Kraken Australia operator Bit Trade must pay $5 million plus court costs after the Federal Court sided with the country’s corporate watchdog.
Australia’s Federal Court fined the Australian operator of United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken 8 million Australian dollars ($5.1 million) after siding with the country’s corporate regulator.
In a Dec. 12 judgment, Justice John Nicholas ordered Bit Trade, which operates Kraken Australia, to pay the fine within 60 days and cover court costs. The court found that Bit Trade failed to comply with design and distribution obligations and acted as a credit facility without a license.
The penalty is less than the $12.8 million sought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which Nicholas described as “excessive.” Still, it exceeded Bit Trade’s request to limit the fine to $2.5 million, which the judge deemed “insufficient.”
