Crypto alternate KuCoin to close in New York, pay $22 million to settle lawsuit

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – KuCoin, one of many world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has agreed to dam New York customers from its platform and pay $22 million to settle a lawsuit introduced by the state as a part of its push to rein in digital property corporations.

Lawyer Common Letitia James sued Seychelles-based KuCoin in March, accusing the platform of failing to register with the state earlier than letting traders purchase and promote cryptocurrencies on its platform.

“Crypto corporations ought to perceive that they have to play by the identical guidelines as different monetary establishments,” James mentioned in a press release on Tuesday.

The settlement, wherein KuCoin additionally agreed to cease buying and selling securities and commodities in New York, comes as U.S. regulators and legislation enforcement companies crack down on fraud, cash laundering and insufficient investor protections within the cryptocurrency area.

In October, James’ workplace sued cryptocurrency companies Genesis International, its father or mother firm Digitial Forex Group and Gemini for allegedly defrauding traders of greater than $1 billion. DCG referred to as the lawsuit baseless.

Her workplace in June reached a $1.8 million settlement with Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency alternate CoinEx for working illegally as a result of it didn’t register with the state.

Final month, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on federal costs of stealing billions of {dollars} from that cryptocurrency alternate’s prospects, whereas rival Binance’s founder agreed to plead responsible to breaking U.S. anti-money laundering legal guidelines.

KuCoin’s $22 million cost features a $5.3 million cost to the state and the refunding of $16.7 million value of cryptocurrency to 177,800 New York traders.

KuCoin trails Binance, Coinbase (NASDAQ:) and Kraken amongst cryptocurrency spot exchanges on elements together with site visitors, liquidity and buying and selling volumes based on the info firm CoinMarketCap.