Poloniex LLC, a U.S. entity linked to the Poloniex cryptocurrency exchange, will pay $7.59 million to settle allegations of violating sanctions, according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). The platform allowed around 66,000 violations of different sanctions programs, enabling customers from regions like Crimea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria to trade approximately $15 million between January 2014 and November 2019.
Although Poloniex began in January 2014, it didn’t establish a sanctions compliance program until May 2015. This program wasn’t applied retroactively, allowing users from sanctioned areas who were already on the platform to continue trading. Despite efforts to identify and restrict accounts linked to these regions, some customers continued conducting digital asset transactions on Poloniex, OFAC noted.
Poloniex is presently owned by a consortium, including Tron creator Justin Sun’s involvement. Before that, U.S. crypto company Circle briefly owned Poloniex before selling it. Poloniex LLC remains as the remaining U.S. legal entity after the exchange’s sale.
By FCCT Editorial Team