Following charges from the U.S. Department of Justice and Commodity Futures Trading Commission last week, crypto exchange KuCoin has seen its market share by daily trading volume halve, according to a report from blockchain research and analytics firm Kaiko.
When the announcements were made, this caused a surge in users wanting to get their tokens off the platform, resulting in slower withdrawal times. KuCoin announced an $8.95 million airdrop program for users who experienced this withdrawal congestion, as well as a larger planned airdrop for users who didn’t withdraw any assets during the period. However, the incentive was not enough to stop KuCoin’s market share more than halving from 6.5% to 3%, per Kaiko data.
"KuCoin is operating well, and the assets of our users are absolutely safe," the exchange responded. "We are aware of the related reports and are currently investigating the details through our lawyers. KuCoin respects the laws and regulations of various countries and strictly adheres to compliance standards."