Court Approves CFTC-KuCoin Settlement with $500,000 Penalty

A federal court in New York has approved a settlement between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Peken Global Limited, the operator of the cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, imposing a $500,000 civil penalty and a permanent prohibition on offering services to U.S. customers without proper registration. The order, entered on March 31, 2026, in the Southern District of New York, resolves a civil enforcement action that began in March 2024.

Under the consent agreement, Peken Global neither admitted nor denied the CFTC's allegations. The commission accused the company of operating an unregistered offshore exchange that allowed U.S. residents to trade commodity futures contracts, swaps, and leveraged products. Regulators also charged that KuCoin's know-your-customer protocols were inadequate, failing to effectively block American users from accessing the platform. The exchange implemented KYC verification requirements in August 2023 but did not apply them retroactively to existing accounts, which contributed to the violations spanning from July 2019 to around June 2023.

This civil settlement follows a separate criminal case in which KuCoin pleaded guilty in January 2025 to...