Saying the 2022 Kraken Transparency Report

In an effort to steer the business in belief and transparency on our mission to speed up the adoption of cryptocurrency, we’re excited to launch our 2022 Transparency Report.

The 2022 Transparency Report offers a abstract of how we shield our purchasers’ privateness and monetary freedom whereas complying with the authorized requests we repeatedly obtain from companies across the globe. 

From an NFT marketplace to a professional trading interface, Kraken affords quite a lot of crypto services to over 9 million purchasers in 190 completely different nations. Final yr, Kraken obtained knowledge requests from regulation enforcement and authorities companies positioned in over 60 completely different nations. Whereas these requesting companies had been unfold throughout the federal, state, and native ranges, a lot of the requests obtained had been from regulation enforcement companies.

Kraken receives all forms of authorized calls for for data together with subpoenas, summonses, court docket orders, and different statutory requests. Kraken has carried out strict insurance policies and procedures to guard shopper privateness, that are meticulously adopted earlier than any shopper knowledge is produced. Kraken offers knowledge when we’ve a authorized obligation to adjust to the demand. It is very important be aware that failure to conform when we’ve a authorized obligation to take action can lead to civil or prison penalties towards Kraken.

Key takeaways

• Kraken obtained a complete of three,705 requests throughout the reporting interval, a 51% enhance over final yr.
• 71% of the requests got here from outdoors of the U.S. for a complete of two,624 non-U.S. requests. U.S.-based requests totalled 1,081.
• A lot of the regulation enforcement requests got here from the U.S., Germany, Nice Britain, and Spain.
• We noticed 79% of our U.S. requests come from regulation enforcement for a complete of 852 requests from U.S.-based regulation enforcement companies.

Fifty-one p.c enhance within the variety of regulation enforcement and authorities requests in 2022

The variety of requests obtained in 2022 represented a 51% enhance from the prior yr. This continues the pattern of a steadily rising quantity of requests we’ve seen over the previous a number of years. 

As an instance, the yr over yr proportion enhance from 2019 in comparison with 2022 is over 420%. Regardless of the super enhance in requests, Kraken continues to emphasise the safety of our purchasers’ knowledge by our adherence to strong insurance policies and cautious observance of authorized obligations.

To be able to meet the requests of those companies in an environment friendly {and professional} method, we proceed to develop and strengthen our compliance program. Over the previous yr, we expanded our Compliance Staff headcount by 55% in an effort to meet the calls for of the worldwide community of companies requesting data from Kraken. 

Kraken’s Compliance Staff consists of seasoned AML professionals, attorneys, former regulation enforcement officers, ACAMS licensed analysts, and plenty of different professionals with cryptocurrency associated accreditations. The crew works to make sure Kraken conducts applicable investigations and monitoring for our purchasers and the business.

U.S.-based companies difficulty probably the most requests

As has been the case for the previous a number of years, U.S.-based companies proceed to difficulty probably the most requests. U.S. requests (1,081) accounted for about 29% of the requests obtained by Kraken. The opposite prime requesting nations in sequential order had been Germany (784), Nice Britain (385), Spain (272), and France (251). These 5 nations additionally issued probably the most requests in 2021.

Highest variety of requests issued by the FBI

Of all the 60+ regulation enforcement and authorities companies making requests, the FBI constantly has issued probably the most requests for the previous a number of years. They continued this pattern once more in 2022. The FBI requests symbolize roughly 31% (332) of the U.S. primarily based companies’ requests. The subsequent two main U.S.-based companies had been the DHS-ICE (145) and the DEA (109).

“For 2023, Kraken is reaffirming our dedication to working alongside regulation enforcement and authorities companies in an effort to weed out criminals and dangerous actors on this area. However, we’re equally dedicated to offering the very best service attainable for our purchasers, as we work to safeguard their funds and privateness.” mentioned David Zacks, Senior Director of Compliance at Kraken. “This years Transparency Report as soon as once more affords a deeper degree of readability into how Kraken executes on our mission to speed up the adoption of cryptocurrencies, whereas additionally defending the monetary freedom of our purchasers throughout our varied services.”

Even with the numerous enhance within the quantity of requests, and regulation enforcement and authorities companies’ elevated scrutiny of the cryptocurrency business, Kraken will proceed to work diligently to guard our purchasers’ privateness whereas nonetheless responding to the numerous regulation enforcement and authorities requests we obtain.

These supplies are for normal data functions solely and usually are not funding recommendation or a suggestion or solicitation to purchase, promote or maintain any cryptoasset or to interact in any particular buying and selling technique. Some crypto merchandise and markets are unregulated, and also you might not be protected by authorities compensation and/or regulatory safety schemes. The unpredictable nature of the cryptoasset markets can result in lack of funds. Tax could also be payable on any return and/or on any enhance within the worth of your cryptoassets and it is best to search impartial recommendation in your taxation place. For extra data, please see our Terms of Service.