Kraken says it fought IRS to protect clients against identity theft, other potential harms

Kraken, a leading crypto exchange, commented on the outcome of a recent case in a statement emailed to CryptoSlate on July 3.

A company representative said:

“We fought the IRS because they sought intrusive and unnecessary information about U.S. clients… Were this information leaked by the IRS, it would expose Kraken clients to identity theft and other harm, which Kraken prevented.”

Kraken specifically said that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)’s requests could have revealed users’ IP addresses and banking details — as well as users’ net worth, employment data, and sources of wealth, as CryptoSlate reported on July 1.

While Kraken was compelled to submit identifying information on users trading at certain thresholds during certain periods, the Court declined its request that Kraken reveal other KYC/AML data, including employment information, net worth, or source of wealth.

The representative said the exchange appreciated that the Court rejected many of the IRS’ requests for information. “much broader than what is necessary.”

The company said that its principles include customer security and privacy and asserted that Kraken “will always stand up for its clients as it did successfully here.”

Despite Kraken’s partial success in keeping user data private, the company has nevertheless been ordered to provide certain information to the IRS. Kraken must surrender some identifying information related to users who traded at least $20,000 worth of cryptocurrency over a one-year period between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec 31, 2020.

The company must also provide certain on-chain data.

Kraken handled $382 million of trading volume over the past 24 hours, placing it among the 20 largest crypto exchanges by volume.

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