By Richard Hines
Popular American cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has settled to pay a fine levied by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for disregarding the country’s sanctions against people living in Iran.
Strict U.S. Sanctions On Crypto Firms
In regard to the activities of cryptocurrency firms and exchanges and any potential disregard of U.S. sanctions, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has stated its intention and diligence to impose strict regulations and rules. The cryptocurrency exchange company Kraken was one that recently fell victim to these rules.
Popular American cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is to pay a fine settlement levied by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of over $300,000 for disregarding the country’s sanctions against people living in Iran.
According to the report on this case, Kraken agreeing to this settlement could in turn result in a violation of Iranian regulations.
In addition to the fine, Kraken will also pay in the form of an investment of $100,000 in other stipulated sanction regulations, such as staff training and management, which would have a direct impact on sanctions detention.
Despite a history of abiding by sanctions and a strategy and program in place to combat money laundering, it has been reported that Kraken has permitted and processed over 800 transactions totalling over $1 million on behalf of Iranian residents and citizens.
Close Scrutiny And Monitoring
These aforementioned transactions ran from October 2015 to June 2019. This demonstrates that the SEC and regulators have closely examined every transaction to make sure there have been no violations of American sanctions.
According to a report, Kraken implemented a blocker for IP addresses associated with Iran users after being fully aware of the consequences of its actions in violation of U.S. sanctions regarding these types of transactions.
Due to Kraken’s admission of guilt regarding these actions, the exchange avoided paying a fine of over $200 million in favour of just $360,000.
The list of exchanges fined by the SEC now includes Kraken exchange in addition to Bitgo, Bitfinnex, and other exchanges.
Jesse Powell, the former CEO of Kraken, has expressed his opposing views to all of these rules and sanctions, particularly the Ukrainian rules implemented to block Russian users.