A crypto exchange agrees to pay $360,000 for possibly violating Iran sanctions


Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has agreed to pay $362,158.70 to settle with the Department of the Treasury over claims that the firm violated US sanctions against Iran. Kraken, which lets users buy, sell, hold, and trade cryptocurrency, is also required to invest an extra $100,000 in certain sanctions compliance controls.
As noted in the details of the settlement, Kraken allegedly processed 826 transactions totaling over $1.68 million on behalf of customers who may have been located in Iran. The Department of the Treasury says the apparent violations took place between October 14th, 2015, and June 29th, 2019, and were “non-egregious and voluntarily self-disclosed.”
Kraken already had an existing sanctions compliance program that prevented users from signing up in sanctioned locations, but the settlement alleges Kraken “did not implement IP address blocking” on activity across its platform during this time. According to IP address data obtained by the Treasury Department, this means that some users were able to sign up for the platform in areas not subject to US sanctions, and then proceed to conduct transactions from sanctioned locations, such as Iran.
Marco Santori, Kraken’s chief legal officer, said in an emailed statement to The Verge that the firm has since implemented a number of changes, including adding geolocation blocking to prevent users from accessing the site in sanctioned locations, as well as hiring a dedicated head of sanctions. The company has also invested in sanctions compliance training for staff and implemented “blockchain analysis tools to assist with sanctions monitoring.”
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has agreed to pay $362,158.70 to settle with the Department of the Treasury over claims that the firm violated US sanctions against Iran. Kraken, which lets users buy, sell, hold, and trade cryptocurrency, is also required to invest an extra $100,000 in certain sanctions compliance controls. As…
Recent Posts
- Amazon’s best Kindles are cheaper than ever during Prime Day
- AMD is surpassing Nvidia in one particular market, and I don’t understand why — 11th eGPU based on AMD Radeon RX 7000 series debuts and even has Thunderbolt 5
- Not Just Any Prime Day Deals, 220 Obsessively Tested Picks—even $1,200 off an OLED TV
- Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025 as it happened – the new Z Fold 7, Z Flip 7 and Galaxy Watch 8 are here
- Cyberpunk 2077 heads up July’s PS Plus Game Catalog additions
Archives
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022