KuCoin fails to pay $2M award in delisted token dispute, investor claims

A Swiss investor who won a court ruling worth more than $2 million against KuCoin says the exchange has refused to pay up. Now he’s planning to sue again.

The case centers on a deceptively simple question: when a crypto exchange delists a token, can it just shrug and call your assets “abandoned” if you don’t withdraw them fast enough? A Seychelles court says no.

The ruling and KuCoin’s delisting playbook

The Seychelles court determined that KuCoin cannot classify unwithdrawn tokens from a delisted project as abandoned property. The ruling awarded the Swiss investor damages exceeding $2 million.

KuCoin’s standard delisting protocol sets a withdrawal deadline when a token gets removed from the platform and disclaims liability for any assets left behind once that clock runs out. The specific token at the heart of the dispute hasn’t been publicly identified. What is clear is that the investor held tokens on KuCoin that were delisted, didn’t withdraw them within the exchange’s specified window, and then found himself locked out of his own assets.

A pattern of regulatory headaches

In 2023, KuCoin reached a $22 million settlement with the New York Attorney General. That case involved allegations that the exchange operated without proper registration while serving New York residents.

Then, in early 2025, KuCoin pleaded guilty in connection with a $300 million charge related to violations of money transmission laws and anti-money laundering regulations.

KuCoin operates through multiple corporate entities, including Mek Global Limited and Peken Global Limited, spanning jurisdictions in the Seychelles and Singapore.

Why this matters beyond one investor’s payout

Most major exchanges include similar abandonment clauses in their terms of service. If a court in the Seychelles, a jurisdiction where multiple exchanges are incorporated, is willing to toss out that defense, it creates a precedent that other investors can point to.

The case has attracted limited media attention, with no significant coverage from major cryptocurrency outlets as of mid-June 2026. Specific details about the delisted token and court timeline remain undisclosed.

The investor plans to pursue additional legal action to compel payment. A $2 million judgment that never gets collected is just an expensive piece of paper.

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