Poloniex Agrees to Pay $7.6 Million to Settle OFAC Charges

Cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex has agreed to pay a $7.6 million settlement to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for allowing customers in sanctioned countries to trade and transact digital currencies.

OFAC found that Poloniex facilitated over $15.3 million worth of transactions for customers in Iran, Cuba, Sudan, and Syria between 2014 and 2019.

The company did not voluntarily disclose these violations and only started blocking prohibited IP addresses in 2017, despite having KYC information and IP address data.

In addition to the OFAC settlement, Poloniex has previously settled with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) for similar violations. Despite the controversies, the exchange remains popular with a moderately high trading volume.