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Strengthening sanctions compliance: Building for scale and trust

At Kraken, we’re committed to building a secure and trusted platform for our clients. Over the past few years, we’ve significantly strengthened our global compliance framework – investing deeply in the people, processes and systems that keep our platform secure.

We recently reached a key milestone in that journey: the completion of a multi-year effort to enhance our sanctions compliance program across the board. This achievement reflects not only our ongoing engagement with regulators – including the finalization of commitments made in past years – but also the ongoing advancement of Kraken’s approach to risk, oversight and operational excellence.

As part of our ongoing work with U.S. regulators, Kraken recently completed its third and final certification with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) – an external validation of the robust controls and processes we’ve put in place to manage sanctions risk.

A companywide effort toward a common goal

What began as an initiative to enhance our sanctions controls quickly evolved into something much bigger: An overarching effort to build one of the most robust, scalable and future-proof compliance programs in the industry.

What powers compliance at Kraken:

• GeoIP firewalls & VPN screening
  Sophisticated tools that proactively restrict unauthorized access based on geographic and network indicators.
  
• Comprehensive screening across the board
  End-to-end product, client, and transaction-level screening to ensure real-time risk detection.
  
• Over 100 embedded internal controls
  Automated checks and balances built into every layer of Kraken’s infrastructure.
  
• Upgraded policies, procedures and processes
  A ground-up redesign of how compliance is approached across teams and workflows.
  
• Rigorous risk assessments, audits and training
  Regular evaluations and company-wide education to keep our defenses sharp and aligned.
  
• Sanctions controls at every layer
  Holistic safeguards integrated throughout Kraken’s architecture.
  
• Regulatory benchmarking and licensing expansion
  Tools and standards that enable smoother licensing and faster time-to-market globally.
  
• Proactive engagement with regulators
  Open, constructive dialogue that helps shape thoughtful, effective regulation.
  
• Enhanced due diligence for investors, M&A and product launches
  Strategic compliance integrated into how we grow.

Every one of these upgrades is a step toward our larger goal: making Kraken the most trusted and secure venue for crypto. Together, these capabilities help protect our clients, strengthen trust and reinforce Kraken’s role as a responsible industry leader.

Built for scale, designed for trust

Strong compliance isn’t just about risk reduction – it’s a strategic advantage. With these improvements, Kraken is ideally positioned to:

• Expand our business into new countries and with new products
  
• Foster stronger banking relationships
  
• Navigate regulatory environments with confidence
  
• Reduce audit and operational risk
  
• Support faster, safer growth across markets

The compliance infrastructure we’ve built is scalable, resilient, and dynamic – designed not only to meet today’s demands but to anticipate those of tomorrow. We’re proud of how far we’ve come and even more excited for where we’re headed. Because at Kraken, building responsibly isn’t just a goal. It’s how we lead the way, create a safer industry ecosystem and accelerate crypto adoption.