Canada has fined Cryptomus an eye-watering $126 million for breaking the nation’s anti-money laundering guidelines. Cryptomus, formally registered as Xeltox Enterprises Ltd and primarily based in Vancouver, reportedly didn’t report hundreds of suspicious transactions, together with ones doubtlessly linked to critical crimes akin to little one exploitation, ransomware, and sanctions evasion.
In July 2024 alone, Cryptomus selected to not report over 1,000 situations of suspicious exercise and greater than 1,500 reviews on giant crypto transactions.
Canada’s monetary watchdog, Monetary Transactions and Experiences Evaluation Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), introduced the penalty on 22 October 2025 and stated that the corporate’s lack of reporting posed a critical threat to Canada’s monetary system.
That is the most important superb that FINTRAC has ever imposed on a single firm. The $126 million penalty is sort of 9 occasions bigger than the $14 million superb that KuCoin acquired final month.
Is crypto regulation killing innovation? Regardless of $126M fines like Canada's Xeltox crackdown, compliant initiatives see 30% larger adoption (BlackRock knowledge)! → Resist, lose the Web3 race.
Will Ethereum's 'auto-compliance' good contracts make regulators out of date? #Cry pic.twitter.com/jGCNESVz1h
— TrackerAI (@TrackerAI) October 22, 2025
Again in Might, Binance’s Canadian department was additionally fined $4.28 million for related points.
In each the circumstances, the businesses didn’t register correctly and didn’t report massive or suspicious crypto transactions, a key requirement by regulation to assist stop cash laundering.
EXPLORE: Subsequent 1000X Crypto – Right here’s 10+ Crypto Tokens That Can Hit 1000x This 12 months
Cryptomus Hid Little one Abuse And Iran-Linked Transactions
The Canadian monetary watchdog iterated that investigators discovered Cryptomus to have hidden transactions linked to little one abuse materials, ransomware, fraud and transfers involving Iran. FINTRAC highlighted in a separate assertion that the nation’s crypto sector has critical weaknesses, which makes it simpler for criminals to take benefit.
Vulnerabilities in Canada’s crypto sector, “considerably impair transparency and accountability and make the sector as an entire prone to exploitation by illicit actors,” FINTRAC famous.
FINTRAC referred to as the corporate’s inside system as being “incomplete and insufficient.”
Cryptomus Fined C$176.96 M by FINTRAC in Landmark AML Case
Canada’s monetary intelligence company FINTRAC has fined Xeltox Enterprises Ltd. (Cryptomus) a document C$176.96 million (≈ US $126 million) for intensive anti-money-laundering breaches tied to little one exploitation,… pic.twitter.com/zFVFwkmPc0
— Occasions of Blockchain (@TimesOfBlockC_) October 24, 2025
Moreover, the corporate additionally didn’t comply with a authorities order requiring further checks on Iran-related transactions, skipping further scrutiny of greater than 7,557 transactions between July and December 2024.
The monetary watchdog additionally discovered that the corporate’s listed Vancouver handle was only a rented mailbox. There have been no workers or places of work in Canada and all communications throughout the investigation got here from both Uzbekistan or Spain.
EXPLORE: The 12+ Hottest Crypto Presales to Purchase Proper Now
Cryptomus Moved $250M In Crypto By Sanctioned Trade Garantex
In the course of the investigations, it was revealed that Cryptomus had moved round $250 million in crypto via Garantex, a sanctioned Russian alternate accused by the US of serving to criminals launder cash.
Analysts from the analysis agency TRM Labs advised investigators that Cryptomus additionally had ties to Nobitex, an Iranian alternate, and had interacted with a number of cybercrime teams primarily based out of Russia. It additional confirmed that it had witnessed direct transactions between Cryptomus and identified felony networks.
The corporate’s founder, is a sure Sanjar Berdiev from Uzbekistan. A Kazakh patent lawyer named Kakhanova Renata Andreyevna filed for the corporate’s Canadian trademark license. She has additionally filed for a trademark license for an additional firm named Xeltox in each the UK and Australia.
FINTRAC stated Cryptomus gave them outdated contact particulars, together with a telephone quantity that isn’t linked to the corporate and an e-mail handle that now not works.
Key Takeaways
Canada fined Cryptomus $126M for failing to report 2,593 suspicious crypto transactions
FINTRAC discovered hyperlinks to little one abuse, ransomware, and Iran-related transfers in unreported exercise
Cryptomus moved $250 million for sanctioned Russian alternate, Garantex
The submit Canada Crypto Crackdown: $126M Nice Thrown At Cryptomus After 2,593 AML Breaches appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
