Although Kraken argued against the order, describing it as an "unjustified treasure hunt", the judge determined that the IRS was justified in its request, and ordered Kraken to cough up the records. The IRS alleged that although the exchange has more than 4 million users, and has processed $140 billion in trades since its inception in 2011, only 288,330 of those users have filed tax returns.
Kraken ordered to turn over user information to U.S. tax investigators
Bad news for wealthy crypto traders on Kraken, who previously might have hoped to evade paying taxes on their past crypto trades. A judge has ordered the exchange to turn over information to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on users who engaged in at least $20,000 in trades in any year between 2016 and 2020.