Canada Revenue Agency recovers 100 million CAD but zero prosecutions: Why is cryptocurrency enforcement so difficult?

[Crypto World] In the past three years, the Canada Revenue Agency has recovered over 100 million Canadian dollars in taxes just by investigating cryptocurrencies. Sounds impressive, right? But here’s the strange part: since 2020, not a single criminal case has resulted in a successful prosecution.

So, where’s the problem? To put it simply, they “can’t even find the people.” Cryptocurrencies are inherently highly anonymous, making it extremely difficult for the tax authorities to determine “whose money is this” and “whether taxes have been paid.” Their crypto task force has already reviewed over 230 documents, and the estimated figures are even more discouraging—the data suggests that 40% of platform users are completely non-compliant.

Recently, the revenue agency finally obtained a court order allowing them to request data on 2,500 users from Dapper Labs. Even so, law enforcement is still stuck. Of the five criminal investigations started since 2020, four are still unresolved. Why? The cases are too complex, and often involve cross-border issues. If just one step goes wrong, the whole case grinds to a halt.

Ironically, while Canada is busy drafting new stablecoin regulations and has even established a dedicated agency to combat financial crime, this awkward situation of “finding the money but not the people” is unlikely to be resolved any time soon. The money has been recovered, but not a single person has been caught—this enforcement efficiency is certainly a bit questionable.