Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has received nearly three times more law enforcement inquiries in 2018 than in 2017, the exhange reported in a tweet Jan. 5. According to data displayed in the weet, in 2018 the exchange received 475 law enforcement inquiries from global government agencies, while in 2017 there had been only 160. Still, 2017 numbers were already considerably higher than the previous year, when there were only 71 inquires. Annual Law Enforcement Inquiries Received by Kraken - Source: Kraken tweet The tweet further highlighted the prevalence of United States agencies among the inquiries, stating “you can see why many …

United States cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is considering a private offering to high-net-worth investors, Finance Magnates reported Dec. 12, quoting emails sent by the company. Kraken, which is currently the subject of a lawsuit over its support of the competing forks of altcoin Bitcoin Cash (BCH), has reportedly valued its shares at $4 billion. According to Finance Magnates, executives are now offering select major clients to whom the email was sent a chance to acquire further equity, subject to a minimum investment of $100,000. “The transaction process will be done by a 3rd party service, who will run accredited investor checks, …

Florida-based United American Corp. (UnitedCorp) has purportedly filed a lawsuit against Bitmain, Bitcoin.com, Roger Ver, and the Kraken Bitcoin Exchange, according to a press release published Dec. 6. UnitedCorp alleges that the defendants planned a scheme to take control of the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network. Founded in 1992, UnitedCorp is a development and management firm with a focus on telecommunications and information technologies. The company manages a portfolio of patents and proprietary technology in telecoms, social media and blockchain. UnitedCorp also owns and operates BlockchainDomes stations, that provide heat for agricultural applications. The suit filed in the U.S. District Court …

Major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Kraken confirmed in a blog post Nov. 18 that it had begun supporting both forks of Bitcoin Cash (BCH), while warning traders about “many red flags.” Kraken, which initially said it would only support only one of the two BCH chains – Bitcoin Cash ABC – has at press time already launched trading of its counterpart chain, Bitcoin Cash SV (BSV). The product of a contentious hard fork of the BCH network Nov. 15, Bitcoin Cash SV currently sits at the center of controversy over BCH miner coercion, with major proponent Craig Wright and his company …

Prominent cybersecurity firm Group-IB has graded the security of top crypto exchanges, U.S.-based tech news media the Next Web reported Tuesday, Nov. 6. According to research conducted by the Moscow-based firm in partnership with crypto asset insurance platform CryptoIns, the Kraken platform is the safest crypto exchange. In contrast, OKEx — the now-second crypto exchange by daily trade volume — as well as Huobi Pro and CoinCheck are the riskiest crypto trading spots, the report says. Per the Next Web, Group-IB made its determinations with a newly developed assessment system that calculates insurance premiums to cover cryptocurrencies held by major …

Another major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange criticized a report from New York’s Attorney General Wednesday, September 19, after it chose not to respond to a voluntary information request. Kraken, which is headquartered in California, joined one of the largest U.S. players Coinbase in denouncing certain aspects of Barbara Underwood’s report as unfair. Mentioning several times that Kraken “refused” to take part in supplying information, Underwood, the exchange alleges, appeared to suggest it had something to hide, such as offering services to New York residents without holding a BitLicense. “We must… object to the highly unprofessional/ malicious implication that because we did …

Crypto exchange Kraken, currently ranked 11th largest globally by daily trade volumes, has denied rumors that it is laying off staff in its unit in Halifax, Canada, Finance Magnates reports September 6. The denial comes after a post to a local discussion thread on reddit alleged that Kraken’s “unit 102 at 60 Highfield park drive” had laid off “hundreds of people…after making them sign voluntary quit forms,” further claiming that a “giant commotion” had erupted in response to an alleged security breach. After making the claim, the redditor in question asked thread contributors, “was anyone here one of those people?” …

The largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase faces tough competition from Asian competitors Binance and OKEx, data revealed Monday, August 20, as its volumes drop almost 85 percent. Figures compiled by cryptocurrency industry newsletter producer Diar show that while Coinbase trading has tailed off dramatically since the start of 2018, Binance and OKEx have either seen stable activity or even posted increases. From January to July, U.S. dollar traded volume at Coinbase slumped 83 percent, while at fellow major platform Bitstamp, the figure hit 73 percent. At the same time, Binance’s volume increased 21 percent in July versus June, while OKEx …

Major crypto exchange Kraken has issued a scathing response to a recent Bloomberg article about stable cryptocurrency Tether (USDT) allegedly “defying logic” on Kraken’s platform. The article in question, titled “Crypto coin Tether defies logic on Kraken’s market, raising red flags,” was published on Bloomberg June 29, with comments and analysis from several academics and Andrew Rennhack, a former professional poker player. Its authors allege that the price of Tether might be manipulated on Kraken, citing “oddly specific order sizes” and the fact that “huge trades move prices about the same as small ones.” According to Bloomberg, the trades that …

Crypto exchange Binance is keeping trading and withdrawals suspended due to a risk warning, even after completion of their extended four hour scheduled upgrade today, June 26, according to a support notice from Binance. Binance had posted earlier about the added time of the upgrade, then added an update that the upgrade was complete and trading would begin at 9:30 am (UTC). However, another update followed, noting of the continued suspension of trading and withdrawals due to a warning after a pre-trade check by their risk management system: “Due to a warning from a pre-trade check in our risk management …

Regulators from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reportedly demanded extensive trading data from several cryptocurrency exchanges, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal June 8. Regulators requested data in order to investigate whether manipulation might be compromising prices in digital currency markets. The probe followed the launch of Bitcoin (BTC) futures by CME Group in December last year. CME forms its Bitcoin (BTC) futures prices based on data from four crypto exchanges; Bitstamp, Coinbase, itBit and Kraken, where manipulative trading could reportedly have distorted the value of BTC futures. Investigators are going after trading schemes …

Recently expatriated Polish cryptocurrency exchange BitBay tweeted yesterday, May 30, that the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) has asked them to join a Blockchain Working Group. BitBay suspended operations in Poland this week after banks refused to cooperate with the exchange, in the wake of the Polish government’s increasingly negative stance toward cryptocurrencies. Although BitBay did not directly address whether they would accept the KNF’s invitation, they wrote in yesterday’s tweet that they “are not abandoning crypto activity for the Polish community.” Nasza giełda otrzymała zaproszenie z KNF do udziału w pracach Grupy roboczej ds. Blockchain. 💪 Jak zapewnialiśmy ostatnio, …