FINTRAC imposes record C$176.96 million penalty on Cryptomus operator Xeltox Enterprises

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) announced on 22 October 2025 that it had imposed an administrative monetary penalty of C$176,960,190 on Xeltox Enterprises Ltd., which operates as Cryptomus and was previously known as Certa Payments Ltd., for non-compliance with the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.

FINTRAC proposed the penalty on 17 July 2025 following a compliance examination and confirmed it on 16 October after reviewing representations from the company. It covers 2,593 contraventions across six types of violation. The amount is roughly nine times the C$19.55 million penalty imposed on KuCoin operator Peken Global Limited in July 2025.

SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS NOT REPORTED

The regulator found that Xeltox failed on 1,068 occasions to submit suspicious transaction reports for transactions involving known darknet markets and virtual currency wallets linked to criminal activity, including trafficking in child sexual abuse material, movement of fraud proceeds, laundering of ransomware payments and suspected sanctions evasion. It also failed on 1,518 occasions to report receiving virtual currency worth C$10,000 or more in a single transaction. Both sets of violations occurred in July 2024.

The company further failed to comply with a Ministerial Directive in connection with transactions associated with Iran, to develop and apply up-to-date written compliance policies and procedures, and to assess and document its money laundering and terrorist financing risks. It also failed on four occasions to notify FINTRAC of changes to its registration information.

Xeltox, a money services business providing virtual currency services, is incorporated in British Columbia and registered at a Vancouver address associated with a mailbox service. FINTRAC said the company had no employees working in Canada and that its representatives communicated with the regulator from Uzbekistan and Spain during the examination in March 2025.

“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 Chief Executive Officer. Xeltox could appeal the penalty to the Federal Court.