Kraken transparency report highlights increasing costs of compliance

Kraken recently released data showing the number of global law enforcement requests in 2019 increased 50% from the prior year. The U.S. remains the most active country with requests coming from the full spectrum of government agencies, however, the share of total requests decreased from 66% to 61%.

Why it matters

• U.S. regulator's active role in regulating the crypto industry has had a material effect with many notable companies opting to geo-block users rather than pay the onerous compliance requirements.
• For those companies whose business is dependent on U.S. customers, they will continue to expend substantial capital on meeting these requirements rather than investing in other facets of the business. In the long-run this could make them less competitive on a global scale