Kraken Reveals 49% Increase in Law Enforcement Investigations

The publication of crypto exchange Kraken’s 2019 Transparency Report has provoked discussion about the scale of government surveillance. According to the report, Kraken received 710 requests last year (or two per day), impacting approximately 1,222 accounts. The report provides further evidence that exchanges are coming under intense scrutiny as global governments get tough on crypto.

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A Growing Trend

As noted by Kraken in its tweet publicizing the latest Transparency Report, the “trend is obvious,” with costs associated with handling law enforcement requests increasing even in a relatively flat market. To underline this point, the exchange reposted its 2018 Transparency Report. Since then, Kraken has noted a whopping 49% increase in global requests (710 vs 475). 62% of those resulted in Kraken providing data, with U.S. authorities constituting the majority of requests…