The regulator alleged that Bit Trade — the provider for Kraken in Australia — did not make a target market determination before offering its margin trading product to Australian customers.
The regulator claimed that since the introduction of design and distribution obligations in Oct. 2021, at least 1160 Australian customers had used Bit Trade's margin trading product and had incurred a total loss of approximately $8.35 million (12.95 million Australian dollars).
The financial regulator claimed that this product is in fact a "credit facility" as it offers customers "credit for use in the sale and purchase of certain crypto assets on the Kraken exchange."