U.S. Crypto Exchange Kraken Settles With Treasury Department.

The crypto exchange, which was being investigated for violating US sanctions, agreed to pay $360,000 to settle the allegations.

Kraken, an American cryptocurrency exchange, agreed on Monday to pay more than $360,000 to the Treasury Department to settle charges of sanctions violations involving transactions in virtual currency by users in Iran.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said Kraken, the second-largest crypto exchange by volume in the United States, had agreed to a settlement to allow nearly $1.7 million in transactions to people who appeared to be in Iran between October 2015 and June 2019. The United States imposed sanctions on Iran in 1979, prohibiting the export of goods or services to persons or entities of country.

In its statement, the bureau said the maximum civil monetary penalty for violations could be more than $270 million, but determined that the settlement would be much lower because Kraken had flagged the potential violations. Additionally, the company agreed to spend an additional $100,000 on new compliance checks.

"Kraken did not exercise care or respect its sanctions compliance obligations,” the statement read. . He added that the company has user data indicating that "transactions appear to have been made from Iran".

In a statement, Marco Santori, director Kraken's Legal Department, said the company was "pleased to have resolved this issue".

"Before even entering into this resolution, Kraken had taken a series measures to strengthen our compliance measures," he said. . "This includes strengthening control systems, expanding our compliance team, and improving training and accountability."

The settlement comes at a tumultuous time for the crypto industry. This month, one of Kraken's rivals, the Bahamas-based exchange FTX, collapsed after a run on deposits, sending the industry into one of the worst crises in its history. Another major crypto company, lender BlockFi, filed for bankruptcy on Monday, citing the impact of the FTX implosion.

Kraken, a privately-rated to $11 billion that allows users to buy, sell or hold various cryptocurrencies, has been subject to previous regulatory actions, including a $1.25 million fine from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for offering a prohibited trading service. Jesse Powell, the company's co-founder and chief executive, announced in September that he was stepping down after internal disputes with employees and government investigations.

In July, The New York The Times reported that the Office of Foreign Assets Control had been investigating Kraken since 2019. The previous month, Mr. Powell had circulated a spreadsheet on the Slack messaging system that appeared to show that Kraken had managed accounts in sanctioned countries like Iran. He said the data came from residency information listed on "verified accounts".

Last month, the Office of Foreign Assets Control announced its more great penalty for violation of sanctions by a crypto company. , fining cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex $24 million for allowing customers in Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria and Russian-occupied Crimea to transact in virtual currency worth over $263 million.