US Treasury fines crypto exchange Bittrex for $29 million

According to the regulator’s charge, the platform facilitated $263 million in illegal transactions

12.10.2022 - 07:30

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2 min

What’s new? The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), part of the US Treasury Department, have fined crypto exchange Bittrex $29 million for sanctions violations from 2014 to 2017. According to the regulator’s report, the platform allegedly facilitated $263,45 million in illegal transactions. According to The Block, OFAC director Andrea Gacki said that international exchanges “should understand both who — and where — their customers are.”

The Block’s material

What else did the regulator add? Despite blocking sanctioned individuals, the firm did not have a program to verify users and their jurisdictions until late 2017. That said, Bittrex did not file any suspicious activity reports to FinCEN until May of the same year.

Bittrex, a centralized crypto exchange, was launched in the United States in 2014. As of October 12, its daily trading volume is $14,2 million. The platform hosts 480 coins and 961 currency pairs.

In late August, the Treasury Department fined BitGo and BitPay platforms $98 000 and $500 000, respectively, for facilitating payments in sanctioned jurisdictions.

On October 3, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined American star Kim Kardashian $1,26 million for advertising the EthereumMax (EMAX) token on her Instagram. It is known that she was paid $250 000 for her post on the social network. Herewith, on the background of these events, the rate of EMAX rose by 123%. For more details on this story, see GetBlock Magazine’s article.

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