Reviewing the credibility and activity history of the KuCoin exchange

KuCoin began operating in September 2017 and became known by the slogan «The People's Exchange». Access to a wide range of cryptocurrencies was part of its growth path in the following years. However, to assess KuCoin's credibility, knowing the brand name and its track record is not enough; you need to see which company is responsible for running the platform and where that company is registered. 

One of these companies, KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH, received a license from the Austrian financial regulator in November 2025 to provide certain crypto services under the MiCA regulation. However, the license status should be read together with the same regulator's later notice: according to an announcement in May 2026, the company was still not permitted to start operations, because some of the supervisory requirements had not been completed. This license also belongs to KuCoin's European company and does not mean that the services of all KuCoin entities are permitted in other countries. 

On the other hand, the name Peken Global Limited appears in official US documents as the company operating KuCoin; however, these documents are not consistent about where it is registered. The US Department of Justice described the company as based in Seychelles in January 2025, while the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) wrote in March 2026 that Peken Global Limited is incorporated under the laws of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Documents from the 2024 case also name other related companies in the Cayman Islands and Singapore.

Therefore, describing KuCoin in 2026 as an «exchange registered in Seychelles» without explaining this discrepancy is not accurate. What can be said with certainty is that KuCoin is an international exchange with several related legal entities. A company's place of registration is also different from a license to provide services in a given country, and the status of licenses should be checked separately.

 

To answer this question, we first need to clarify what is meant by «ranking». CoinMarketCap ranks spot exchanges based on factors such as trading volume, liquidity and traffic, while CoinGecko uses a «Trust Score» to evaluate them. For this reason, KuCoin's position on these two lists is not necessarily the same. 

At the time of writing, KuCoin ranked eighth on CoinMarketCap's list of spot exchanges and tenth on CoinGecko's list. Its Trust Score on CoinGecko currently stands at 9 out of 10. These figures show KuCoin's notable position among centralized exchanges, but they are not fixed or permanent and may shift as the data or ranking methodology changes.

CoinGecko's Trust Score should also not be mistaken for a guarantee of asset security. This metric takes into account factors such as liquidity, regulatory oversight, cybersecurity, history of security incidents and disclosure of reserve information; however, on its own it does not give a definitive verdict on the exchange's financial strength or the suitability of its services for Iranian users. To assess KuCoin's credibility, its ranking should be considered alongside its security record, legal status and user access conditions.

 

To answer this question, we first need to clarify what is meant by «rank». CoinMarketCap ranks spot exchanges based on factors such as trading volume, liquidity and traffic; CoinGecko, on the other hand, uses a «Trust Score» to evaluate them. For this reason, KuCoin's position on these two lists is not necessarily the same. 

At the time of writing, KuCoin ranked eighth on CoinMarketCap's list of spot exchanges and tenth on CoinGecko's list. Its Trust Score on CoinGecko currently stands at 9 out of 10. These figures show KuCoin's notable standing among centralized exchanges, but they are not fixed or permanent and may shift as the data or ranking methodology changes.

CoinGecko's Trust Score should also not be mistaken for a guarantee of asset security. This metric takes into account factors such as liquidity, regulatory oversight, cybersecurity, history of security incidents and disclosure of reserve information; however, on its own it does not give a definitive verdict on the exchange's financial strength or the suitability of its services for Iranian users. To assess KuCoin's credibility, its ranking should be considered alongside its security record, legal status and user access conditions.

Revisiting the 2020 KuCoin Exchange Hack

In September 2020, after attackers gained access to KuCoin's hot wallets, assets worth approximately $285 million were drained from the exchange. The incident was one of the largest crypto thefts of that year and showed that even well-known exchanges are not immune to breaches. When assessing KuCoin's credibility, the key question, beyond the hack itself, is what the exchange did about users' lost assets.

According to KuCoin, cooperation with blockchain projects, exchanges and the agencies pursuing the case led to the recovery of about $239 million, equal to 84 percent of the stolen assets. The exchange stated that it covered the remaining roughly $46 million from its own resources and its insurance fund. These figures show how KuCoin acted to compensate for the losses, but they rely mainly on the exchange's own reporting.

Examining the KuCoin Bankruptcy Rumors (2022 to 2024)

Rumors of KuCoin's bankruptcy surfaced before the collapse of FTX. In July 2022, amid the crisis at several companies active in the crypto market, speculation spread about a liquidity shortfall and a possible suspension of withdrawals at KuCoin. The exchange's then-CEO denied these claims. After FTX collapsed in November of that year, users became more sensitive to exchanges' financial strength, and questions about KuCoin's situation resurfaced. 

In response, KuCoin began publishing «Proof of Reserves» reports. The report prepared with Mazars in December 2022 showed that, as of the review date and for four assets, BTC, ETH, USDT and USDC, the declared reserves were at least equal to user balances. The exchange continued publishing reserve information periodically in 2023 and 2024. These reports provide evidence for assessing the claim of an asset shortfall, but they are not full audits of financial statements and do not guarantee the exchange's financial health forever. Therefore, the phrase «the bankruptcy case was closed for good» is not accurate; what can be said is that the claim of KuCoin's bankruptcy was not proven during that period

Legal Challenges with US Regulators (2024 to 2026)

In March 2024, the US Department of Justice filed charges against KuCoin and two of its founders. The case centered on providing services to US users without registering and implementing legal requirements, including anti-money laundering and identity verification (KYC) rules. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also separately filed a complaint over how KuCoin offered trading services to US users. These legal cases should be distinguished from the bankruptcy rumors: they concerned compliance with US regulations, not a declaration of the exchange's bankruptcy.

The criminal case reached a key point in January 2025: the company operating KuCoin pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in the US, agreed to pay more than $297 million in fines and forfeiture, and committed to staying out of the US market for at least two years. The CFTC case was also resolved in March 2026 with a consent order, a $500,000 fine and a ban on providing access to US users without the required registration with the agency. So attributing both settlements to «early 2026» is incorrect. Also, KuCoin's mandatory identity verification began in August 2023; it should not be presented as a direct result of the 2025 settlement.

 

Searching for the phrase «KuCoin exchange scam» brings up several different issues, and they should not all be treated as the same. KuCoin's legal case in the US is real: the company operating the exchange pleaded guilty in 2025 to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in that country. However, this case does not prove the claim that KuCoin was created from the outset with the aim of stealing users' assets. 

Some of the cases reported under KuCoin's name relate to impersonation of the exchange. Scammers build websites that look like KuCoin or send messages in the name of its support team to lure users into entering their password, verification code or wallet details. To reduce this risk, type kucoin.com directly into your browser, and before trusting any link, email or account claiming to be affiliated with the exchange, check it on KuCoin's official verification center.

 

The 2020 hack made the way KuCoin holds assets and responds to security incidents more important. The exchange now uses measures such as keeping a large share of assets in cold wallets, publishing proof of reserves reports and account security controls. However, the existence of these tools alone is not enough to present KuCoin as «one of the safest exchanges in the world», because each of them covers a specific part of the risk. 

KuCoin's Proof of Reserves report

The KuCoin crypto exchange publishes proof of reserves reports periodically. Users can check on the exchange's proof of reserves page that their account balance is included in the report data; the published reserve ratio also shows what ratio the exchange's declared assets for the coins covered by the report bore to user balances at the time the data was recorded. A 1:1 ratio means assets and liabilities are equal within the scope of that report, not a permanent guarantee of the exchange's financial strength or a full audit of all its activities. 

Cold wallets and compensation fund

KuCoin has stated that it keeps more than 95 percent of assets in cold wallets, a method that limits direct internet access to a large share of assets. This percentage is the exchange's own claim and should not be presented as a verified figure without independent evidence. KuCoin has also announced a fund for handling losses from incidents such as hacks, and in the 2020 incident it stated that it had covered the unrecovered portion of assets with its own resources and an insurance fund. However, as long as the coverage limit, payout conditions and exclusions are not clear, it cannot be promised that every loss will be compensated quickly and in full.

 

KYC verification at KuCoin is not a new development in 2026. The exchange made standard identity verification mandatory for new users to access its services in August 2023. Older unverified accounts also face restrictions on deposits and new trades; however, KuCoin's current guide says crypto withdrawals from these accounts are not blocked solely because verification has not been completed. So the claim that «an ID document is required for all withdrawals» is not accurate. 

Status of Iranian users: Iran does not appear in the sample list of restricted regions in the current public version of its Terms of Use; on the other hand, Iran is explicitly listed as a prohibited region in the terms for certain specific KuCoin services, including token sales on Spotlight. Therefore, a restriction on one product cannot be generalized to all of the exchange's services without checking. At the same time, the absence of Iran from that public list does not confirm that verification with Iranian documents is possible or guarantee access for users residing in Iran. 

KuCoin's Terms of Use also allow the exchange to restrict access based on geographic location and prohibit using a VPN to hide your real location or bypass regional restrictions. For a user residing in Iran, relying on changing your IP is not a reliable way to use the exchange; before depositing any assets, you should check the exchange's up-to-date terms to see whether you can use it and verify your identity with your real information. 

Recommendation for users: If you live in a country that KuCoin serves, compare its verification, withdrawal and asset custody terms with your needs before choosing an exchange. If you reside in Iran, check whether you can use it under your real identity before transferring funds, and do not count on a VPN as a way to gain access. Alternative exchanges and decentralized platforms also have their own terms and risks and should not simply be considered a «safe alternative» to KuCoin.