Bitcoin News and Finance
Report: Digital Currency Exchange Kraken Under Investigation for Violating OFAC Sanctions Skip to main content

Report: Digital Currency Exchange Kraken Under Investigation for Violating OFAC Sanctions

On Tuesday, a newly published report details that the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is under federal investigation for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions, according to five people familiar with the matter. The unknown sources explained that the inquiry into Kraken started in 2019, and it’s accused of allowing users from sanctioned countries like Iran access to the digital currency trading platform.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Is Allegedly Investigating Kraken

The San Francisco-based crypto exchange Kraken is allegedly under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), according to a report published by the New York Times (NYT) on July 26, 2022. Kraken founded in July 2011 by Jesse Powell is one of the oldest digital currency exchanges in the world.

The NYT report cites “five people affiliated with the company or with knowledge of the inquiry.” Furthermore, the report also says the anonymous sources did not want to be named “for fear of retribution from the company.” According to the editorial’s summary, OFAC has been investigating Kraken since 2019 for allowing users from sanctioned countries to acquire crypto assets.

The five people familiar with the matter concerning Kraken say that they expect the U.S. government to impose a fine against the San Francisco trading platform. Kraken got hit with a fine last year when U.S. ​​Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged the firm for “illegally offering margined retail commodity transactions in digital assets.”

At that time, the CFTC levied $1.25 million from the San Francisco crypto company’s parent firm Payward Ventures Inc., and told Kraken to “cease and desist from further violations.” The NYT reached out to Kraken and the company’s chief legal officer, Marco Santori, noted that the exchange “does not comment on specific discussions with regulators.” Santori further said:

Kraken closely monitors compliance with sanctions laws and, as a general matter, reports to regulators even potential issues.

Speaking with a U.S. Treasury spokeswoman, the NYT reporters said OFAC gave a similar statement. “[The U.S. Treasury] does not confirm or comment on potential or ongoing investigations,” the individual from the Treasury said. The people familiar with the matter said the OFAC inquiry started in 2019 when a former employee initiated legal proceedings against Kraken and later settled the case.

NYT’s anonymous sources note that OFAC started looking into Kraken accounts around that same time and the accounts allegedly stemmed from Iran, Syria, and Cuba. The accusations that claim Kraken is under federal inquiry follow the recent report from Bloomberg that says the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly probing Coinbase over alleged unregistered securities violations.

Bloomberg’s report concerning Coinbase is similar to the New York Times editorial on Kraken as it cites unnamed people familiar with the matter. Both news publications have cited people familiar with the matter on various occasions in recent times, and more specifically, stories concerning the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius.

What do you think about the report concerning Kraken that says the exchange is allegedly under federal investigation? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Custodial Lightning Network Service Attack Discovered by LN ‘Newbie’ — Hacker Strikes 6 LN Custodians

On September 18, a Redditor posted to the r/bitcoin forum and explained how he discovered a way to “attack [the] lightning Network’s custodial services.” The Reddit account dubbed “Reckless Satoshi” wanted to figure out if a “discrepancy between real routing fees and service’s transaction fee can be exploited for a profit.” The researcher disclosed that he wanted to see how large the damage could be and said “it is bad.” 6 Lightning Network Custodial Services Attacked, Researcher Discloses Findings to Offenders Prior to Public Disclosure A Redditor called Reckless Satoshi published a disclosure post on r/bitcoin this past Saturday and disclosed how he had found a vulnerability with routing fees and some of the Lightning Network’s custodial services. The research attack was done in good faith and after it was complete he disclosed the bugs to the offending services before publishing his findings. Reckless Satoshi used the Lightning Network (LN) attack on six different services incl
Post a Comment
Read more

Axie Infinity Down 40% Since Last Week’s Price High, Protocol Revenue Outshines Competitors

Last week, the game token leveraged within the Axie Infinity gaming universe skyrocketed to all-time highs, while other crypto markets remained extremely lackluster. During the last seven days, Axie Infinity’s platform token has dropped significantly in value shedding more than 12%. Meanwhile, the game platform’s smooth love potion token has slid over 8% over the last 24 hours. Axie Infinity Down More Than 40% Since All-Time High Not too long ago, the axie infinity (AXS) token was a topical conversation because it reached an all-time high on July 15. At the time, AXS managed to capture $28.93 per unit and since then it has shed 12.8% during the last seven days. The axie infinity (AXS) token is used within the blockchain-based game that involves battles between token-based creatures called “Axies.” AXS is used for the game’s governance system as well as other actions within the game. At the time of writing axie infinity (AXS) is exchanging hands for $16.70 per coin. AXS/USD on Ju
Post a Comment
Read more

Play-to-Earn Game From Polker (PKR) Exchange Listing – Endorsed by Akon

The Play-to-Earn NFT based Polker.Game ‘s native token $PKR has been officially listed on the popular centralized exchange BitMart. Polker.game has been in the spotlight recently as Akon, the American R&B superstar and record producer gave his official endorsement of polker stating that the “game is revolutionary” and that Polker is “hands down.. the best play to earn, NFT game in the space.”. With the BitMart listing and celebrity endorsement from Akon, Polker is perfectly positioned to become a major player in the Play-to-Earn league. Watch Akon’s Video Here What is Play-to-Earn? Although not a new concept, play-to-earn has become a trending term due to the popularity of the NFT game AXIE infinity. In the past, previous play-to-earn games have also achieved success – however, thanks to the huge amount of development in the blockchain space in recent years the gaming experience is now massively improved. Play-to-Earn games are essentially free to play and open to anyone and
Post a Comment
Read more

China to Crack Down on Copyright Infringement Through NFTs

Authorities in China are going after creators of digital collectibles based on other people’s works of art, the use of which was not authorized. The government offensive is part of a campaign to combat online copyright infringement and piracy with the participation of several departments. Regulators in China Move to Strengthen Copyright Supervision of Online Platforms The National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) has recently launched a campaign against copyright infringement and piracy on the internet, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Internet Information Office of the People’s Republic. A major objective of the initiative is to improve copyright supervision of online businesses by investigating cases involving the sale and distribution of infringing products on short video, live broadcast and e-commerce platforms, and promptly dealing with infringing content, the agency announced in a press r
Post a Comment
Read more
Blogarama - Blog Directory