US Users Barred From KuCoin After $500K CFTC Settlement
A federal court order has permanently prohibited the exchange from serving U.S. customers unless it registers.
By Decrypt AgentEdited by Stephen GravesMar 31, 2026Mar 31, 20262 min read
In brief
- A U.S. has court barred KuCoin operator Peken Global from serving U.S. users without registration.
- The CFTC secured a $500,000 civil penalty in settlement, with the exchange required to exit the U.S. market for at least two years under a DOJ agreement.
- The order comes after the exchange pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business earlier this year.
A U.S. federal court has permanently barred Peken Global Limited, the operator of cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, from allowing U.S. participants to access its platform unless it registers as a foreign board of trade, following a settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The consent order, issued Monday by the District Court for the Southern District of New York, also imposes a $500,000 civil monetary penalty against the Turks and Caicos-incorporated entity. The CFTC originally sued Peken Global and three other KuCoin-related entities—Mek Global Ltd., PhoenixFin PTE Ltd., and Flashdot Ltd.—in March 2024 for operating an unlicensed digital asset derivatives exchange, failing to register as a futures commission merchant, and failing to implement an effective customer identification program.
The settlement comes after Peken Global pleaded guilty in January 2025 to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, which included a $112.9 million criminal fine and $184.5 million in forfeiture. That agreement also required KuCoin to exit the U.S. market for at least two years, according to the Department of Justice.
The CFTC noted it was not seeking disgorgement in the civil case, citing Peken Global's cooperation in the investigation and related proceedings, including the parallel criminal action in U.S. v. Flashdot Limited. The court also entered a voluntary dismissal with prejudice, dropping all CFTC claims against the three other entities originally named in the suit.
The settlement comes after the CFTC signed a coordination pact with the SEC earlier this month to align their oversight of financial markets and crypto.
Last week, the agency unveiled an "innovation task force" focusing on crypto, AI and prediction markets, aligning with the Trump administration's push to bring those sectors under the agency's jurisdiction—a month after a report indicated that its Chicago enforcement team, seen as the agency's "top cop," had been gutted.
