KuCoin: fact sheet

What is KuCoin and who runs it?

KuCoin is a centralised crypto exchange: a company that runs markets for crypto-assets and usually holds customers’ coins for them. See what a crypto exchange is if you are starting out.

KuCoin’s About page tells its own history: its founders, named there as Michael and Eric, wrote the first lines of code “In late 2013”. The page reports “45 Million Global Users” and says BC Wong was appointed CEO in the first quarter of 2025. These are company statements.

The official description of the operator comes from US prosecutors. In January 2025 the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York described “PEKEN GLOBAL LIMITED (“PEKEN”), a Seychelles-based entity that, since at least September 2019, has operated KuCoin, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world”. In the EU, KuCoin operates through a separate Vienna company, KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH, under the website kucoin.eu.

Where is KuCoin licensed or registered?

The entry we could confirm on an official register, as of 2 October 2026:

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) keeps this register under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The entry covers the EU company only, not kucoin.com.

KuCoin also says it secured an Australian digital currency exchange registration with AUSTRAC in late 2025. We did not check that on AUSTRAC’s register. Our guide on checking if a crypto firm is authorised explains how to do it yourself.

Keep in mind what a register entry does not mean. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), for example, says registration as a crypto business “does not mean your customers benefit from the protections of the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).”

What did US prosecutors announce about KuCoin?

• “PEKEN agreed to pay monetary penalties totaling more than $297 million.”
• PEKEN agreed “to criminally forfeit $184.5 million and pay a criminal fine of approximately $112.9 million.”
• “PEKEN further agreed that KuCoin will exit the U.S. market for at least the next two years.”
• Two founders, Chun Gan and Ke Tang, “will no longer have any role in KuCoin’s management or operations”, and the department agreed to defer prosecution against them “for a period of two years.”

The release headline rounds the total to “Nearly $300 Million”. Read both releases in full via the sources below.

What can you trade on KuCoin?

KuCoin’s About page lists spot trading, futures trading, margin trading, KuCoin Earn, trading bots, OTC trading, a card (KuCard) and KuCoin Pay. Spot means buying the coin itself. Futures are derivatives that follow a coin’s price, and margin trading uses borrowed money; both can magnify losses.

Products vary by country. KuCoin EU’s MiCA authorisation lists specific services, so check what is actually offered on kucoin.eu.

What fees does KuCoin charge?

KuCoin’s fee and VIP page did not show the standard rates when we checked it on 2 October 2026, so we do not quote a figure. Check the official KuCoin fee page for your region and product before you trade.

Compare the trading fee for your tier with the spread, deposit and withdrawal fees and, for futures, funding costs. Illustrative arithmetic only: at a hypothetical 0.1% fee, a £800 trade costs £800 × 0.001 = £0.80. Our lesson on crypto trading fees explains what else to count.

Does KuCoin publish proof of reserves?

Yes. KuCoin’s proof-of-reserves page says: “The Merkle tree data structure is used to generate and securely encrypt user asset data into a single hash, which serves as a ‘summary’ of all inputted data.” It also publishes wallet addresses so that users can compare the platform’s on-chain holdings with total user balances. When we checked on 2 October 2026, the page showed reserve ratios for a snapshot taken at the end of August 2026. Those ratios are KuCoin’s own figures.

Treat any proof of reserves with care. The US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), which oversees auditors, warned in March 2023: “PoR engagements are not audits and, consequently, the related reports do not provide any meaningful assurance to investors or the public.” It added that such reports likely do not address a platform’s liabilities, or whether the assets shown were borrowed. In other words, a snapshot of KuCoin’s wallets tells you what it held at one moment, not what it owes. Our explainer on proof of reserves covers the method and its limits.

Which countries can’t use KuCoin?

KuCoin’s Terms of Use (last updated 29 September 2026, Article 17(5)) list these restricted jurisdictions: “the United States (including its territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, etc), Singapore, the mainland of China and Hong Kong, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ontario, and British Columbia of Canada, France, Netherlands, the Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine”.

Separately, the 2025 plea included an agreement that KuCoin will exit the US market for at least two years. Lists like this change; read the current terms before you sign up, and do not use a VPN or false details to get around them — that would break the terms you agree to.

What should you check before you sign up with KuCoin?

Use this list before you send KuCoin any money. Each step takes a few minutes and uses official sources, not the platform’s marketing.

1. Your country. Check Article 17(5) of the current terms.
2. Which KuCoin. EU residents should check whether they are dealing with KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH (kucoin.eu) and confirm it on ESMA’s register.
3. The contracting company. Note the company named in your terms; the global terms we read did not name one in the text we could load.
4. The web address. Type it yourself; see clone firms.
5. Costs. Find trading, spread, funding and withdrawal costs for your tier.
6. Custody. Decide what stays on the exchange; read wallets and private keys.
7. The record. Read the 2024 and 2025 US releases yourself.

What are the risks of using KuCoin?

Every risk that applies to crypto platforms in general applies to KuCoin:

• Price risk. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says: “If you decide to invest in crypto then you should be prepared to lose all your money, for any one of a variety of reasons, including sudden market moves, the failure of a firm, poor segregation of client funds or cyberattacks.”
• No compensation scheme. The FCA says crypto “is largely unregulated in the UK, so it is highly unlikely you will be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme”. In the US, the SEC says of the protections that apply to brokerage accounts: “There are no such protections for accounts that you place with crypto asset entities.”
• Platform failure. The SEC noted in 2023: “Over the past year, a number of crypto asset entities have faced severe financial difficulties, sometimes resulting in suspending customers’ ability to withdraw their assets.”
• Leverage. Futures and other derivatives usually let you trade with borrowed money, which magnifies losses as well as gains. The US self-regulatory body FINRA’s day-trading risk disclosure warns that when you trade with borrowed funds you can lose more than you originally put in.
• Entity risk. Protections differ between KuCoin EU and the global platform; check which one holds your account.

Blockhorizon is an education site. This fact sheet is not a recommendation to open an account with, or avoid, any platform. We have not rated this exchange; see our rating methodology.