The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has successfully obtained a court order requiring Dapper Labs to provide information on 2,500 users, a significant move in the nation’s efforts to enforce crypto tax compliance.
Summary
- A Federal Court ruling mandates Dapper Labs to release detailed information on 2,500 users, down from an initial inquiry that covered about 18,000 accounts.
- Since 2020, the CRA has collected over C$100 million in unpaid crypto taxes and is establishing a new financial crimes unit, with plans to implement the OECD CARF by 2026.
- In 2025, Canadian regulators, including FINTRAC, increased their enforcement actions, imposing substantial AML penalties on companies like Cryptomus and KuCoin, thereby enhancing overall crypto compliance efforts.
The Canada Revenue Agency has secured a court order that mandates Dapper Labs to disclose detailed information about 2,500 users as part of a broader inquiry into undisclosed cryptocurrency income, as indicated by court filings from September 2025.
Investigation of Dapper Labs Users by CRA
This Federal Court decision requires the Vancouver-based NFT platform to provide data on a select group of users, marking the second significant investigation into crypto tax evasion in Canada. Initially, the CRA requested information on around 18,000 accounts but scaled down the request to 2,500 after discussions with the company, per agency statements.
Dapper Labs, renowned for its NFT offerings such as NBA Top Shot and CryptoKitties, has not been charged with any misconduct. This court ruling follows a precedent set in 2020 when the CRA acquired customer details from the Toronto-based exchange Coinsquare.
According to CRA data, the agency has recouped over C$100 million in unpaid cryptocurrency taxes over the last three years. However, since 2020, no criminal convictions have been secured for crypto tax evasion, despite ongoing investigations.
Internal CRA assessments suggest that up to 40% of users on specific platforms may not be compliant with tax reporting obligations. Investigators have noted challenges in gathering evidence across various jurisdictions and decentralized platforms as significant hurdles to prosecution.
The federal government is set to launch a new financial crimes agency by spring 2026 to bolster investigative capabilities and improve data collection for digital asset cases, as announced by government officials.
Starting in 2026, Canada will adopt the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, which mandates crypto-asset service providers to report customer identities, account balances, and transaction details to the CRA on an annual basis. This framework aligns Canada with other nations implementing stricter disclosure requirements for digital asset firms.
In 2025, Canadian regulators intensified enforcement measures. FINTRAC, the country’s financial intelligence unit, levied a C$176.96 million penalty on Cryptomus for anti-money-laundering violations and fined KuCoin C$19.5 million for similar infractions, according to FINTRAC reports.
The combination of court-ordered data disclosures, the upcoming CARF reporting obligations, and the establishment of a financial crimes agency signifies a substantial enhancement of Canada’s strategy toward cryptocurrency taxation and compliance.
