KuCoin Fined $300 Million for Unlicensed Operations

The cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin has admitted to conducting unlicensed money transmission business in the United States and has agreed to pay fines and compensations amounting to nearly $300 million.

KuCoin pleads guilty to unlicensed money transmission charge and agrees to pay penalties totaling nearly $300 millionhttps://t.co/0Unaqbvro6

— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) January 27, 2025

In March 2024, prosecutors filed charges against the platform’s managing company, Peken Global Ltd, registered in the Seychelles, and its two co-founders. The allegations concerned the lack of effective KYC/AML programs and registration with the FinCEN.

According to court documents, KuCoin will pay a fine of $112.9 million and reimburse $184.5 million earned from servicing US clients.

For the exchange’s co-founders, Chun (Michael) Gan and Ke (Eric) Tang, financial penalties amounted to $2.7 million each. Their further criminal prosecution has been suspended for two years.

“For years, KuCoin avoided implementing the required anti-money laundering policies […]. As a result, the exchange was used to facilitate suspicious transfers of billions of dollars and to transmit potentially illicit funds, including proceeds from darknet markets, malware, ransomware, and fraud schemes. Today’s guilty plea and penalties demonstrate the cost of non-compliance with these requirements,” the press release states.

In January, the operator of the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX, HDR Global Trading Limited, agreed to pay a fine of $100 million following a lawsuit by the US Department of Justice.