Kraken, a US Crypto Exchange, Is Suspected of Violating Sanctions (nytimes.com) 19
Kraken, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is under federal investigation, suspected of violating U.S. sanctions by allowing users in Iran and elsewhere to buy and sell digital tokens, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing five people affiliated with the company or with knowledge of the inquiry. From the report: The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has been investigating Kraken since 2019 and is expected to impose a fine, said the people, who declined to be identified for fear of retribution from the company. Kraken would be the largest U.S. crypto firm to face an enforcement action from O.F.A.C. Sanctions against Iran, which the United States imposed in 1979, prohibit the export of goods or services to people or entities in the country.
The federal government has increasingly cracked down on crypto companies, which are lightly regulated, as the market for digital currencies has grown. Tether, a stablecoin company, was fined by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for misstatements about its reserves last year, while the Justice Department brought insider-trading charges this month against an ex-employee of Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange. Scrutiny of the industry has risen in recent months as the crypto market went into meltdown and several companies, such as Voyager Digital and Celsius Network, collapsed.
The federal government has increasingly cracked down on crypto companies, which are lightly regulated, as the market for digital currencies has grown. Tether, a stablecoin company, was fined by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for misstatements about its reserves last year, while the Justice Department brought insider-trading charges this month against an ex-employee of Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange. Scrutiny of the industry has risen in recent months as the crypto market went into meltdown and several companies, such as Voyager Digital and Celsius Network, collapsed.
Re: (Score:2)
Sanctions have a positive effect on you. Corporations can't outsource their jobs to that country, at least not too easily. They also don't get to compete for resources you'd want to have.
Check the news (Score:3)
> it's pretty clear it rarely sways any ruler
Currently, in the news the last few weeks, Iran's leaders are trying to get Russia to get out of the way so they can get back to the nuclear deal and get sanctions lifted.
https://www.rferl.org/amp/iran... [rferl.org]
Putin is talking about nixing the deal unless they get an exemption on the sanctions against Russia, allowing them to trade with Iran.
Why would Iran's leaders agree to drop their nuke program in exchange for cutting sanctions? Because the sanctions matter to
Re: (Score:2)
Jeeves! (Score:3)
Shocking! (Score:2, Insightful)
Crypto bros are trying to skirt the law? Say it's not so! /s
https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
https://slashdot.org/story/22/... [slashdot.org]
https://slashdot.org/story/22/... [slashdot.org]
shocked (Score:2)
shocked, I say!
Re: (Score:3)
At this point ... (Score:2)
Frankly, I'd be shocked to hear about a crypto exchange *not* violating any laws ...
So somebody actually released the Kraken? (Score:2)
...from sanctions?
Re: (Score:1)
Buy cryptocurrency from a company named after a mythological sea monster known for devouring ships? Seems legit.
Good golly (Score:2)
Good gosh, no. Are crypto "assets" being used to fund criminal activity? If it were the case, my entire worldview would be shaken to the core.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't worry. As these are not "assets" in any way but hot air, the funding of criminal activity may be their main use, but it is not done form assets.
Crypto (Score:3)
See... the problem with a decentralised, deregulated currency is... that you then can't be compliant with local laws and regulations.
Whether that's international sanctions, anti-money-laundering compliance, taxation, capital-gains, etc.
And though it always takes a while for places to catch up, they always do eventually and that's when it comes back to bite you.
I'm sure many people have profited enormously and had a great run, and if Bitcoin etc. had stayed some niche thing that nobody had heard of, that run would have lasted quite a lot longer.
But as soon as you start handling billions of business with random, anonymous people on the internet, you become a shell for money-laundering and things like arms deals and sanctions violations, whether you want to or not. And as soon as you get to that stage, governments suddenly take notice and start asking questions.
Because deregulation attracts people who don't want to be regulated. And nobody cares about the guy buying dope from the bloke he meets up with every day. That's not who they're after. It attracts warlords, kidnappers, oligarchs, etc. and that's when it starts to get used as a source of information, and before long it becomes a pile of slowly-building incriminating evidence. Oh look... a permanent, immutable blockchain... what a great idea... let's hope there's not a hidden problem in its implementation that would allow a nation-state level attacker to silently observe it for 10,15, 20 years before anyone catches on...
If you set up anything deregulated, anonymised, "no-log", etc. etc. etc. then the first group of people you'll attract are criminals, whether you want to or not. It's inevitable. Same way that if you set up and advertised a kindergarten with no fences, supervision, access control or cameras, you're going to attract a very, very particular type of person intent on taking advantage of what you're advertising.
It's not even just a crypto-coin problem, anything deregulated and anonymised, whether image-exchange, social media, selling off CPU processing time, etc. is going to be misused.
And the last thing any of these companies will admit, think about or combat is MISUSE of their system, when it should be one of the first things they consider.
Leftist attack (Score:1)
Sanctions for a scam (Score:2)
This needs prison time. (Score:2)
...The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has been investigating Kraken since 2019 and is expected to impose a fine,...
I'm sorry, what? This is utter bull shit! Everyone with a C*O in their title, as well as every board member, needs to be prosecuted and serve, at a minimum, five to ten years on prison upon conviction for this. This, of course, in addition to the fine implemented by the Treasury Department.