Experts Refute ‘High Risk’ Label on KuCoin Transactions

On April 23, the Telegram channel “BitLenta” disseminated information claiming that unnamed AML services had allegedly begun marking USDT (TRC-20) transactions with the KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange as high-risk. Representatives of the trading platform and several external experts consulted by ForkLog have refuted this claim.

As an example, “BitLenta” cited a transaction amounting to 244.5 USDT, associated with the KuCoin cluster, where the counterparty risk was determined to be 75%. A detailed analysis supposedly indicated a high risk due to “enforcement action” — some form of compulsory measures. The channel did not provide additional transaction details.

In comments to ForkLog, KuCoin representatives stated they found no evidence supporting this information, describing it as “resembling FUD.”

Dmitry Machikhin, founder and CEO of the BitOK service, also stated that “BitLenta’s” claims were inaccurate.

Currently, no court rulings or sanctions have been imposed on KuCoin, noted Fedor Ivanov, Director of Analytics at the company “SHARD.”

According to him, it makes no sense to label transactions from the KuCoin exchange as high-risk until the completion of investigations by U.S. authorities. He described the allegations against the platform as “standard.”

“‘SHARD’ calculates the exposure of exchange addresses independently of anything. The risk level depends on the coins received at the address,” he added.

Analysts at HAPI also confirmed the absence of risks for KuCoin addresses in their systems.

Back in late March, the U.S. Federal Prosecutor’s Office accused the cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin and two of its founders of laundering $9 billion. This included “proceeds from suspicious and criminal activities, including sanctions violations, darknet markets, and ransomware programs.”

Simultaneously, the lawsuit against KuCoin was filed by the CFTC. It charged the exchange with non-compliance with KYC and the absence of registration as a futures commission merchant, swap execution facility, or designated contract market.