Supreme Court to review jurisdiction over crypto freeze in $65K bitcoin fraud case

Canada's Supreme Court will examine whether an Ontario court had jurisdiction to freeze cryptocurrency in a fraud case involving three Nigerian nationals.

Supreme Court takes up Ontario crypto freeze jurisdiction dispute

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear a case examining whether an Ontario court had jurisdiction to impose a statutory freeze on cryptocurrency linked to an alleged fraud, winnipegfreepress.com reports.

Three Nigerian citizens are accused of defrauding a person in Canada of approximately $65,000 in bitcoin. The Ontario attorney general applied for orders to restrain and manage the virtual currency, which was allegedly held by corporate entities operating as cryptocurrency exchanges.

Investigators traced the bitcoin to accounts held by Nest Services Ltd., a company with its head office in Seychelles. The Ontario Superior Court ruled in December of last year that some of the requested restraint and management orders should be granted.

Nest Exchange Ltd. — the current name of Nest Services — along with Binance Canada Capital Markets Inc. and Binance Canada Ltd. subsequently applied for a hearing at the Supreme Court.

The top court gave no reasons Thursday for agreeing to hear the matter, in keeping with its usual practice. No hearing date has been set.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2026.

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)