Recently, the OPAC agency has accused CoinList of violating sanctions against Russia by allowing users from Crimea to use their platform.
Specifically, CoinList processed 989 transactions from users residing in Crimea from April 2020 to May 2022, totaling $1.25 million USD. Additionally, the platform opened 89 accounts for customers, many of whom identified ‘Russia’ as their country of residence but all provided addresses in Crimea when registering their accounts.
Notably, in the OFAC’s statement, it emphasized that although CoinList applied compliance procedures during the mentioned period, the platform’s screening processes did not have the capability to identify users providing addresses in the sanctioned region.
*Crimea is a disputed region of Ukraine that was annexed by Russia in 2014, leading to U.S. and international sanctions.
Following negotiations and discussions, CoinList was required to pay a $1.2 million USD fine. This amount is significantly lower than the maximum penalty of $327 million USD.
However, OFAC explained that this reduced fine was due to CoinList’s cooperation during the investigation. The penalty is also lower than the recommended civil penalty of $3 million USD per OFAC guidelines. Additionally, OFAC noted that this action underscores the importance of cryptocurrency companies complying with sanctions, especially when providing international financial services.
On CoinList’s part, the platform not only agreed to pay the fine but also committed to investing $300,000 USD in compliance control measures, demonstrating their commitment to learning and improving compliance procedures.
It’s worth noting that CoinList, founded in 2017, is a reputable fundraising platform through ICOs in the market, backed by a16z, Sequoia, USV, GV, Bain, Lightspeed. Since its establishment, the San Francisco-based company has organized several crypto sales, raising a total of $800 million USD.