Kucoin: 300 million fine and the founders have to step down

Kucoin has conceded in a battle with U.S. authorities. The crypto exchange was in court accused of conducting their operations in the U.S. without the required license. The firm has now admitted guilt. As part of the agreement, the founders relinquished their leadership roles. The exchange will pay a fine of $300 million, reports Bloomberg.

Kucoin was indicted by New York prosecutors and will now completely cease operations in that state. The exchange allegedly processed a total of about $4 billion in illegal transactions. The charges against the exchange include failing to implement necessary Know-your-Customer practices and rules to prevent money laundering.

A similar lawsuit hit the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, in 2023. Binance faced an expected $4.3 billion fine and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, had to step down. Kucoin, founded in 2017, with a daily trading volume of nearly $2 billion, is the sixth largest crypto exchange in the world, just behind Kraken.