The renowned cryptocurrency exchange, Kraken has released statistics showing the increasing number of disclosure request that kept increasing in 2018. In comparison to the request made in 2017. The request is largely from US Law enforcement and regulatory department.
The San Francisco Based exchange operates in Canada, EU, Japan, and the US has received 475 inquiries from global government agencies and had 315 inquiries from the US alone. The number of inquiries has triplicated in 2018. The trading platform was formerly known as Payward.
The exchange received inquiries from FBI, Homeland security investigation and drug Enforcement Authority combines to be the highest among all. According to Kraken, the US Law prevents it from sharing transaction details with the users.
Back in April 2018, the CEO of Kraken hit the headlines after he refuses to cooperate with the inquiries made from New York Attorney General. Further, Kraken authorities argue that it is not a simple task of pulling data, as it requires a lot of time to craft the response to meet the request.
According to the infographic released by Kraken, some of the subpoenas were the fishing attempt to enter the platform. To them, the fees of managing subpoenas are becoming a hindrance too entry. The infographic also shows that there are almost 11 different departments in the US are trying to impose laws on the crypto market.
The show anchor of CNBC commented into the matter. He told as per the infographic released by Kraken, conducting crypto business in the US is expensive, as so many different and disjoint departments are trying to impose their piece of law. The cost is ultimately passed on to the users.
If the reports are to be believed, then Kraken may go public this year, or it may raise more income by offering high-net-worth to the private investors although the current valuation of the company is about 4 billion dollars.
The company is facing a lot of legal issue in December, United Corp, Florida filed a case again them and some other top exchanges. The case filed against Kraken was about using unfair means to make a profit by manipulating Bitcoin Cash and depriving United Corp and other stakeholders.
In December 2018, the Japanese Police reported the exchange of their suspicious transaction. The number of reports increased after the bill came into effect asking the exchange to clarify their suspicious activities.
