Mystery surrounds the draining of funds from the TradeOgre exchange: government seizure or $32 million hack?
According to The Rage, the cryptocurrency exchange TradeOgre, known for its non-KYC policy and popular among Monero users, is at the center of a controversy that has seen over $32 million disappear. The platform, which only allowed registration via email, abruptly ceased all public communication two months ago, leaving its website offline since July 29.
On September 16, for the first time after nearly two months of silence, the exchange’s funds began moving to an address reportedly controlled by the Canadian government. According to Arkham Intelligence data, in just over four hours, the linked Bitcoin address accumulated more than 126 BTC—approximately $15 million—all originating from TradeOgre.
On September 10, an OP_RETURN transaction made by the non-custodial exchange ChangeNow displayed the following message: “Crypto assets controlled by the RCMP Cryptoactifs contrls par la GRC,” seemingly referring to Canada’s national police force. The same message also appeared in an Ethereum transaction associated with the draining of another $17 million in ether.
The situation raises significant legal questions, The Rage reports. Even if the Canadian government had indeed confiscated the funds, it would raise serious ethical concerns. Funds held on a custodial exchange do not belong to the platform operators but to their customers, and using a non-KYC exchange, at least for now, is not a crime.
The lack of a legal requirement for the Canadian government to publicly announce seizures makes the situation even more ambiguous. According to The Rage, the OP_RETURN message and the Ethereum IDM message could represent:
- a prank blaming the Canadian government for a hack or exit scam;
- an attempt by an RCMP officer to ridicule users who lost millions of dollars;
- an actual government operation carried out in a questionable manner.
So far, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have not responded to The Rage’s requests for comment. TradeOgre users remain uncertain about the fate of their funds.
