Established in 2017, KuCoin is one of the largest crypto exchanges worldwide, with more than 11 million customers. In an interview with Forbes in June 2022, its CEO Johnny Lyu said that they raised $20 million from IDG Capital and Matrix Partners. On Trustpilot, KuCoin has a Poor trust level with only 1.8 stars. Early Sept 2022, the Spanish regulator CNMV warned against the exchange. Its CEO presents himself as a sort of ape on social media. Would you really trust those guys? We wouldn’t!
Time To Grow Up?
Of course, one can say that it is petty to criticize the CEO of an unregulated financial provider for portraying himself as a monkey (?) on LinkedIn and Twitter. But we are talking about companies that solicit consumer funds and should follow regulatory rules. With companies like KuCoin and their relaxed relationship with legal and regulatory frameworks when dealing with their clients’ funds, dramas like Three Arrows Capital (3AC), Voyager Digital, or Celsius Network begin. It’s time to grow up.
Key Data
| Trading name | KuCoin |
| Business activity | Crypto exchange Crypto derivate exchange |
| Domain | www.kucoin.com |
| Legal entities | MEK Global Limited, Seychelles PhoenixFin Pte. Ltd, Singapore |
| Related individuals | Johnny Lyu |
| Investors | IDG Capital, Matrix Partners |
| Jurisdictions | Seychelles, Singapore |
| Authorization | No |
| Warnings | FSA Seychelles, OSC, CNMV |
| Remarks | OSC investigation qualified KuCoin as securities trader |
Short Narrative
MEK Global Limited, registered in Seychelles, and PhoenixFin Pte. Ltd in Singapore are the operating entities. In early August 2022, Canada’s Ontario Securities Exchange (OSC) warned against KuCoin for unauthorized securities trading based on a report of the Capital Markets Tribunal in Toronto.
An extensive investigation by the Capital Market Tribunal in Toronto has found that KuCoin crypto financial instruments such as the Crypto Futures Contract qualify as securities. The crypto exchange does not have the required permission to engage in securities trading. After the OSC‘s published investigation, KuCoin removed the legal entities from its Terms of Use and Privacy Policy pages. Apparently, they do not want to make it too easy for the regulators.
Share Information
If you have any information about KuCoin, its operators, and its activities, please let us know via our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
