Poloniex Crypto Exchange Fined IDR 111.3 Billion, What’s the Reason?

Liputan6.com, Jakarta Poloniex LLC, a US entity formerly affiliated with crypto exchange Poloniex, will pay USD 7.59 million or the equivalent of IDR 111.3 billion (assuming an exchange rate of IDR 14,670 per US dollar) to settle allegations of sanctions violations with the Department of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Office US Finance.

“The platform has nearly 66,000 violations against various sanctions programs, which allowed customers from Crimea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria to trade up to USD 15 million or equivalent to IDR 220 billion collectively between January 2014 to November 2019,” OFAC said in a broadcast. press, quoted from CoinDesk, Wednesday (3/5/2023).

Poloniex was fined for not having a sanctions compliance program in place until May 2015. The compliance program also expired, allowing customers from sanctioned jurisdictions who were already on the platform to continue using it.

The Poloniex exchange is currently owned by a consortium of entities, which includes backing from Tron creator Justin Sun. Previously, US crypto company Circle briefly owned Poloniex, despite selling the business after less than two years.

OFAC said in its report Monday the fact Poloniex LLC was a small startup at the time of most of the alleged breaches.

Circle in this case enhanced Poloniex’s sanction compliance program over the lifetime of the company’s ownership, both of which are mitigating factors in calculating the severity of the penalty.