Canada’s financial intelligence unit has imposed a C$19.6 million administrative monetary penalty on Peken Global Limited, the Seychelles-incorporated company that operates crypto exchange KuCoin in Canada.
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada said the penalty, dated July 28, 2025, followed multiple violations of the country’s anti money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules.
The agency disclosed the action on September 25 in an official notice that detailed the findings and the size of the fine. FINTRAC’s release identified Peken Global as a foreign money services business operating in Canada.
According to the regulator, the company failed to register with FINTRAC as a foreign money services business, a basic requirement for entities dealing in virtual currency on Canadian soil.
FINTRAC also found the firm did not report large virtual currency transactions of C$10,000 or more as required, and did not file suspicious transaction reports when there were reasonable grounds to suspect links to money laundering or terrorist activity financing.
The combination of missed registration and reporting gaps strikes at the foundation of Canada’s AML framework, which depends on standardized data to flag risks across the financial system.
FINTRAC framed the enforcement as part of a broader push to raise compliance standards across sectors that touch financial flows, including crypto platforms.
Sarah Paquet, FINTRAC’s director and CEO, said the regime exists to protect the safety of Canadians and the security of the economy, and that the agency will take appropriate actions when needed.
The message underscores a tightening posture toward firms that serve Canadian users from offshore hubs but still fall within the scope of domestic AML rules.
It sits among the larger fines FINTRAC has disclosed, and it comes as the agency reports a record number of notices of violation in its 2024–25 fiscal year by volume and aggregate dollars.
For platforms that rely on Canadian clients for liquidity and fee revenue, the action highlights the cost of lapses in core compliance functions like KYC processes, threshold transaction reporting, and the escalation of unusual activity.
FINTRAC’s administrative penalties address compliance failures rather than customer balances. Even so, actions of this scale often trigger enhanced scrutiny by banking partners and could affect on- and off-ramps if counterparties recalibrate their risk appetite.
The case adds to a trend of regulators pressing offshore exchanges to meet the same reporting and recordkeeping standards expected of domestic financial entities.
Canada’s framework requires firms in sectors such as money services businesses and casinos to maintain AML programs, identify clients, and report certain transactions, including large cash and large virtual currency transfers.
The availability and quality of those reports feed FINTRAC’s ability to produce intelligence for law enforcement and national security agencies.
