Canada’s Cryptomus exchange hit with record 177 million CAD fine for money-laundering failures

Canada’s financial crime watchdog, FINTRAC, imposed a record penalty of C$176.96 million (USD $126.2 million) on the crypto exchange Cryptomus (officially Xeltox Enterprises Ltd.) for severe anti-money-laundering and sanctions-related failures. FINTRAC found that Cryptomus failed to report over 1,000 suspicious transactions linked to darknet markets, child sexual abuse material, fraud, ransomware, and sanctions evasion. Additionally, the exchange failed to report thousands of large-value crypto transactions and transfers involving Iran, demonstrating incomplete and inadequate “know-your-client” procedures and risk assessments. This penalty is the largest in FINTRAC's history, surpassing previous fines against KuCoin and Binance, as the regulator pushes the virtual-currency industry toward compliance standards expected of traditional financial institutions.

(Source：The Block)