Enhanced sanctions compliance: Building for scale and trust

At Kraken, we are committed to building a secure and reliable platform for our clients. Over the past few years, we have significantly strengthened our global compliance framework. We invest deeply in the people, processes and systems that keep our platform safe.

We recently reached an important milestone on that journey. This concludes a multi-year effort to strengthen the sanctions compliance program across the board. This achievement reflects not only the continued engagement with regulators (such as finalizing commitments over the past few years), but also the continued advances in Kraken’s approach to risk, surveillance and operational excellence.

As part of ongoing work with US regulators, Kraken recently completed its third final certification of the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) (OFAC).

Companywide efforts towards common goals

What began as an initiative to enhance sanctions control is a comprehensive effort to build one of the industry’s most robust, scalable and future compliance programs.

What Kraken will enhance compliance:

• GEOIP Firewall and VPN Screening
  A sophisticated tool that actively restricts unauthorized access based on geographical and network indicators.
• A comprehensive screening
  End-to-end product, client, and transaction-level screening ensures real-time risk detection.
• Over 100 Embedded Internal Controls
  Automatic checks and balances built into every tier of Kraken’s infrastructure.
• Upgraded policies, procedures, and processes
  An overview redesign of how compliance is approached across teams and workflows.
• Strict risk assessment, auditing, training
  Regular assessments and company-wide education to sharply align our defenses.
• Sanctions are controlled at all layers
  Overall protection measures integrated throughout Kraken’s architecture.
• Regulatory benchmarks and licensing expansions
  Tools and standards that allow for smoother licensing, and faster time to market globally.
• Active engagement with regulatory authorities
  Open and constructive dialogue that helps shape thoughtful and effective regulations.
• Strengthening due diligence for investors, M&As and product launches
  Strategic compliance is integrated into the way we grow.

All of these upgrades are a step towards our bigger goal. It is to make Kraken the most trusted and secure venue for code. Together, these features help protect clients, strengthen trust and strengthen Kraken’s role as a responsible industry leader.

Built for scale designed for reliability

Strong compliance is not just a risk reduction, but a strategic advantage. With these improvements, Kraken is ideally positioned below:

• Expand our business to new countries and expand with new products
• Promote stronger banking relationships
• Navigate the regulatory environment with confidence
• Mitigate audit and operational risks
• Supports faster and safer growth across the market

The compliance infrastructure we build is scalable, resilient, dynamic, and designed to not only meet today’s demands, but also predict tomorrow’s demands. We are proud of how far we have come and are even more excited about where we are heading. Because at Kraken, we don’t just build responsibly. It’s how we can lead the way, create a safer industrial ecosystem and accelerate the adoption of crypto.