Is KuCoin safe? Licences, account freezes and incidents
Is KuCoin safe?
KuCoin has 1 licence found in the ESMA MiCA register, issued by the FMA to KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH. Its terms let it freeze, suspend or close an account, without prior notice. Its terms restrict unlawful or unlicensed gambling only. 1 primary-source incident is recorded, dated 2025-01-27.
Documents last checked Reviewed by CryptoGuardz Register Desk, editorial desk
Disclosure: CryptoGuardz has no commercial relationship with KuCoin and earns nothing if you open an account there. Every statement below is read from a document KuCoin publishes or from a public register, and each carries the date it was read. Corrections go to the corrections page.
KuCoin review: the documents
This is a review of the documents KuCoin publishes and of the registers that should list it, not a test of the platform: no account was funded and no withdrawal was run. The binding terms name no company you contract with. The record quotes 5 clauses across 4 topics, read 2026-09-28, from 7 sources. KuCoin has 1 licence found in the ESMA MiCA register, issued by the FMA to KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH. A proof of reserves is published and signed by a party outside the company. The terms carry no clause on what happens to customer assets if the company fails. Its terms restrict unlawful or unlicensed gambling only. 3 points could not be verified and are listed below.
Is my crypto safe on KuCoin?
KuCoin is a custodial exchange: coins on the account are held by the exchange, not by a key you control. What protects them is what the binding terms say about holding customer assets and about the company failing. The terms read contain no clause on how customer assets are held.
Insolvency or bankruptcy language: Not disclosedThe binding terms read contain no clause on what happens to customer assets if the company becomes insolvent. A reader is left to infer their position as a creditor from a document that does not state it.
Can KuCoin freeze my account?
Yes, by its terms. The 2 clauses are quoted as written. Grounds named in the text: its own discretion, with no reason required and a security event or platform incident.
Article 36 Where the Platform deems on its unilateral and independent judgement that any event that undermines the security of trading may arise, the Platform shall have the right to suspend, interrupt or terminate all or part of the User’s services (including fee-based services) provided to a User under this Agreement, remove or delete registration information of such a User, seize illicit profits that the User may gain, without notifying such User and without assuming any responsibility to such User or any third party.kucoin.com
(8) other circumstances under which the Platform, based on its sole judgment, needs to suspend, interrupt or terminate all or part of the User services (including fee-based services) provided to Users under this Agreement and remove or delete the registration information on the ground of transaction security and other reasons.kucoin.com
Sending funds to a casino is a named trigger in a clause that restricts unlawful gambling:
(3) providing gambling information or inducing in any manner any other person to engage in gambling;kucoin.com
Has KuCoin been hacked or fined?
One matter is recorded, each from the primary source linked beside it. The descriptions are the record’s, with the date. Other events may exist that no primary source in this collection confirms, so this list is not proof that there are no others.
Peken Global Limited, described by the Department of Justice as "a Seychelles-based entity that, since at least September 2019, has operated KuCoin", pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and agreed to pay more than $297 million, comprising criminal forfeiture of $184.5 million and a criminal fine of approximately $112.9 million. The Department states that "until at least July 2023, KuCoin did not require customers to provide any identifying information", and that Peken "agreed that KuCoin will exit the U.S. market for at least the next two years". Press Release Number 25-018.
KuCoin support and scams
The official domain in the record is kucoin.com. Type it yourself rather than following a link from an ad, a search result or a message, and reach support only from inside the account you signed in to there.
Real support never asks for a seed phrase or for remote access to your device. An exchange account is opened with a login, not a recovery phrase, so a request for one is a request for a wallet you hold elsewhere. A request to install a screen-sharing or remote-desktop app hands the caller your signed-in session. Either one ends the conversation.
If money has already gone, the next message offering to get it back is the commonest second loss. The FBI, the FTC, the CFTC and the UK FCA have each published warnings about it, quoted on crypto scam recovery: what is real.
What we could not verify
The gaps in this record, as the record states them. A point listed here was looked for and not confirmed; it is neither a finding for KuCoin nor against it.
- The legal name, number and place of incorporation of the company that contracts with a kucoin.com user. The terms name none.
- That Peken Global Limited is still the operator. The Department of Justice statement is dated 27 January 2025.
- Whether customer assets are segregated. The terms do not say.