Major cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, a US-based company valued at $10 billion, is reportedly under investigation by the U.S  Treasury Department on suspicion of allowing users from Iran to use the platform, which violates federal sanctions. According to  New York Times, the Treasury will likely impose a penalty against Kraken without suggesting an exact date for the action. 

In a recent statement sent to CoinDesk by Kraken, Marco Santori (Chief Legal Officer at Kraken) said that the exchange will not comment "on specific discussions" between the firm and regulators. 

However, Santori mentioned that Kraken is closely monitoring compliance with the federal laws on sanctions and is even reporting "potential issues" to regulators. In his view, the platform has robust compliance measures that match Kraken's business growth.

The U.S. government has a history of using federal sanctions as a tool, which allows it to block nations or individuals from accessing the global financial system. 

Earlier this year, OpenSea (the world's largest NFT platform) blocked Iranian users. Some of the cryptocurrency platforms fined by the Treasury Department in the past are BitGo and payment processing company BitPay.

Author: Garrett Meifert