Questions raised about crypto and currency exchanges along Yonge Street in Richmond Hill
A growing number of cryptocurrency and money-exchange businesses along Yonge Street — including in Richmond Hill — are drawing renewed scrutiny after investigations suggested some may be vulnerable to exploitation by sanctioned regimes and international criminal networks.
According to reporting by the Toronto Star and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, more than 30 crypto-related storefronts operate along the Yonge Street corridor stretching from North York into Richmond Hill, many of them clustered in the area’s Persian commercial districts.
These businesses typically advertise services such as instant cryptocurrency purchases, currency exchange and international transfers. But investigators say the same services can also provide a pathway for moving money across borders outside traditional banking systems.
Links to wallets tied to sanctioned groups
One Yonge Street business, Million Exchange, was connected through blockchain records to a digital wallet that handled more than $200 million in cryptocurrency transactions over roughly a year and a half.
Two of those transactions in 2025 reportedly involved more than $588,000 worth of cryptocurrency sent from a wallet that Israeli authorities later linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an organization designated as a terrorist entity by Canada.
The ability to trace those transfers came from identifying the wallet address used in the transactions. Cryptocurrency transactions are recorded on a public blockchain ledger, but without knowing the wallet address used by a business it is difficult to follow the flow of funds.
Blockchain analytics firm Crystal Intelligence provided the wallet data to investigators. Nick Smart, an analyst with the Amsterdam-based company, warned that regulators may not fully grasp the scale of the sector.
“I don’t think Canadian authorities realize the scale of what they’re looking at,” Smart said. “They haven’t understood how many of these services exist within Canada.”
Sanctions created a parallel financial system
The concentration of currency exchanges along Yonge Street has roots in international sanctions against Iran.
Beginning in 2010, Canada imposed restrictions aimed at preventing the Iranian regime from accessing funds that could support its nuclear and military programs. Canadian banks effectively stopped processing direct transfers to or from Iran.
As a result, many members of the Iranian diaspora turned to money-exchange services to send funds to family members back home. Over time, those services expanded and, more recently, began incorporating cryptocurrency transactions.
Community advocates say most of these businesses serve legitimate customers. But the same network can also be exploited by actors seeking to evade sanctions.
Toronto human-rights lawyer Kaveh Shahrooz has warned that individuals connected to the Iranian regime may be using businesses in the Toronto region to move illicit funds into Canada.
“What you’re describing is very easy to shut down or very easy to investigate,” he said. “But as far as I know no one’s doing it.”
Previous investigations on Yonge Street
Authorities have examined similar concerns before.
In 2014, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration alerted the RCMP to allegations that currency-exchange storefronts in north Toronto strip malls were involved in an international money-laundering and narco-terror network.
One investigation focused on a Yonge Street exchange whose owner, Farzam Mehdizadeh, later left Canada for Iran. He remains wanted in connection with an alleged $100-million laundering scheme tied to organized crime and terrorism financing.
Another business, Rosco Trading International, faced charges in the United States in 2020 for allegedly helping Iran evade sanctions through an international financial network. The case has not been prosecuted in Canada, and a lawyer representing the company denied wrongdoing.
Crypto adds a new layer of complexity
Experts say cryptocurrency has made the problem harder to police.
Digital tokens can be transferred across borders almost instantly and without relying on banks, allowing sanctioned regimes or criminal organizations to move funds more easily.
The Iranian government has increasingly turned to cryptocurrencies as a way to bypass financial restrictions, according to blockchain research firms. Analysts say such funds can ultimately support proxy groups and other geopolitical activities.
Even relatively small amounts can be significant. “Terrorist attacks don’t cost a lot of money,” said Jessica Davis, an expert in illicit financing.
Questions about oversight
Under Canadian law, businesses dealing in cryptocurrency must register with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) and report suspicious or large transactions.
FINTRAC said it has issued nearly $205 million in penalties to money-services businesses over the past three years for violations such as failing to register or failing to report suspicious transactions.
But investigators say the number of storefront crypto exchanges appearing along Yonge Street — including those in Richmond Hill’s downtown corridor — raises questions about whether regulators are keeping up.
For residents and observers, the issue is not just the number of exchange shops appearing along the corridor but the possibility that some could be used as gateways for moving illicit funds into Canada.
As one blockchain analyst put it, the challenge for regulators may be that the system they are trying to oversee has already grown far larger than many officials realize.