Crypto Exchange Kraken Says US Subpoenas Becoming 'Barrier to Entry'

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has said that the cost of handling government subpoenas is fast becoming a "Barrier to entry" in the U.S. On Saturday, the exchange tweeted.

The firm received a total of 475 subpoenas in 2018 compared to 160 in 2017, with the majority coming from U.S. agencies.

"You can see why many businesses choose to block US users," Kraken said in its tweet.

Breaking down the U.S. figures, the agency making highest number of inquiries at Kraken was Homeland Security Investigations with 91 subpoenas.

When asked why it received more inquiries from the U.S. than other nations, the exchange replied.

"US is about 1/5 of clients but 2/3 of requests. US agencies are much more active and are much less surgical. For many requests, we have no matches. It wouldn't be surprising to find that the same subpoenas go out to everyone in the hopes that a match will be found."

The exchange is famously critical of U.S. officialdom.

CoinDesk that the exchange would not be complying with an inquiry into crypto exchanges launched by the New York Attorney General.

Later, in September, when the NYAG report was released, finding that many crypto exchanges are vulnerable to market manipulation, Powell further tweeted that "NY is that abusive, controlling ex you broke up with 3 years ago but they keep stalking you".

U.S. law image via Shutterstock.