The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has fined cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex $7.6 million for sanctions violations.
OFAC reported that Poloniex violated U.S. sanctions against Crimea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria by offering its digital asset trading services to clients from those regions between January 2014 and November 2019.
During that time, the cryptocurrency exchange committed approximately 66,000 violations of various sanctions restrictions despite being able to determine the location of its clients, according to the Finance Magnates website.
Poloniex was founded in 2014 and supported OFAC's requirements in May 2015, but despite this decision, the platform allowed its clients from sanctioned regions to continue trading while knowing their details obtained through KYC.
The cryptocurrency exchange began blocking IP addresses from sanctioned regions in mid-2017.
Poloniex cryptocurrency exchange provides its clients with access to all popular cryptocurrencies and tokens, as well as the conversion of any cryptocurrency into fiat with subsequent withdrawal of funds. The exchange offers all basic channels for depositing and withdrawing funds via plastic cards, bank accounts and cryptocurrency e-wallets.
