Kraken facilitates the recovery of approximately $2 million in stolen crypto for UK authorities

Kraken assisted UK law enforcement in returning crypto worth over $2 million that had been confiscated in connection with a recent crypto fraud.

Under “Operation Hyphen,” Kraken supported the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit in changing the stolen funds into GBP before they could be handed back to the victims.

With the help of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, the South East Regional Organized Crime Unit (SEROCU) successfully facilitated the recovery of almost $2.3 million (£1.9 million) in stolen crypto to its rightful owners.

After a fraud in 2018 using the IOTA cryptocurrency, the government was able to confiscate $2.9 million in crypto assets using the Proceeds of Crime Act. It was the first time the law had been utilized to take cryptocurrency from a trading platform.

To legally return the stolen money to the victims, SEROCU had to first work through problems converting the crypto assets to GBP. They did this by working with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the National Police Chief’s Council, and Kraken, an FCA-registered exchange.

Because to Kraken’s extensive assistance, SEROCU was able to exchange the stolen cryptoassets for GBP and repay the funds to the victims. According to SEROCU, Kraken coordinated with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to verify that the handling of stolen funds was legal.

Detective Inspector Rob Bryant of SEROCU’s Cyber Crime and Cryptocurrency Unit said, “The victims, of which there are many around the world, patiently awaited five years for this to happen. It is thanks to my team’s creativity and collaboration, especially with Kraken, that this may not have been possible without them.”

“As a cryptocurrency service provider that takes security and compliance seriously, we’re glad SEROCU and the NPCC hired Kraken to help with a transaction that paid these victims,” said Lana Sinelnikova, Head of Compliance at Kraken in the UK. “This is testament to the value that Kraken takes on operating in compliance with the highest AML and KYC standards.”

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