On November 28, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a $362,158.70 settlement with Payward, Inc. d/b/a Kraken. The Delaware-incorporated virtual currency exchange allegedly processed 826 transactions amounting to approximately $1.7 million on behalf of individuals located in Iran. In addition to the fine, Kraken also has agreed to invest an additional $100,000 in certain sanctions compliance controls. The applicable statutory maximum penalty was $272 million, but because Kraken self-reported the sanctions violations along with mitigating factors, OFAC considered it a “non-egregious case.”

While OFAC determined that “Kraken failed to exercise due caution or care for its sanctions compliance obligations when, knowing it had customers worldwide, it applied its geolocation controls only at the time of onboarding and not with subsequent transactional activity, despite having reason to know based on available IP address information that transactions appear to have been conducted from Iran,” it determined the following to be mitigating factors:

  • Kraken had not received a penalty notice or finding of violation from OFAC in the five years preceding the transactions at issue;
  • Kraken voluntarily disclosed the apparent violations and cooperated with OFAC’s investigation;
  • Kraken took significant remedial measures in response to the apparent violations, including;
    • Adding geolocation blocking to prevent clients in prohibited locations from accessing their accounts on Kraken’s website;
    • Implementing multiple blockchain analysis tools to assist with sanctions monitoring;
    • Investing in additional compliance-related training for its staff;
    • Hiring a dedicated head of sanctions to direct Kraken’s compliance program; and
    • Contracting with a vendor that assists with identification and nationality verification by using artificial intelligence tools to detect potential issues with supporting credentials provided by users.

OFAC’s Enforcement Release concluded by noting, “this case highlights the importance of using geolocation tools, including IP blocking and other location verification tools, to identify and prevent users located in sanctioned jurisdictions from engaging in prohibited virtual currency-related transactions. In particular, limiting the use of such controls only to the time of account opening — and not throughout the lifetime of the account or with respect to subsequent transactions — court present sanctions risks to virtual currency-related companies.”

Photo of Keith J. Barnett Keith J. Barnett

Keith’s experience representing clients in the financial services industry as a litigation, compliance, regulatory, investigations (internal and regulatory), and enforcement attorney spans 20 years. Keith represents clients against government regulators (CFPB, FTC, SEC, CFTC), industry regulators (FINRA), and private litigants in federal courts…

Keith’s experience representing clients in the financial services industry as a litigation, compliance, regulatory, investigations (internal and regulatory), and enforcement attorney spans 20 years. Keith represents clients against government regulators (CFPB, FTC, SEC, CFTC), industry regulators (FINRA), and private litigants in federal courts, state courts, and before arbitration and administrative law panels in the financial services industry.

Photo of Ethan G. Ostroff Ethan G. Ostroff

Ethan Ostroff’s practice focuses on financial services litigation and consumer law compliance counseling. Ethan is part of the firm’s national practice representing consumer-facing companies of all types in defense of individual and class action claims and counseling them on compliance with federal and

Ethan Ostroff’s practice focuses on financial services litigation and consumer law compliance counseling. Ethan is part of the firm’s national practice representing consumer-facing companies of all types in defense of individual and class action claims and counseling them on compliance with federal and state laws.

Photo of Carlin McCrory Carlin McCrory

A seasoned regulatory and compliance attorney, Carlin brings extensive experience representing financial institutions, fintechs, lenders, payment processors, neobanks, virtual currency companies, and mortgage servicers.