Crypto exchange Kraken has been ordered by a federal court to provide the IRS with account and transaction information of customers.
The IRS and Kraken Have Been at Odds for a While
Crypto exchange Kraken has been ordered by a federal court to provide the IRS with account and transaction information of customers.
According to the court order, anyone who transacted in cryptocurrencies between 2016 and 2020 may have tax liabilities. Kraken must provide complete paperwork, which includes name, taxpayer identity number, physical address, phone number, email address, and transactional ledger for every user who purchased, sold, or traded at least $20,000 worth of cryptocurrency within that time period.
The IRS had also requested information on money laundering activities, clients’ net worth, and their source of wealth, among others, but these requests were denied by the judge.
The IRS and Kraken have been at odds for a while, with Kraken consistently rejecting the IRS's earlier information demands as well as additional summonses. The agreement comes as cryptocurrency platforms are the subject of a broad regulatory crackdown; the SEC is currently taking on Coinbase and Binance's US office for allegedly making unregistered securities offerings.
Kraken has agreed to pay a $30 million fine to the SEC earlier this year for violating securities law in its staking offerings, and halted its staking services for US clients.
