KuCoin files appeal in Canada's Federal Court, pushing back against $14M Canadian AML penalty

Crypto exchange KuCoin is pushing back against Canada‘s FINTRAC penalty of C$19.5 million ($14 million) due to AML ￰0￱ Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) imposed a massive penalty against Kucoin back in ￰1￱ regulator, however, shared the details of the penalty in an official release yesterday, September ￰2￱ accuses KuCoin of non-compliance In the release , FINTRAC stated that KuCoin failed to register as a foreign money services business in ￰3￱ regulator said this was a basic legal requirement for any foreign exchange offering services in the ￰4￱ explained that KuCoin continued operating without this registration, which put it in violation of Canadian anti-money laundering (AML) ￰5￱ also added that KuCoin did not report large cryptocurrency transactions worth $10,000 or ￰6￱ agency said that the exchange failed to submit suspicious transaction reports when there were clear grounds to suspect links to money laundering or terrorist financing.

KuCoin, led by CEO BC Wong, pushed back against the Canadian regulator’s ￰7￱ exchange said the C$19.5 million ($14 million) penalty was excessive and the findings misrepresented the company’s compliance ￰8￱ crypto exchange confirmed it filed an appeal with the Federal Court of ￰9￱ said it respects Canada’s regulatory process but disagrees on both substantive and procedural ￰10￱ a statement on X, CEO Wong said KuCoin would pursue all legal avenues to secure a fair ￰11￱ said KuCoin rejects FINTRAC’s classification of the exchange as a foreign money services ￰12￱ cryptocurrency exchange said the penalty threatens to unfairly harm its reputation and ￰13￱ has always strived to work constructively with regulators ￰14￱ disagree with this decision on both substantive and procedural grounds, and we have pursued legal avenues by submitting an appeal before the Federal Court of Canada to ensure a fair outcome for KuCoin.… — BC Wong (@BC_KuCoin) September 25, 2025 KuCoin’s native token drops by 0.9% KuCoin’s native token, KCS, dropped after the penalty was ￰15￱ token fell 0.9% in the past 24 hours to trade at $15.19 during press time.

KCS’s market capitalization stands at $1.9 billion, according to CoinGecko data. FINTRAC’s penalty came during a period of rising activity and trading volumes in crypto exchanges. KuCoin’s trading volume in August reached $53.6 billion, up from $49.9 billion in ￰16￱ continuous growth shows steady demand for trading crypto on KuCoin. However, KuCoin’s share of the market remained far smaller than its biggest ￰17￱ recorded $737.1 billion in volume during August, while Bybit handled $126.5 ￰18￱ comparison shows KuCoin’s difficulty in scaling against dominant crypto exchanges while facing new legal difficulties in ￰19￱ your project in front of crypto’s top minds?

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