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KuCoin

avoid.net/kucoin→28/100·93% conf.
[VERIFIED][src:defillama]

Auto-generated score, not yet verified against the scoring model. Under review — treat as indicative, not a verdict.

anchored·5aesZz…Tyb2

Summary

KuCoin is a global cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2017 that has accumulated one of the most serious regulatory and security records in the industry. The exchange suffered a $285 million hot-wallet hack in September 2020 attributed to North Korea's Lazarus Group, and in January 2025 pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in the United States, agreeing to pay over $297 million in fines and forfeitures and exit the US market for at least two years. On-chain investigator ZachXBT has publicly alleged that KuCoin continues to enable illicit fund flows by ignoring victim and law enforcement requests.

Connected Entities

9 entities · 60 linked investigations
Organizations
□Ethereum64□AudiA6□North Korea Lazarus Group — H1 2026 Systematic Crypto Theft Campaign□fake Ledger Live app□Ledger Live□ZachXBT
Protocols
⌂Uniswap
Tokens
♦KuCoin♦Bitcoin
Relationships
  • Ledger Live→mentioned with→Ethereum(65%)
  • Ethereum→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
  • Ledger Live→mentioned with→KuCoin(70%)
  • Ledger Live→mentioned with→AudiA6(60%)
  • Ledger Live→mentioned with→Bitcoin(70%)
  • Ledger Live→mentioned with→ZachXBT(65%)
  • KuCoin→mentioned with→Uniswap(60%)
  • KuCoin→mentioned with→Bitcoin(70%)
  • KuCoin→mentioned with→ZachXBT(70%)
  • KuCoin→mentioned with→AudiA6(60%)
  • + 18 more
Also appears in
Ethereum·64Lendf.me·30Levyathan·18Jump Trading·42StableMagnet·2Shibarium·28Bankr·18Nexera·32Sky (MakerDAO)·51BearnFi·12+ 50 more

Connected Through

9 shared actors · 616 investigations

Distinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.

Have evidence about KuCoin?
3
Accepted
3
Under review
0
Rejected / revoked

Community submissions

Timeline(13 events)

September 2017

KuCoin exchange launched by founders Chun Gan, Ke Tang, and Johnny Lyu following a 5,500 BTC ICO raise.

2018

KuCoin relocates headquarters from China to Singapore amid Chinese government cryptocurrency restrictions.

November 2018

KuCoin raises $20 million in Series A funding led by IDG Capital, Matrix Partners, and Neo Global Capital.

26 September 2020

KuCoin hot wallets compromised; private keys stolen. Approximately $281-$285 million in cryptocurrency drained across 150+ tokens.

February 2021

KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu reports recovery of approximately 84% of stolen hack funds through exchange partners, law enforcement, and insurance.

June 2021

Chainalysis publicly attributes the September 2020 KuCoin hack to North Korea's Lazarus Group based on on-chain patterns and shared deposit addresses.

July 2023

KuCoin implements KYC program for the first time, approximately six years after launch. Program not applied to existing customers.

26 March 2024

US DOJ SDNY unseals criminal indictment against KuCoin and founders Chun Gan and Ke Tang for Bank Secrecy Act violations and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

26 March 2024

CFTC files parallel civil enforcement action against KuCoin operating entities for Commodity Exchange Act violations spanning July 2019 to June 2023.

27 January 2025

KuCoin pleads guilty in Manhattan federal court to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Agrees to pay $297.4 million and exit US market for minimum two years. Founders Gan and Tang enter deferred prosecution agreements and resign.

25 September 2025

Canadian FINTRAC issues record C$19.6 million (USD ~$14 million) penalty against Peken Global Limited for AML violations including failure to register, ~3,000 unreported large transactions, and 33 unfiled suspicious transaction reports.

14 April 2026

ZachXBT alleges KuCoin enabled laundering of over $13 million in recent thefts, including $9.5 million from a fake Ledger Live app routed through 150+ KuCoin deposit addresses and $3.5 million from the Bitcoin Depot theft.

22 May 2026

ZachXBT publicly accuses KuCoin of ignoring hack victims and law enforcement requests, alleging exchange allowed illicit activity to continue despite having information to freeze flagged addresses.

Provenance & Audit Trail
Anchored on SolanaVerify on-chain24 Wayback Archivessrc:defillama

Decision Log

This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (6 events). 24 of 27 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.

Fact-checked 2026-09-0737 claims checked2 corrections pending0 applied⛓ anchoredSee findings →
full audit log →version history →

model: claude-sonnet-4-6

generated: 5/4/2026, 2:55:00 AM

last updated: 8/30/2026, 1:44:41 PM

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