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United States Justice Department (DoJ) officials unsealed an indictment against cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin and two of its founders for "conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business" and violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.

As CoinDesk reports, the DoJ said in an indictment that KuCoin and founders Chun Gan and Ke Tang operated KuCoin as a money-transmitting business with over 30 million customers but did not implement a know-your-customer (KYC) or AML program until 2023 – and even then, its KYC program did not apply to existing customers.

Neither Gan nor Tang were arrested, the DOJ said in a press release.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also filed a suit against KuCoin Tuesday, alleging the company, which offers both spot and futures trading services, did not register as a futures commission merchant, swap execution facility or designated contract market. Its suit also charged that KuCoin didn't implement the CFTC's equivalent of a KYC program.

With bitcoin having reached up to new record highs, it is worth noting today's action marks the first time that the DOJ has targeted a crypto exchange since it announced a multi-billion dollar settlement with Binance late last year, perhaps in a refreshed playbook to spread FUD back into the crypto ecosystem.

Finally, KuCoin claims that its users' assets are safe amid the series of criminal and civil allegations:

At the same time, KuCoin's native token, KCS, has lost 12% of its value over the past 24 hours and is currently trading at $12.64 at the time of publication.