In short
- A US court has banned KuCoin operator Peken Global from sending US users without registration.
- The CFTC obtained a $500,000 civil penalty in the settlement, with the exchange required to exit the US market for at least two years under the DOJ agreement.
- The order comes after the broker pleaded guilty to operating an unauthorized money transfer business earlier this year.
A US court has banned Peken Global Limited, a cryptocurrency operator exchange KuCoin, by allowing US participants to enter the platform only after registering as a foreign business entity, to comply to solve and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The license agreementissued Monday by the District Court for the Southern District of New York, also imposes a monetary penalty of $500,000 against the Turks and Caicos-incorporated corporation. CFTC first the defendant Peken Global and three other entities related to KuCoin—Mek Global Ltd., PhoenixFin PTE Ltd., and Flashdot Ltd.—in March 2024 for operating an unlicensed digital asset exchange, failing to register as a futures trader, and failing to implement a customer identification program.
The settlement comes after Peken Global he pleaded guilty in January 2025 on one count of operating a money laundering business without a license, which included $112.9 million in fines and $184.5 million in forfeitures. That agreement It also required KuCoin to leave the US market for at least two years, according to the Department of Justice.
The CFTC noted that it does not want to be dismissed from the criminal proceedings, citing Peken Global’s cooperation in investigations and related activities, including similar cases in US v. Flashdot Limited. The court also entered a voluntary and prejudicial injunction, dismissing all of the CFTC’s claims against the other three entities named in the suit.
The settlement comes after the CFTC they signed a mutual agreement and the SEC earlier this month to coordinate their oversight of financial and crypto markets.
Last week, organization uncovered “a new task force” focusing on crypto markets, AI and predictions, in line with the pressure of the Trump administration to bring these sectors under the authority of the agency – a month after a report showed that their security team in Chicago, which is considered the “chief police officer” of the agency. to be sick.
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