Kraken to pay $362K over Iran sanctions screening lapses

Virtual currency exchange Kraken will pay a fine of approximately $362,159 to settle charges it violated U.S. sanctions against Iran, according to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Payward, doing business as Kraken, appeared to allow 826 transactions worth nearly $1.7 million on behalf of individuals located in Iran from 2015-19, according to OFAC’s enforcement release published Monday. Over that period, OFAC said Kraken failed to use appropriate geolocation tools that would prevent IP addresses from sanctioned jurisdictions from conducting transactions on its network.

As part of the settlement, Kraken agreed to spend $100,000 to implement certain sanctions compliance controls. Kraken voluntarily reported the apparent violations, and OFAC determined they were nonegregious.