Will the issue slowly disappear after cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin netted out $1.2 billion after a lawsuit from the Department of Justice?

Crypto exchange KuCoin has been embroiled in regulatory turmoil for the past week, facing charges of violating anti-money laundering (AML) laws and other regulations in the United States.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed lawsuits against KuCoin on March 26. The DOJ accused KuCoin and its founders, Chun Gan and Ke Tang, of failing to maintain an adequate AML program and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The CFTC filed a complaint against the exchange for illegal dealings in off-exchange commodity futures transactions and other violations.

Following the news of the lawsuits, KuCoin experienced significant challenges, including a mass exodus of users to other exchanges. The price of KuCoin's token (KCS) dropped by 10% shortly after the news broke, and has since declined by 13.1% in the past week and 18.9% over the past 30 days.

Despite efforts to stabilize the situation, KuCoin's token is currently trading at $10.633, representing only a modest 0.6% increase in the past 24 hours.

A report by blockchain research firm Kaiko found that the charges against KuCoin have had a substantial impact on the exchange. Daily trading volume plummeted from $2 billion to $520 million, a 74% decrease, and its market share halved from 6.5% to 3%. KuCoin attempted to mitigate the drop by offering a $10 million Airdrop plan, but the efforts were unsuccessful.

Source: Kaiko

In response to the regulatory crackdown, users have been transferring their funds to other exchanges such as Binance, OKX, and Coinbase, as well as to on-chain wallets directly. On March 26 alone, more than $600 million in assets, primarily USDT and ETH, were withdrawn from KuCoin.

Source: Nansen

The total assets held by KuCoin have fallen from approximately $6 billion to $4.82 billion, with total outflows reaching nearly $1.2 billion.