“Digital Currency” – Blazingcatfur

Fintrac flags ‘high-risk’ Canadian crypto shops knowingly helping to launder funds for organized crime and Iran-linked groups

A broad swath of crypto businesses in Canada are intentionally acting as conduits for money laundering, Iran-linked sanctions evasion and organized crime, the federal anti-money laundering watchdog has found.

The alarming conclusion is contained in an internal briefing from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (Fintrac), authored around the time the Star and media partners published articles exposing unlawful practices by operations known as over-the-counter (OTC) cash desks or crypto-to-cash services.

Canada is the 3rd World with maple syrup and that may be counterfeit.

by Blazingcatfur•July 20, 2026July 20, 2026•0•"Digital Currency"

“Financial Surveillance”: EU Parliament Approves Creation of Digital Euro

Europe has just taken a major step toward creating the digital euro, a project that could soon open the door to leaving Europeans’ financial freedom at the mercy of Brussels.

On Thursday, July 9th, the European Parliament’s plenary adopted a text on the creation of the EU’s own CBDC (central bank digital currency), sending the file to the final stage of interinstitutional negotiations before the digital euro’s planned issuance from January 2029.

by Blazingcatfur•July 11, 2026July 11, 2026•0•"Digital Currency", "Surveillance Society"

Jailed crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried seeks Trump pardon

Sam Bankman-Fried, the one-time giant in cryptocurrencies currently in prison for fraud, has applied for a pardon from President Donald Trump.

Bankman-Fried was given a 25-year sentence after he was convicted of multiple federal charges related to FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that he founded and led, and its related company Alameda Research.

Just two years into that sentence, the 34-year-old former billionaire has now filed an application for pardon after completion of sentence to the Department of Justice, according to online records.

by Blazingcatfur•June 9, 2026June 9, 2026•0•"Digital Currency", Crime

When they abolish cash they abolish freedom

A VEXING experience awaits anyone attempting to use cash in Britain. One enters a café, a supermarket, or even a public event carrying legal tender only to discover that physical money is treated as if it were counterfeit currency, and those who still insist on using it are regarded as if they had arrived from another planet. No law has prohibited cash. No decree has abolished it. Yet through countless small refusals repeated across daily life, people learn that participation in the economy involves digital traceability or, more simply, an erosion of privacy.

by Blazingcatfur•May 30, 2026May 29, 2026•0•"Digital Currency", "Digital ID", "Surveillance Society"

Suspicious transactions at GTA crypto shops reveal alleged links to Iran-backed terror groups. Is the regulator doing enough to police them?

In a row of small Yonge Street storefronts, Million Exchange angles for a corner of a booming market.

“Instant buying and selling of digital currencies,” it promises on its website, though the shop is not in the federal registry of authorized crypto businesses. Registration is a requirement meant to deter money laundering and terrorist financing.

Over the last year and a half, more than $200 million worth of digital currencies has moved through a virtual wallet used by Million Exchange.

by Blazingcatfur•March 8, 2026March 8, 2026•0•"Digital Currency", "US Israel Iran War", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, terrorism, Terrorism - financing

Fake passports, $65M US and an Interpol Red Notice: Canadian crypto fugitive vanishes after arrest in Serbia

As his flight departed from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted.

Just two weeks later, on Dec. 11, 2023, Dutch authorities issued a European arrest warrant for the then 21-year-old, alleging he had pulled off a “sophisticated hack” that netted him $48 million US in cryptocurrency.

… The fifth estate emailed Medjedovic to request a comment on the allegations against him.

He replied: “I have only one defence to the allegations: ‘I’m a racist.’ Please include that, that’s all, thanks.”

Another reason to avoid crypto.

by Blazingcatfur•January 30, 2026January 30, 2026•0•"Digital Currency", Canada, Crime

Ex-girlfriend of Sam Bankman-Fried set to be released from prison EARLY – two years after she brought down the disgraced FTX founder

Caroline Ellison, the former girlfriend of crypto swindler Sam Bankman-Fried, is set to be released from prison just over a year into her sentence.

The 31-year-old was sentenced to two years in prison in September 2024 for wire fraud and money laundering, after admitting to helping Bankman-Fried’s FTX platform steal billions from clients.

According to Federal Bureau of Prisons records seen by the Daily Mail, Ellison is now set to be released from custody on January 21, 2026, nine months before the end of her original sentence.

by Blazingcatfur•December 28, 2025December 27, 2025•0•"Digital Currency", Crime

Why Canada is seen ‘as a very weak link’ in the global fight against crypto fraud — and what can be done to fix it

It was Mark Carney who convinced Marienelle Mariscal to invest in crypto. Or so she thought.

In April, when Mariscal was stuck in her Toronto home, unable to work while awaiting surgery, she stumbled across a video on social media that appeared to show the prime minister urging viewers to invest in cryptocurrency. Mariscal was intrigued.

“I was hoping that I can just get some money while I’m at home recuperating,” the 41-year-old said.

by Blazingcatfur•December 20, 2025December 19, 2025•0•"Digital Currency", Crime, Crypto Currency

Canada shouldn’t go cashless

In a world gone digital, Canadians aren’t quite ready to give up on cash. Let’s keep it that way.

According to a recent Bank of Canada survey, paper money accounted for just 20 per cent of all transactions last year, down from 54 per cent in 2009. One-fifth of Canadians say they no longer carry any cash on a daily basis.

by Blazingcatfur•December 18, 2025December 17, 2025•0•"Digital Currency", "Digital ID", "Surveillance Society", Canada

Canada’s crypto tax crackdown reaps millions. So why no criminal charges?

VANCOUVER – A team of Canada Revenue Agency “cryptoasset auditors” has been mining a rich seam of unpaid taxes, working on more than 200 files and reaping more $100 million in the last three years.

While the agency says up to 40 per cent of taxpayers who use cryptoasset platforms either haven’t filed their taxes or are at high risk of non-compliance, no criminal charges have been laid since 2020.

Court filings involving a Vancouver-based crypto firm suggest the federal government’s efforts to rein in crypto-based tax evasion and illicit financing are hampered by limited resources for enforcement in a space hallmarked by its borderless anonymity.

by Blazingcatfur•December 7, 2025December 7, 2025•0•"Digital Currency"

Conservative MP warns against mandatory digital ID for Canadians

Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis is urging cabinet to ensure any digital identification program remains strictly voluntary, warning that mandatory systems could turn taxpayer-funded services into tools of surveillance.

Blacklock’s Reporter says the Department of Employment is moving forward with legislative changes that would allow Canadians to use digital ID when applying for Employment Insurance and Old Age Security benefits.

(Incognito)

by Blazingcatfur•November 24, 2025November 23, 2025•0•"Digital Currency", Canada

Bank of Canada will regulate a Canadian ‘stablecoin.’ But just how stable will it be?

Canada is moving with what could be called urgent caution as stablecoin goes mainstream.

Stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency, or digital dollar, which has stability as perhaps its greatest asset. Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile.

Stablecoin, by contrast, is backed by real assets — cash or high-quality liquid assets — and is pegged one-to-one to a currency or commodity, often the U.S. dollar, the world’s reserve currency.

It will be just stable enough for the Laurentian elites to profit handsomely before it crashes and the tax payers are left holding the bag.

by Blazingcatfur•November 22, 2025November 22, 2025•0•"Digital Currency", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

RCMP Say They’ve Seized $56 Million in ‘Largest Cryptocurrency Seizure’ in Canadian History

Quebec RCMP say a recent $56 million cryptocurrency seizure is the largest in Canadian history, and the first time law enforcement in the country have shut down a cryptocurrency exchange platform.

Police allege that the platform, TradeOgre, was being used by criminal organizations to launder money.

by Blazingcatfur•September 20, 2025September 19, 2025•0•"Digital Currency", Crime

Welcome to Big Brother’s Digital Prison, Part I: Central Bank Digital Currencies

Globalist leaders are working at full speed to introduce central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). A CBDC is a digital currency that is issued directly by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve in the US, the European Central Bank in the EU’s eurozone, and the Bank of England in the UK.

by Blazingcatfur•September 17, 2025September 17, 2025•0•"Digital Currency", "Dystopia At Last"

Inside a crypto heist: Hamilton youth who stole $48-million strikes again

On a summer day in 2022, a lonely, troubled youth appeared in a Hamilton courtroom to say he’s “very sorry” for stealing $48-million in cryptocurrency. “I intend to move forward only in a positive direction,” he said.

His lawyer said the 19-year-old now wanted to use his skills for good, to work in cybersecurity, “a fitting way for this case to come full circle.”

The judge sentenced the young man to a year of probation, taking into account the year he already spent in custody and the fact that he was 17 when he did the deed. The young man, who cannot be named under Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act, was forbidden from dealing with crypto during his probation – not a significant deprivation, admittedly, but certainly damaging to the career of a young cybercriminal.

by Blazingcatfur•August 24, 2025August 23, 2025•0•"Digital Currency", Crime