KuCoin EU hires new AML chief after Austria ban on new business under MiCA

43 seconds ago

Update (April 29, 17:15 UTC): This article has be

Update (April 29, 17:15 UTC): This article has been updated to include comments from KuCoin EU’s AML officer Carmen Kleinhans and managing director Sabina Liu.

KuCoin EU has appointed a new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) chief and expanded its compliance team in Vienna, weeks after Austrian regulators barred the exchange from taking on new business under Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) regime.

The MiCA-licensed entity named Carmen Kleinhans as its Anti-Money Laundering Officer, alongside two deputy AML officers drawn from former Austrian regulators and bank compliance chiefs. According to a Wednesday release, the team will oversee AML, Counter-Terrorist Financing (CTF) and sanctions controls, as well as enterprise-wide risk management and regulatory engagement. Kleinhans told Cointelegraph that the focus is on embedding controls into day-to-day operations rather than “box-ticking” compliance.

The move follows a February decision by Austria’s Financial Market Authority to prohibit KuCoin EU from onboarding new clients or signing new contracts after finding that key AML/CTF and sanctions compliance roles were not adequately staffed, a situation Kleinhans said underscored the need for “the right team in place.”

She added that KuCoin was hiring experienced professionals from traditional financial institutions and implementing a time-bound remediation plan with enhanced oversight.

The hires show an effort by the exchange to address those gaps and align more closely with traditional financial services compliance expectations, as regulators increasingly focus on governance and controls rather than solely technical breaches. Kleinhans also emphasized that KuCoin EU operates with locally defined systems and oversight under EU regulatory expectations.

Wider regulatory pressure on KuCoin

The new staffing push also comes against a broader backdrop of rising AML and sanctions scrutiny in crypto, with regulators increasingly willing to freeze or partially suspend business over governance and staffing failures rather than just technical breaches of securities or licensing rules, a trend KuCoin EU managing director Sabina Liu told Cointelegraph was raising standards across the European market.

A Tuesday report by blockchain security auditor CertiK showed that KuCoin and OKX were among the exchanges hit with some of the largest AML-related penalties in 2025, highlighting how enforcement has shifted toward financial crime and controls rather than solely securities law issues.

Notable AML-Related Penalties in 2025. Source: CertiK

At a group level, KuCoin has also faced recent regulatory action in other jurisdictions, including a nearly $300 million settlement with US authorities in January 2025, after the exchange pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and failing to implement required AML and know your customer (KYC) controls.

On March 30, the parent company of KuCoin agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty to settle a case by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) alleging it operated an unregistered offshore commodities exchange. Earlier that same month, KuCoin received a warning from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority over allegedly offering virtual asset services in the emirate without the required local licence.

These developments place additional attention on how KuCoin EU implements MiCA and responds to the Austrian supervisor’s concerns, and whether its enhanced local compliance team will be viewed as sufficient to resume new business under its European authorization.

Liu said that Europe remains a “key strategic market” where the firm is building a locally regulated, long-term operating presence, and that KuCoin EU is designed specifically to serve users in 29 EEA markets, with clear regulatory oversight and local accountability.

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