Canada recovers 100 million CAD in crypto taxes, but can't file a single criminal case?

[Chain News] Canada has recently revealed some intriguing numbers regarding cryptocurrency taxation. Over the past three years, the tax authority has collected more than 100 million CAD (about 72 million USD) from crypto users through audits. Sounds impressive? But what’s even more interesting is that—since 2020, not a single criminal case has been filed.

What’s behind this? Court documents reveal that the tax agency has processed over 230 related files, and internal estimates show that about 40% of people using crypto platforms either haven’t reported taxes at all or are pushing the limits of compliance. But here’s the catch: they themselves admit that they “can’t figure out how many taxpayers there actually are in the crypto space, let alone accurately assess these individuals’ income tax situations.”

As for enforcement measures? Still in the exploratory stage. Take the recent Dapper Labs case: the tax authority initially wanted data on the first 18,000 users, but after negotiations and compromises, the court ultimately authorized the release of information for 2,500 individuals. This marks only the second time since the Coinsquare case in 2020 that the court has compelled a local crypto company to hand over user data.

In short, the current situation is this: they’ve collected a lot of money, but the entire regulatory framework is still missing pieces—data is incomplete, violations are hard to identify, and criminal prosecution is practically impossible. This awkward “able to issue fines but unable to press charges” state actually highlights the sense of powerlessness the traditional tax system feels when dealing with decentralized technology.