KuCoin at a glance
KuCoin is a privately held cryptocurrency exchange registered in the Seychelles and operated by Peken Global Limited. It launched in September 2017, raised a $150 million Series B at a $10 billion valuation in May 2022, and reported about 40 million users in 2025. Since January 20, 2025 it has been led by CEO BC Wong, its former chief legal officer.
How KuCoin makes money
Most of KuCoin's income comes from trading fees. Spot trades on standard pairs start at 0.1%, futures carry lower rates on much larger volume, and margin lending, KuCoin Earn, P2P, OTC and withdrawal fees add more. Its in-app grid and DCA bots cost nothing to start but generate fee-paying orders around the clock. KuCoin does not publish audited accounts, so its revenue is not public.
From ICO startup to $10 billion exchange
The founders, Chun 'Michael' Gan, Ke 'Eric' Tang and Johnny Lyu, funded the launch with a token sale of KuCoin Shares (now KCS) that raised about 5,500 BTC. A $20 million Series A in 2018 from IDG Capital, Matrix Partners and NEO Global Capital followed. KuCoin survived a $281 million hot-wallet hack in 2020, recovering 84% of the funds and covering the rest from its insurance fund, and reached its $10 billion valuation in 2022 with Jump Crypto as lead investor.
The legal reckoning, 2023 to 2026
KuCoin paid $22 million to the New York Attorney General in December 2023. US prosecutors charged the company and two founders in March 2024, and in January 2025 Peken Global pleaded guilty to running an unlicensed money transmitting business, agreeing to a $112.9 million fine and $184.5 million forfeiture. Gan and Tang each forfeited $2.7 million and left management. Canada's FINTRAC followed with a ~$14 million (C$19.5 million) penalty in September 2025, and a CFTC settlement in March 2026 made KuCoin's exit from the US permanent.
The licensing pivot
Under Wong, KuCoin has pursued local permissions: KuCoin Thailand with ERX in April 2025, AUSTRAC registration in Australia and a MiCA licence for KuCoin EU in Austria in November 2025, and admission to Nigeria's SEC incubation programme in July 2026. The European entity hit a setback in February 2026 when Austria's FMA restricted new business over missing compliance officers. In February 2026 KuCoin also pledged $2 billion to custody, monitoring and compliance upgrades.
Competitors
KuCoin competes with offshore exchanges Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget and Gate.io, and with regulated platforms such as Coinbase and Kraken in markets where it holds licences.
