- Earlier in July 2022, Kraken was accused by its Iranian users.
- Kraken will be paying $362,159 to settle its potential liability in the case.
The United States Treasury Department has officially settled with crypto exchange Kraken over alleged transactions in Iran.
On Monday, November 28, 2022, the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control released its statement, focusing on the terms of its settlement with Kraken parent company Payward, after accusing the company of violating US sanctions on interactions with Iranian users.
According to Kraken, it ended up on OFAC’s radar due to alleged failure to “Implement appropriate geolocation tools, including an automated Internet Protocol (IP) address blocking system,” it is also noted that “Kraken exported services to users who appeared to be in Iran when they engaged in virtual currency transactions on Kraken’s platform.”
Kraken will be paying $362,159 to settle its potential liability in the case. Additionally, the company will be investing $100,000 towards implementing additional sanctions compliance controls into its company practice from now on.
In an email statement to various media outlets, Marco Santori, Chief Legal Officer of Kraken, noted, “Kraken is pleased to have resolved this matter, which we discovered, voluntarily self-reported and swiftly corrected.”
Marco said, “Even before entering this resolution, Kraken had taken several steps to bolster our compliance measures. This includes further strengthening control systems, expanding our compliance team and enhancing training and accountability,” he added, “With these enhanced systems in place, we are in a stronger position to continue our mission of accelerating the adoption of cryptocurrency so people from around the world can achieve financial freedom and inclusion.”
Earlier in July 2022, TheCoinRepublic reported that the U.S. The Depository Department is allegedly scrutinising Crypto trade Kraken on doubt it permitted Iranian clients to use the site’s administrations disregarding government sanctions.
The Treasury Department was probably going to force a fine against the trade; however, it didn’t propose a timetable for the implementation activity.
On November 13, Kraken clarified through his tweet that the accounts were suspended to safeguard their customers and further said that it keeps full reserves and the funds of other clients will not be impacted at all, probably looking to put an end to fears from users that the platform may experience liquidity problems due to the decision of fund freeze.
On November 11, FTX publicised that the company and its sister company Alameda Research had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Also, the chief executive officer, Sam Bankman-Fried, has resigned from his post. Consequently, companies like Kraken and many others have planned to suspend account access concerning the public’s safety.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/11/29/crypto-exchange-agrees-to-pay-penalties-to-the-us-regulators/