Malta’s regulator fines OKX $1,2 million for violating AML laws

In question is the number of systematic violations committed by the exchange since 2023

04.04.2025 - 12:55

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3 min

What’s new? Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) has fined Okcoin Europe — the European arm of crypto exchange OKX — 1,1 million EUR ($1,2 million) due to multiple violations of anti-money laundering (AML) legislation in previous years.

FIAU ruling

What else is known? The April 3 ruling notes that OKX has significantly improved its AML policy over the past 18 months, but the authority “could not ignore” its past violations since 2023 because “some of which were deemed to be serious and systematic.”

OKX was one of the first crypto exchanges to be licensed under the new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation common to the European Union. It opened a Malta hub for this purpose in July 2024 and received approval from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in January 2025.

The new fintech ruling comes after Bloomberg reported in March that EU regulators were probing OKX for involvement in facilitating the laundering of $100 million stolen from Bybit.

The hack of Bybit in February 2025 was the largest single theft in history. In total, hackers from Lazarus, a group linked to the DPRK government, withdrew $1,45 billion from the exchange and then successfully laundered all assets.

How to launder $1,5 billion worth of crypto in 5 easy steps. Lazarus Group case

Crypto exchange Bybit managed to block only $42,8 million. This is less than 3% of the total value of stolen assets

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou also reported that OKX Web3 services allowed hackers to launder 40 233 ETH. After that, OKX suspended its decentralized financial services in March and began consultations with regulators. In this way, it sought to prevent further use of the platform for illegal purposes.

In addition, in February, OKX entered into a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice, under which it agreed to pay $500 million. The case also involved violations of AML laws by the Aux Cayes FinTech subsidiary.

OKX obtains a license in the UAE and launches a local platform for retail and institutional investors

The exchange also allowed local customers to deposit and withdraw fiat currency

Meanwhile, back in August last year, OKX began blocking customer accounts for transfers from crypto services on sanctions lists, such as the Russian crypto exchange Garantex.

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