The Treasury Department said crypto exchange Bittrex Inc. was fined more than $24 million on Tuesday over apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs.
$29 million for violating U.S. sanctions, the Treasury Department said on Tuesday.
"As a result of deficiencies related to Bittrex’s sanctions compliance procedures, Bittrex failed to prevent persons apparently located in the Crimea region of Ukraine, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria from using its platform to engage in approximately $263,451,600.13 worth of virtual currency-related transactions between March 2014 and December 2017," the Treasury Department said in a release.
Bittrex has agreed to pay $24.3 million to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to settle its potential civil liability for over 116,000 apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs. It will pay an additional $5 million to the Treasury. The U.S. said Bittrex should have been aware these customers were located in sanctioned parts of the world due to their physical address information – like an Iranian passport – as well as their IP addresses."When virtual currency firms fail to implement effective sanctions compliance controls, including screening customers located in sanctioned jurisdictions, they can become a vehicle for illicit actors that threaten U.S national security," OFAC Director Andrea Gacki said.
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