The Seychelles-based company that runs the crypto exchange KuCoin in Canada, Peken Global Limited, has been hit with a C$19.6 million administrative monetary penalty by Canada’s financial intelligence unit.
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada said that the fine, which was issued on July 28, 2025, was for breaking the country’s rules against money laundering and terrorist financing multiple times.
The agency made the action public on September 25 in an official notice that explained the results and the amount of the fine. FINTRAC’s report said that Peken Global is a foreign money services business that does business in Canada.
The regulator says that the company didn’t register with FINTRAC as a foreign money services business, which is a basic requirement for businesses that deal in virtual currency in Canada.
FINTRAC also found that the company didn’t file suspicious transaction reports when there were good reasons to think the transactions were linked to money laundering or financing terrorist activities.
They also didn’t report large virtual currency transactions of C$10,000 or more as required.
The combination of missed registration and reporting gaps undermines the foundation of Canada’s AML framework, which relies on standardized data to identify risks throughout the financial system.
FINTRAC said that the enforcement was part of a bigger effort to raise compliance standards in all areas that deal with money, including crypto platforms.
According to Sarah Paquet, FINTRAC’s director and CEO, the regime is in place to keep Canadians safe and the economy safe, and the agency will do what it needs to do when it needs to.
The message makes it clear that companies that serve Canadian users from offshore hubs but are still subject to domestic AML rules are being watched more closely.
It is one of the biggest fines that FINTRAC has made public, and it comes at a time when the agency is reporting a record number of violation notices in terms of volume and total dollars for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
For platforms that depend on Canadian clients for liquidity and fees, this action shows how expensive it is to not do basic compliance tasks like KYC processes, reporting transactions over a certain amount, and reporting unusual activity.
FINTRAC’s fines are for not following the rules, not for customer balances. Even so, actions of this size often lead to more scrutiny from banking partners, which could affect on and off ramps if counterparties change their risk appetite.
This case is part of a trend in which regulators are pushing offshore exchanges to follow the same rules for reporting and recordkeeping as domestic financial institutions.
Companies in industries like money services and casinos in Canada must have AML programs, know their customers, and report certain transactions, such as large cash and virtual currency transfers.
FINTRAC can give law enforcement and national security agencies information based on how many and how good those reports are.
