• The DOJ alleged that they violated the Bank Secrecy Act.
• The allegations state that Kucoin aided in the transfer of up to $4 billion in illicit funds.

The U.S DOJ have filed charges against Kucoin Exchange and its co-founders Chun Gan and Ke Tang, alleging that they broke many laws in their pursuit of building a dominant trading platform in the emerging cryptocurrency market.

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams and other high-ranking regulators filed charges against Kucoin, Gan, and Tang, alleging that they conspired to run an unlicensed money-transmitting business and violate the Bank Secrecy Act.

The DOJ has now filed charges against the exchange, making it the most recent trading platform to do so since the $4.3 billion Binance settlement in Q4 2023. The trading platform in particular is the first prominent organization that the DOJ plans to press charges against this year.

Severe Charges Filed

The Department of Justice found that Kucoin enabled daily trades worth billions of dollars and trillions of dollars yearly, and that the exchange housed illegal operations that led to money laundering.

The allegations state that Kucoin aided in the transfer of up to $4 billion in illicit and questionable monies. As part of their rationale for the accusations, US authorities cited the fact that Kucoin has provided US clients with spot trading and futures brokerage services since 2019 as evidence.

According to the document, Gan and Tang knew they had to comply with existing regulations in the US, but they did nothing to register with the appropriate authorities, even though they were operating within the country. They also failed to establish adequate Know-Your-Customer (KYC) systems until July 2023, at the latest.

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