KuCoin

History

2025: Consent to pay US $300 million fine for operating without a license

On January 27, 2025, the US Department of Justice announced that the KuCoin crypto exchange pleaded guilty to conducting money transfer activities without the necessary license. The platform agreed to pay a fine of approximately $300 million.

Founded in September 2017, KuCoin is one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange sites with more than 30 million customers and billions of dollars in daily trading. Since 2019, the management company KuCoin has been Peken Global Limited, registered in the Seychelles.

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Фото: Freepik

The US Department of Justice said in a statement that KuCoin violated US laws by not implementing effective anti-money laundering (AML) and "know your client" (KYC) programs, which are of great importance for preventing various financial crimes. In addition, it is alleged that the crypto exchange did not report suspicious transactions and worked with American clients without registering with the Financial Crime Agency as part of the US Treasury Department (FinCEN).

For years, KuCoin has avoided implementing the necessary anti-money laundering measures designed to identify criminals and prevent illegal transactions. As a result, KuCoin was used to carry out suspicious transactions worth billions of dollars and to launder potentially criminal proceeds, including funds from the implementation of fraudulent schemes, the spread of malware and ransomware viruses, says US Attorney Daniel Sassoon.

In accordance with the agreement, KuCoin will pay fines totaling more than $297 million and leave the US market for at least two years. The founders of the platform, Chong Gang, aka "Michael," and Ke Tan, aka "Eric," will no longer play any role in the management or operations of KuCoin.^[1]

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