A party affiliated with the OKX crypto exchange has pleaded guilty and will pay half a billion to the US Department of Justice. The company violated several anti-money laundering laws and facilitated criminal activities.
OKX crypto exchange company reaches settlement
Aux Cayes FinTech, the operator of the OKX crypto exchange, has admitted to running an unlicensed money transfer business. OKX has announced this as the conclusion of the investigation by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
According to prosecutor Matthew Podolsky, Aux Cayes FinTech knowingly violated US anti-money laundering legislation. As a result, the company facilitated more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions and criminal proceeds. According to the DOJ, this took place between 2018 and 2024.
Aux Cayes FinTech has agreed to pay a fine of $84 million. In addition, it will also pay $421 million from the fees the company earned without a license.
OKX also states that the company has hired a compliance consultant to resolve the issues and prevent them in the future.
OKX attracted American customers without a license
Since 2017, OKX has had a policy of not allowing American citizens to participate in the platform. However, according to the DOJ, OKX did recruit American customers.
The DOJ claims that OKX encouraged American citizens to provide false personal information when registering on the platform. Instead of specifying the United States as their country of origin, OKX allegedly suggested that they provide a random ID number from the United Arab Emirates.
OKX has advertised in the United States, despite the fact that the exchange is not available to Americans. There are also reports that customers have distributed videos explaining how an American can participate in OKX with a VPN.
We cooperated with the US Dept of Justice in their thorough investigation of our business. We had a small percentage of customers who were able to use our international services due to historical compliance gaps. Today our compliance controls are among the leading in the… pic.twitter.com/sg1b2GC4wE
— OKX (@okx) February 24, 2025
Crypto platform operating as usual
OKX responds to X that the customers involved are no longer active on the platform. The exchange acknowledges that American customers were previously able to trade on the global platform due to an error on their part, but claims that this has now been resolved. OKX also claims that there have been no further allegations of damage to customers.
Today, OKX’s compliance protocols are among the best and such problems can no longer occur, according to OKX. With the conclusion of the DOJ investigation, the exchange is now leaving the case behind.
