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The OKX cryptocurrency exchange, one of the world's largest, pleaded guilty on Monday to processing more than US$1 trillion (HK$7.8 trillion) in transactions by US customers without a license and will pay more than US$504 million in penalties.
The exchange, which allows users to make spot trades in more than 300 cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ethereum, admitted in Manhattan federal court to a single felony count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla assessed the penalty in fines and forfeitures, following an agreement between US prosecutors and the exchange owner, the Seychelles-based Aux Cayes Fintech.
"Today's settlement contained absolutely no charges of money laundering," said David Meister, outside counsel for OKX. "Aux Cayes FinTech, one of many OKX affiliates, resolved a Department of Justice investigation by acknowledging that it had not obtained a license to operate as a money transmitter."
OKX admitted that from about 2018 to early 2024, its platform engaged in more than US$1 trillion in US-based transactions while failing to register as a money services business. For years, OKX allowed people to use its platform without completing a "know-your-customer" process, and did not implement measures to monitor and detect suspicious activity, prosecutors said.
Although OKX's official policy prevented people in the US from trading on its exchange, they could still do so by using a virtual private network and not disclosing their identity, the government said. The company also promoted on social media that it allowed trades without requiring identifying information.
Meanwhile, bitcoin tumbled below US$90,000 to hit the lowest since mid-November, as the rally that followed Donald Trump's election to the White House reversed under the weight of his trade tariffs and a string of industry setbacks.
