28.2% of Data Requests Originated from U.S. Agencies in 2023, Kraken Says

Crypto exchange Kraken published a report today detailing the data requests it received from official bodies last year.

In a blog post, the exchange revealed that it had received a total of 4923 data requests in 2023, with U.S. agencies accounting for 1393 of those requests.

Stay in-the-know with the 2023 Kraken Transparency Report ⚡

Last year:

– Agencies from 69 countries submitted data requests

– U.S. agencies issued 28.2% of all data requests

– Worldwide global regulatory agency requests increased 70%

Full report👇 https://t.co/Mir67JMrPb

— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) February 12, 2024

Kraken’s 2023 Transparency Report

The Federal Bureau of Investigation

stood out as the most proactive among U.S. agencies, making up more than 33% of total requests. Although comprising only 1.8% of overall U.S. agency requests, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) played a major role by accounting for almost 60% of regulatory agency requests in the country, Kraken noted.

The exchange observed a 33% rise in the total number of requests from global law enforcement and regulatory agencies in 2023 compared to 2022. The British Virgin Islands and Australia saw the biggest increases, with spikes of 400% and 341%, respectively.

Kraken received data requests from law enforcement and government agencies located in 69 countries in total, with the most common type of request being a subpoena.

“Consistent disclosure of compliance information demonstrates our longtime commitment to complying with legal and regulatory requests in a way that is consistent with law enforcement and aligns with our ideals: financial freedom, permissionless access to assets, and the acceleration of global crypto adoption — with a vigilant commitment to regulatory compliance and our clients’ privacy,” Kraken said in its blog post.

Coinbase and Kraken’s Legal Issues 

Coinbase, another prominent crypto exchange, disclosed that it received a total of 13,079 requests from law enforcement agencies between October 2022 and September 2023, reflecting a 6% increase from the previous year.

The extent of data provided by Coinbase to law enforcement is unclear, but the exchange expressed its commitment to providing “anonymized or aggregated data.”

In November 2023, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Kraken, alleging that the exchange functioned as an unregistered securities business. The SEC further accused Kraken of commingling its own funds with those of its customers. In response, Kraken asserted that it does not list securities and contested the allegations made in the complaint.