Is KuCoin Safe in 2026? Reserves, US Exit and Key Risks

Is KuCoin safe in 2026?

KuCoin did not collapse because of FTX and continues to operate globally, but no centralized exchange can be declared unconditionally safe. KuCoin holds customers' private keys, so users face custody, cybersecurity, liquidity, legal, operational and account-access risk in addition to crypto price risk.

The strongest current positive signal is recurring proof of reserves. The most recent completed snapshot available during this review, dated 30 June 2026, reported wallet-to-user-asset ratios of 111% for BTC, 118% for ETH, 119% for USDT and 120% for USDC. Users can verify inclusion of their snapshot balance through KuCoin's Merkle-tree tool.

Those figures are useful but narrower than a full solvency opinion. On-chain proof of reserves does not by itself disclose every corporate liability, loan, legal claim, asset encumbrance, internal-control weakness or the speed at which users could withdraw during stress. It also does not guarantee future reserves or access in a restricted jurisdiction.

Area	Current evidence	What it does not prove
FTX exposure	KuCoin denied direct FTX and FTT exposure in November 2022, and it did not fail in the FTX contagion.	The denial was a company statement, not a complete independently audited balance sheet.
Proof of reserves	KuCoin's 30 June 2026 snapshot reported more than 100% coverage for BTC, ETH, USDT and USDC.	PoR is not a guarantee of total corporate solvency, cybersecurity or uninterrupted withdrawals.
United States	KuCoin's operator pleaded guilty in 2025 and agreed to leave the U.S. market for at least two years. Current terms list the U.S. as restricted.	Global availability does not mean a U.S. resident may lawfully bypass location or KYC controls.
European Union	Austria granted KuCoin EU a MiCA authorization in November 2025.	As of the FMA's 18 May 2026 notice, commencement of business remained prohibited until outstanding governance and key-function conditions were met.
Canada	FINTRAC imposed a C$19.552 million administrative penalty in July 2025.	The finding is under appeal and does not itself measure reserve coverage.
Security history	KuCoin said no user bore a loss from its 2020 hot-wallet breach.	Past reimbursement does not ensure a future incident would have the same result.

What changed after the 2022 FTX article?

KuCoin pleaded guilty and exited the US market

On 27 January 2025, Peken Global Limited, an entity operating KuCoin, pleaded guilty in federal court to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. It agreed to a $112.9 million fine and $184.5 million forfeiture—more than $297 million combined—and to keep KuCoin out of the U.S. market for at least two years. Co-founders Chun Gan and Ke Tang agreed to leave management; prosecution against them was deferred for two years.

The New York Attorney General had separately reached a December 2023 settlement requiring more than $16.7 million in refunds to New York users, a $5.3 million payment and an end to New York operations.

In March 2026, a federal court approved KuCoin's CFTC resolution. Peken Global paid a $500,000 civil penalty and was permanently enjoined from allowing U.S. participants direct access unless registered as a foreign board of trade. The CFTC dismissed the remaining counts and claims against three related entities with prejudice.

Other jurisdictions have separate restrictions

FINTRAC said Peken Global failed to register as a foreign money-services business and failed to submit thousands of required large-virtual-currency transaction reports. It imposed a C$19.552 million penalty in July 2025; KuCoin appealed to Canada's Federal Court.

In Europe, the legal status is more nuanced than “KuCoin has a MiCA license.” Austria's Financial Market Authority granted KuCoin EU Exchange GmbH authorization on 27 November 2025. The FMA later prohibited new business because key compliance roles were unfilled. It lifted that particular ban on 18 May 2026, but said commencement of operations remained inadmissible because other governance and senior-management conditions were still outstanding.

Availability changes by country and product. KuCoin's current global terms list the United States, Singapore, mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Ontario, British Columbia, France and the Netherlands among restricted locations, alongside sanctioned regions. The list can change, so residents should check the current terms and their local regulator before depositing.

Did KuCoin publish the promised proof of reserves?

Yes, though the auditor changed from the one named in the archived article. In December 2022, KuCoin published a Mazars agreed-upon-procedures proof-of-reserves report covering BTC, ETH, USDT and USDC balances as of 26 November. KuCoin later moved to recurring Merkle-tree snapshots and third-party checks; its live PoR page provides current ratios and user verification.

For a meaningful check, confirm all of the following:

• the snapshot date is recent and the report names the assets and account types in scope;
• your own balance is included in the Merkle tree;
• the exchange proves control of the on-chain addresses counted;
• user liabilities, including margin and derivatives accounts, are handled consistently;
• the report is not being mistaken for a full audit of the corporate group;
• withdrawals for your asset and jurisdiction are actually available before adding funds.

Corrections to the original article

• The November 2022 FTX attacker had not been “identified to be a former employee.” That was speculation, not an established fact.
• FTX was a major exchange but describing it as definitively the largest is imprecise.
• The 2020 KuCoin breach involved a leaked hot-wallet private key. KuCoin later said $222 million was recovered with industry partners, $17.45 million through law enforcement and security firms, and the remaining $45.55 million was covered by KuCoin and its insurance fund.
• The 2020 incident caused deposit and withdrawal suspensions, but “liquidity crisis” is not the clearest description of the disclosed hot-wallet security breach.
• The promised December 2022 reserve work was ultimately published with Mazars, not “Aarmanio LPP.” The correct firm name in the earlier plan was Armanino LLP.
• Wallet balances show assets at identified addresses; they are not a complete statement of liabilities or net worth.
• KuCoin's 2022 denial of FTX exposure should be attributed to the company rather than treated as independently proven.
• A statement that an exchange is safe “for now” cannot predict future enforcement, service restrictions, hacks or withdrawal conditions.

How to reduce centralized-exchange risk

• Confirm that the exact KuCoin entity and product are permitted where you live; do not use a VPN to evade restrictions.
• Test a small deposit, trade and withdrawal before transferring a larger amount.
• Use a unique password, passkey or authenticator-based two-factor authentication, an anti-phishing phrase and an address allowlist where available.
• Keep only the amount needed for active trading on an exchange. Self-custody removes exchange-credit risk but makes you responsible for backups, transaction verification and key security.
• Do not rely on screenshots, social-media reserves or a single token balance. Review dated PoR data and legal availability together.
• Use only official support channels. Anyone requesting a seed phrase, remote access, a wallet connection or an advance “unlock” fee is attempting fraud.

Original November 2022 article (historical archive)

The report below is preserved substantially as published during the FTX contagion. Its safety conclusion, FTX-hacker claim, audit name and present-tense figures are corrected above.

KuCoin is a cryptocurrency exchange launched on 15th September 2017 and has over 20 million users worldwide. The recent bankruptcy of the FTX Group and “hack” however have resulted in a “contagion effect” resulting in speculation as to which other crypto companies might collapse. In this article, we answer the question- is KuCoin safe from the collapse of FTX.

What is KuCoin?

KuCoin is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange, meaning that users’ cryptocurrency deposits are stored and held in custody by the exchange. KuCoin refers to itself as “The People’s Exchange” and is headquartered in Seychelles. The exchange has over 20 million users worldwide and 660 million US dollars in trading volume daily. This certainly puts them in the top 10 most popular exchanges in the market.

How might the collapse of FTX affect KuCoin?

On 11th November 2022, FTX, FTX US, and Alameda filed for bankruptcy in the United States. This came after several days of withdrawals being suspended on the exchanges and rumours already circulating that they were in trouble. On the same day, it was reported that over US$600 million were drained from FTX by a hacker. This hacker was eventually identified to be a former employee of FTX exchange. It was also revealed that one of the reasons for FTX’s collapse was because Alameda Research, which was FTX’s trading house, had burned through nearly US$10 billion in cash belonging to its clients.

The collapse of FTX has brought the safety of all centralized cryptocurrency exchanges to the forefront. This is especially since FTX was one of, if not, the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The revelations that FTX had been wrongfully handling client funds have also sent fear amongst cryptocurrency traders.

As a result, in the days leading up to the announcement of FTX’s bankruptcy filing, cryptocurrency traders were rushing to withdraw their funds stored on exchanges. There were rumours circulating as to which crypto companies had funds on FTX. And, if so, how much and whether they would be affected by the collapse of FTX. Meanwhile, some cryptocurrency services such as BlockFi have also suspended withdrawals and are rumoured to be filing for bankruptcy. Of course, being a major exchange, KuCoin was also subject to rumours and questions about its solvency and whether they are safe from the FTX contagion.

KuCoin addresses rumours of outflows following FTX collapse

On 9th November 2022, KuCoin’s CEO Johnny Lyu wrote a letter addressing the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) surrounding the exchange. The rumour surrounding KuCoin originated from a stablecoin outflow chart by Nansen, a blockchain analytics firm. The flowchart showed that US$300 million had left the exchange. However, it was quickly clarified by Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik that the US$300 million was merely a swap from USDT network to Tron. Therefore, the funds had in fact not left KuCoin exchange.

Our @nansen_ai Stablecoin Master shows Ethereum-based stablecoins only.

Outflow you’re seeing on @kucoin comes from a single $300m USDT network swap to Tron.

You can see the txs here:https://t.co/5tfaIeJ4mphttps://t.co/rdg3DUYIIx

Thanks @goaliciak for pointing this out pic.twitter.com/f6RSyJ1WZs

— Alex Svanevik 🐧 (@ASvanevik) November 9, 2022

In the letter, KuCoin also notes that it was probably the 10th time in 6 months that there are circulating rumours on Twitter that KuCoin is insolvent. It is also admitted that KuCoin did suffer a hack in 2020 with over US$275 million worth of cryptocurrencies, resulting in a liquidity crisis. However, KuCoin was able to cover 100% of their users’ funds and so users did not suffer any loss.

As seen below, KuCoin has also denied having any exposure to FTX or its native FTT token.

Does KuCoin have any exposure to FTX or FTT?

Lyu has also clarified on Twitter that KuCoin does not have any exposure on FTX or FTT. This dispelled the speculation by Cobie, host of the UpOnly podcast.

Is KuCoin safe?

As seen above, KuCoin has already expressly denied they have any exposure to or deposited any funds at FTX. To reassure its users, KuCoin has promised to release its Merkle tree proof-of-reserves (POF) in one month.

Meanwhile, Nansen has listed KuCoin’s portfolios and explanatory statements of accounts here.

The “total assets” and “net worth” figures in the portfolio show the sum of the cryptocurrencies in the wallet addresses provided by KuCoin. These wallets are continuously monitored by Nansen, although they cannot be taken as a complete statement of the actual assets or reserves held.

On 11th November 2022, Lyu also provided an overview of their hot and cold addresses and holdings. KuCoin’s holdings as of 7:00 UTC on 11th November 2022 comprised of 20,504 BTC, 180,299 ETH, 1,075,909,241 USDT, 365,722,839 USDC, and 69,601,075 KCS.

Here, see an overview some of our hot and cold wallet addresses and their current holdings.
BTC  ( 20,504 BTC) 
ETH  ( 180,299 ETH) 
USDT  ( 1,075,909,241 USDT) 
USDC ( 365,722,839 USDC)
KCS    (69,601,075 KCS)

— Johnny_KuCoin (@lyu_johnny) November 11, 2022

As mentioned, KuCoin is working on the Merkle-tree proof-of-reserves. The exchange is also expecting the completion of an audit by third-party auditor Aarmanio LPP. Both are expected to be completed in a month’s time i.e. in around early December 2022.

Therefore, it seems that KuCoin exchange is safe from the FTX collapse for now. However, users are still recommended to keep their funds off of any exchanges. Instead, users should consider storing their cryptocurrencies in hardware wallets as it means the cryptocurrencies are in their own custody. Check out our reviews for some popular hardware wallets:

• Ledger Nano X review
• Trezor Model T Review: Is it worth buying?
• KeepKey hardware wallet review: is it still worth buying?

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• U.S. Department of Justice announcement of KuCoin's January 2025 guilty plea
• CFTC announcement of the March 2026 KuCoin consent order and $500,000 penalty
• New York Attorney General's December 2023 KuCoin settlement
• FINTRAC notice of the C$19.552 million KuCoin penalty and appeal
• Austrian FMA's May 2026 notice concerning KuCoin EU
• KuCoin terms of use and current restricted locations
• KuCoin live proof-of-reserves ratios and Merkle verification
• KuCoin's December 2022 Mazars proof-of-reserves announcement
• KuCoin's breakdown of recoveries and insurance coverage after the 2020 breach
• KuCoin's original September 2020 security-incident notice