, FINTRAC’s Director and CEO.
Cracking down
The record fine comes amid a broader crackdown on offshore and unregistered exchanges. In July, FINTRAC fined KuCoin C$19.5mn for similar violations, while Binance paid C$6mn in 2024 for failing to register and report large transactions.
The previous record penalty of C$20mn, imposed on Peken Global Ltd in September, has now been eclipsed.
Authorities said the action against Cryptomus underscores Canada’s push to align its crypto oversight with traditional financial crime standards, mirroring global efforts to tighten control over digital asset platforms used for sanctions evasion and money laundering.
Global context
The move brings Canada’s enforcement posture closer to that of the United States and the European Union, where authorities have intensified scrutiny of crypto exchanges over AML and sanctions breaches. The U.S. Treasury’s FinCEN and OFAC have already issued billion-dollar penalties against platforms such as Binance and BitMEX, while the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) is introducing unified compliance standards across member states.
FINTRAC’s action indicates that Ottawa is aligning with this global trend and now views crypto platforms not as experimental technology but as financial intermediaries that must meet the same accountability standards as banks and brokers.
