KuCoin operator Peken Global Limited has been banned from allowing US users to access its platform after a federal court approved a consent order from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, bringing to a close the US stock market enforcement saga.
The order, issued in the Southern District of New York, requires Peken to pay a $500,000 civil penalty and prohibits it from offering trading access to U.S. participants unless it registers as a foreign board of trade. More importantly, it removes the time limit on KuCoin’s previous departure from the United States, turning what had been a minimum two-year withdrawal into an indefinite ban.
The action follows KuCoin’s guilty plea in January 2025 for operating an unlicensed money transmission business, which generated nearly $297 million in fines and forfeitures. Together, the cases show how US authorities have pursued the exchange on multiple fronts, combining criminal anti-money laundering charges with civil market access violations.
The relatively small penalty in the CFTC case reflects that much of the financial punishment was already imposed in the criminal process. The agency said it was not seeking return, citing Peken’s cooperation and the forfeiture order entered in the Justice Department’s parallel case.
KuCoin had approximately 1.5 million registered users in the U.S. and generated at least $184.5 million in fees from them, according to the Department of Justice. The exchange only introduced “know your customer” requirements in August 2023 and did not apply them to existing accounts, a gap that became critical to enforcement.
The court also dismissed the remaining claims against affiliated entities Mek Global Limited, PhoenixFin PTE Ltd. and Flashdot Limited.
With the court order in place, KuCoin’s US business has moved from a temporary restriction to a permanent closure, completing a rare sequential enforcement process that moved from a criminal prosecution to a civil market ban.
