Key Takeaways
- The order also imposes a $500,000 civil monetary penalty against Peken Global
- CFTC had alleged that Peken operated an unregistered offshore commodities exchange.
A federal court has entered a consent order permanently barring Peken Global Limited, the operator of crypto exchange KuCoin, from allowing US participants to access the exchange unless it registers as a foreign board of trade, bringing a close to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) enforcement action against the platform. CFTC had alleged that Peken operated an unregistered offshore commodities exchange.
The order, issued Monday by the District Court for the Southern District of New York, also imposes a $500,000 civil monetary penalty against Peken Global. It converts what had previously been a minimum two-year US market exit, agreed as part of a separate criminal resolution, into an indefinite ban.
The CFTC first sued Peken Global and three other entities involved in KuCoin’s operation in March 2024. The agency charged Peken Global alongside Mek Global Ltd, PhoenixFin PTE Ltd and Flashdot Ltd with operating an unlicensed digital asset derivatives exchange, failing to register as a futures commission merchant, and running what it described as “sham” know-your-customer (KYC) procedures that did not do enough to keep U.S. customers off the platform. The agency had originally sought disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, permanent trading bans and a permanent injunction.
The final consent order permanently enjoins Peken Global from future violations as charged but does not require disgorgement of profits earned during the period covered by the complaint, which ran from July 2019 to around June 2023.
The CFTC cited Peken Global’s cooperation with its investigation and related proceedings, including the parallel criminal action in US v. Flashdot Limited, as the basis for that decision. Separately, the court entered an order of voluntary dismissal with prejudice dropping all CFTC claims against Mek Global, PhoenixFin and Flashdot, while also dismissing counts two through five of the original complaint against Peken Global.
Peken Global agreed to the settlement without admitting or denying the CFTC’s findings.
Monday’s order is the latest in a series of significant U.S. regulatory outcomes for KuCoin over the past 14 months. In January 2025, Peken Global pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, resulting in a $112.9 million criminal fine and $184.5 million in forfeiture under a Department of Justice agreement that also required the exchange to exit the U.S. market for at least two years. The CFTC consent order now removes that time limit entirely.
