Last summer, Binance was in the crypto news as it has been helping traders in Iran since 2015 allowed to create an account and trade. The country was then subject to heavy sanctions because it would work on nuclear weapons. But Binance was not alone, the American Kraken has also been guilty of this. This crypto exchange has also been fined.
Crack violated US sanctions
This is evident from a press release of the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a subsidiary of the U.S. Treasury Department. Kraken’s parent company, Payward Inc., has been fined more than $362,000 by the OFAC.
Crack make sure it complies with US sanctions and does not allow users to launder money. Yet it has not good onconsidering the locations of users, for example by too little to look at IP addresses. According to OFAC, this led to some 826 transactions from Iran between October 2015 and November 2019. Since Krakens existed, there are even 1.7 million transactions.
The exchange says it is paying closer attention to IP addresses since it became aware of the breach. It has been using software to automatically block IP addresses from sanctioned areas ever since. It will also invest an additional $ 100,000 on top of the fine in identification processes, so that it can better comply with regulations. In addition to Kraken, OFAC has already penalized BitGo, BitPay, Bittrex, and Binance.
OFAC Cause Ethereum Sanctions
We also know the OFAC from the infamous Ethereum censorship. Last August, the US Treasury Department announced that the crypto mixer Tornado Cash has been heavily restricted.
Because of this, Ethereum validators have opted for new software that places certain addresses on a blacklist. You are also a target if you carry out criminal activities that are separate from this bitcoin mixer. It may result in the Ethereum blockchain not recording your transactions to the blockchain, thus preventing it from executing. The vast majority of Ethereum validators would now meet the sanction requirements.