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 did not report hundreds of suspicious transactions, together with ones probably linked to severe crimes comparable to youngster 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 experiences on massive crypto transactions.
Canada’s monetary watchdog, Monetary Transactions and Reviews Evaluation Centre of Canada (FINTRAC), introduced the penalty on 22 October 2025 and mentioned that the corporate’s lack of reporting posed a severe danger to Canada’s monetary system.
That is the largest nice that FINTRAC has ever imposed on a single firm. The $126 million penalty is nearly 9 occasions bigger than the $14 million nice that KuCoin bought final month.
Is crypto regulation killing innovation? Regardless of $126M fines like Canada's Xeltox crackdown, compliant initiatives see 30% increased adoption (BlackRock information)! → Resist, lose the Web3 race.
Will Ethereum's 'auto-compliance' sensible contracts make regulators out of date? #Cry pic.twitter.com/jGCNESVz1h
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Again in Might, Binance’s Canadian department was additionally fined $4.28 million for comparable points.
In each the instances, the businesses did not register correctly and didn’t report large or suspicious crypto transactions, a key requirement by legislation to assist forestall cash laundering.
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Cryptomus Hid Baby Abuse And Iran-Linked Transactions
The Canadian monetary watchdog iterated that investigators discovered Cryptomus to have hidden transactions linked to youngster abuse materials, ransomware, fraud and transfers involving Iran. FINTRAC highlighted in a separate assertion that the nation’s crypto sector has severe 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 inclined to exploitation by illicit actors,” FINTRAC famous.
FINTRAC known 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 file C$176.96 million (≈ US $126 million) for in depth anti-money-laundering breaches tied to youngster exploitation,… pic.twitter.com/zFVFwkmPc0
— Instances of Blockchain (@TimesOfBlockC_) October 24, 2025
Moreover, the corporate additionally did not 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 tackle was only a rented mailbox. There have been no employees or places of work in Canada and all communications throughout the investigation got here from both Uzbekistan or Spain.
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Cryptomus Moved $250M In Crypto Via Sanctioned Trade Garantex
Through the investigations, it was revealed that Cryptomus had moved round $250 million in crypto via Garantex, a sanctioned Russian trade accused by the US of serving to criminals launder cash.
Analysts from the analysis agency TRM Labs instructed investigators that Cryptomus additionally had ties to Nobitex, an Iranian trade, 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 recognized legal 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 mentioned Cryptomus gave them outdated contact particulars, together with a telephone quantity that’s not linked to the corporate and an electronic mail tackle that now not works.
Key Takeaways
Canada fined Cryptomus $126M for failing to report 2,593 suspicious crypto transactions
FINTRAC discovered hyperlinks to youngster abuse, ransomware, and Iran-related transfers in unreported exercise
Cryptomus moved $250 million for sanctioned Russian trade, Garantex
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