Cryptocurrency exchange Kucoin will leave the American market for at least two years after its operator, Peken Global Limited, based in Seychelles, pleaded guilty on Monday, January 27 to an operating manager of a money transmission company without license.
Peken will also pay monetary penalties totaling more than $ 297 million, while two of its founders, Chun (Michael) Gan and Ke (Eric) Tang, will withdraw from any role in the management or operations of Kucoin, the American lawyer for the South New York Districtsaid in a Monday press release.
American lawyer Danielle R. Sassoon said in the press release that Kucoin avoided the implementation of policies to combat money laundering required for years.
“As a result, Kucoin was used to facilitate billions of dollars in suspicious transactions and transmit potentially criminal products, including the product of Darknet markets and malware, ransomware and fraud patterns,” said Sassoon. “The plea and today’s guilt sanctions show the cost of refusing to follow these laws and allow an illegal activity to continue.”
In a statement Published on Monday, Kucoin said he was happy to have reached a resolution in the case and that she had made significant progress in strengthening her framework of compliance and her platform security during the two last years.
“These initiatives include the expansion of our compliance team, the acquisition of licenses on key markets and the adoption of rigorous safety standards to protect user assets and improve platform resilience,” the press release said.
Kucoin operations on other markets are not affected by regulatory challenges in the United States, and the company actively engages with regulators around the world to operate in a compliant manner, according to the press release.
“As the regulations evolve, Kucoin remains attached to constructive engagement with the authorities to comply with the highest governance and responsibility standards, ensuring that we remain in advance in the dynamic cryptocurrency industry “Said the press release.
Kucoin goes ahead under the direction of the newly appointed CEO BC WongWho played a key role in training the company’s framework for compliance in its previous role as legal director, said the company in a press release.
“While we leave the United States for the moment, we focus on strengthening our global compliance practices and exploring opportunities to reintegrate the market with the necessary licenses,” Wong said in the press release.
The Kucoin affair was part of the repression of former president Joe Biden against Cryptography exchanges And is one of the last cases to solve, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Now that President Donald Trump is in the White House, the cryptography industry sees his first actions after campaigning as “first president of American cryptography”, Pymnts reported on Monday.
