Tradeogre is down right now is it hacked or is it seized ?

[Potato Chips]

Repost from Reddit:

https://socradar.io/salesforce-data-breach-affecting-multiple-companies/

Scroll down about 2/3 of article.

“ Beyond Salesforce-related claims, the group advertised a Linux local privilege escalation exploit for 10 BTC, suggested leaking Oracle source code if their post received 100 likes, and posted databases allegedly tied to the Snowflake breach. They commented on law enforcement actions, mocking the seizure of the cryptocurrency exchange TradeOgre, and announced plans for their own Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) program, boasting it would outperform DragonForce and LockBit.”

That's an interesting find. Though if I understand correctly, the said claim about TradeOgre was coming from bad actors, right? hence I'm not sure how truthful they are bad actors do bluff as well or perhaps could be wrong on their assessment. 🤔

[Trêvoid]

Could this be what happened to TradeOgre?

[jonlevy]

There are several fake tradeogre sites that have been harvesting actively logins - seems like this is an organized scheme

https://www.tradeogre.us/

https://trade-ogre.com

https://traderogre.com

https://tradeogre.icu/

https://tradeogreexchange.live

https://tradeogre.org/

With a court order, the domain registry is required to break privacy and divulge the domain holders.

I assume they have a way of accessing accounts, even if the account holders do not, otherwise why go to all this trouble and risk?

[Lind]

I'm more of a believer that TradeOgre is a government-backed honeypot. No different than ANOM because criminals are typically not smart.

Look at the Jeandiel Serrano case: https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/serrano-cryto-thief-doj-pretrial-detention-memo.pdf

They used numerous cryptocurrency exchanges such as eXch, which does
not require “Know Your Customer” (“KYC”) information. In one instance, Serrano himself
created an account on TradeOgre.com to make a deposit of approximately $29,000,000 worth of
virtual currency, believing it to be clean and successfully laundered. Each and every time the
account was accessed, it utilized a VPN connection to mask its location. Serrano however failed
to use a VPN when he created the account and records from TradeOgre show that the account was
created from an IP address registered to Serrano’s $47,500 per month rental home in Encino,
California.

Whoever runs it is not anonymous if the feds have account data. That they use services based in the United States like GoDaddy and Cloudflare creates an even easier paper trail of records to obtain. Not like they ever had a defined legal process for submitting and serving subpoenas. Make your own conclusions, but if they aren't working for the feds, then they are likely running from them for obvious reasons.

my belief is the operators ran coz ground under them became too hot so they decided to pull the plug, are we sure authorities have control of their wallets and stuff? when will we know? years? justice system is so slow man, but maybe better treat it as FUNDs GONE anyway

[Z-tight]

I believe we may never know what exactly happened to TradeOgre and we can only speculate and make our own conclusions from the speculation we believe makes the most sense to us. Be it an exit scam, honeypot or if somehow the government now controls their wallets and are after the owners. It is just endless speculation and i am sure most people who have funds there are already coming to the realization that they may never get their funds back.

[nonlogs]

I believe we may never know what exactly happened to TradeOgre and we can only speculate and make our own conclusions from the speculation we believe makes the most sense to us. Be it an exit scam, honeypot or if somehow the government now controls their wallets and are after the owners. It is just endless speculation and i am sure most people who have funds there are already coming to the realization that they may never get their funds back.

Funny part Govt running Honeypots and scams.

[Lind]

I believe we may never know what exactly happened to TradeOgre and we can only speculate and make our own conclusions from the speculation we believe makes the most sense to us. Be it an exit scam, honeypot or if somehow the government now controls their wallets and are after the owners. It is just endless speculation and i am sure most people who have funds there are already coming to the realization that they may never get their funds back.

actually we might know when they start to liquate assets and auctions will take place, but this could be years away, look at cryptopia how slow that case is

[TheCryptoFather]

I believe we may never know what exactly happened to TradeOgre and we can only speculate and make our own conclusions from the speculation we believe makes the most sense to us. Be it an exit scam, honeypot or if somehow the government now controls their wallets and are after the owners. It is just endless speculation and i am sure most people who have funds there are already coming to the realization that they may never get their funds back.

I have partially answered this question in my latest video. 4 of TO wallets have been ordered to be frozen by a court order. It's not the only exchange mind you.

[NotATether]

I believe we may never know what exactly happened to TradeOgre and we can only speculate and make our own conclusions from the speculation we believe makes the most sense to us. Be it an exit scam, honeypot or if somehow the government now controls their wallets and are after the owners. It is just endless speculation and i am sure most people who have funds there are already coming to the realization that they may never get their funds back.

All exchanges, KYC and no-KYC, should be treated as public toilets. Get in, do your business, and get out. Do not linger inside.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

All exchanges, KYC and no-KYC, should be treated as public toilets. Get in, do your business, and get out. Do not linger inside.

Never heard that analogy before, but damned if it isn't as funny as it is true.  Unfortunately, TO had been around for quite a while and developed a reputation (justified or not) as an exchange that wasn't out to scam its customers, so I assume a lot of people became comfortable keeping their crypto parked there--and that's obviously a bad idea no matter what the exchange's reputation is.

Could this be what happened to TradeOgre?
<snip>

Where did that document come from?  Looks to be an injunction of some sort, though I'm by no means a legal expert. 

My guess is that TO's situation has a lot to do with the crackdown on privacy that's apparently sweeping the globe.  That's a guess, mind you, and one I really don't hope is true.

[Trêvoid]

All exchanges, KYC and no-KYC, should be treated as public toilets. Get in, do your business, and get out. Do not linger inside.

Never heard that analogy before, but damned if it isn't as funny as it is true.  Unfortunately, TO had been around for quite a while and developed a reputation (justified or not) as an exchange that wasn't out to scam its customers, so I assume a lot of people became comfortable keeping their crypto parked there--and that's obviously a bad idea no matter what the exchange's reputation is.

Could this be what happened to TradeOgre?
<snip>

Where did that document come from?  Looks to be an injunction of some sort, though I'm by no means a legal expert.  

My guess is that TO's situation has a lot to do with the crackdown on privacy that's apparently sweeping the globe.  That's a guess, mind you, and one I really don't hope is true.

TradeOgre is one of several exchanges that had wallets frozen.




its showing the impacted wallets and exchanges, i believe there is a connection.

[Alpha Marine]

Unfortunately, TO had been around for quite a while and developed a reputation (justified or not) as an exchange that wasn't out to scam its customers, so I assume a lot of people became comfortable keeping their crypto parked there--and that's obviously a bad idea no matter what the exchange's reputation is.

This is exactly the mistake a lot of people make. I remember telling him something about the dangers of CEX, and he said, "It's finance, nothing will happen to finance". Nothing happened to his coin, but this is the case with many people. As long as the exchange has been operating for a long time and has a reputation, then they can safely keep their coins there. After all, the exchange assures them their coins are perfectly safe.
They feel the exchange is too big to fail. "They have a reputation to uphold". In the world we live in, nothing is too big to fail. People never learn till it's too late.

I even have a friend who only got scared after he read about the bybit hack a few months ago, where they stole a lot of Ethereum from bybit. It was after that incident that he finally agreed to move to a non-custodial wallet. He had half of his life savings in bitcoin, and that really scared him. It was then he realised exchanges are not as safe or secure as they want the public to believe.
I honestly don't know why people will have the choice of having 100% control of their coins but still choose to hand that control over to someone else.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Where did that document come from?  Looks to be an injunction of some sort, though I'm by no means a legal expert.  

TradeOgre is one of several exchanges that had wallets frozen.

This was my original question and I still don't know.  But just reading the text of it, it seems like somebody's trying to get their hacked coins back and the government took action (along with a slew of companies).  None of that relates to TradeOgre going dark unless I'm missing something obvious.

This is exactly the mistake a lot of people make. I remember telling him something about the dangers of CEX, and he said, "It's finance, nothing will happen to finance". Nothing happened to his coin, but this is the case with many people. As long as the exchange has been operating for a long time and has a reputation, then they can safely keep their coins there.

Yeah, and newcomers who don't know bitcoin's history--including that of its exchanges like Mt. Gox, Cryptsy, and many others--will probably just assume like you said that crypto exchanges are just like banks, who won't just close all of their branches, take down their websites overnight, and run away with their customers' funds.  The really sad part is that because of those exchanges that caused people to lose so much money, it's brought crypto under the microscope of regulators all over the globe.  Think there will ever be a service like Circle circa 2016 where you could just sign up and convert fiat to bitcoin with super-low fees?  And how long do you think it's going to be until all the non-KYC exchanges are gone from the face of the earth?

[Alpha Marine]

Yeah, and newcomers who don't know bitcoin's history--including that of its exchanges like Mt. Gox, Cryptsy, and many others--will probably just assume like you said that crypto exchanges are just like banks, who won't just close all of their branches, take down their websites overnight, and run away with their customers' funds.  The really sad part is that because of those exchanges that caused people to lose so much money, it's brought crypto under the microscope of regulators all over the globe. 

I think you mistakenly left a closing tag that shouldn't be there on your post. You should edit it and remove the last closing tag.

Think there will ever be a service like Circle circa 2016 where you could just sign up and convert fiat to bitcoin with super-low fees? 

I doubt it. I never used it, though. I wasn't into Bitcoin then.
They've seen that there is money to be made, and they've had a taste of the money, so I doubt services like that will ever be available again. It would most likely not be profitable, so "it won't be worth it". Same way memes and altcoins will continue to be created. I heard Kanye West launched another memecoin a couple of days ago. There's money to be made.

And how long do you think it's going to be until all the non-KYC exchanges are gone from the face of the earth?

As long as the government allows it. For now, they just make life difficult for them, and I feel this is because a lot of people don't use them compared to KYC exchanges. When you ask why the government are against non-KYC exchanges, they will give the usual excuses of fraud, terrorism, money laundering, but we all know the main reason.

[jonlevy]

Victims of Vanished Crypto Exchange Trade Ogre Establish Litigation Trust

September 1, 2025
(For Immediate Release)

The Trade Ogre crypto currency exchange vanished without a trace on July 30, 2025. While the exact amounts of cryptocurrency on deposit there was unknown, the exchange established in 2018, had volume estimated to have been $1 billion annually. Trade Ogre was not a licensed exchange yet freely operated in the United States and European Union without regulatory intervention.

Trade Ogre focused on privacy coins such as Monero, Beam, and Epic Cash and lesser known tokens with over 150 different coins tradeable at times. Trading in the privacy token Monero averaged a brisk $2 million per day or over $500 million annually. With an emphasis on privacy, Trade Ogre was known for not requiring positive identification to establish accounts yet it did collect cell phone, email, crypto wallet and IP data from its users.

Dr. Jonathan Levy, the London based lawyer specializing in cryptocurrency representing the claimants indicates that upwards of $100 million in cryptocurrency may have vanished. Account holders have assigned their claims to a litigation trust to preserve their privacy. The suspicious circumstances around Trade Ogre’s unrestricted operation for so many years have led many to suspect the exchange was a front for cartel money laundering or a financial  intelligence collection operation. Account holders are urged to exercise caution as it is noted that several false Trade Ogre platforms have emerged which are harvesting user data for an unknown purpose.

Dr. Levy stated: “Trade Ogre may have disappeared but we know who its partners are.  An exchange cannot operate in a vacuum, there are domain registrars, internet service providers, privacy providers, cybersecurity and network operators who had a hand in Trade Ogre’s operation. They hold the keys to identifying the unknown persons behind the exchange and they have liability for knowingly abetting and enabling an unlicensed exchange to operate for so many years.”

According to Dr. Levy, large claims have already been assigned to the trust including one for over $300,000 in Bitcoin. The litigation trust will be contacting third parties seeking information and settlements in addition to privacy and consumer claims that will be  brought against those responsible for Trade Ogre’s operations. The Trust lawyer will also engage with law enforcement if evidence of criminal activity is evident. Anyone who had a Trade Ogre account and whose cryptocurrency and/or data was compromised may join the litigation trust.

For more information:

Dr. Jonathan Levy
Attorney & Solicitor
info@jlevy.co
Tel +1 707-298-2132