KuCoin.com, the master web domain of cryptocurrency commutation KuCoin, has been locked since the end of March by order of the High Court of Singapore.

The court issued a temporary injunction on March 24 barring KuCoin from moving its assets, including its website, from the country. A March 30 email from domain registrar GoDaddy provided to Cointelegraph shows that GoDaddy is complying with the court society.

How the exchange will cope with its primary web address locked downwards is one of many unanswered questions about KuCoin every bit the company undergoes a major corporate restructuring and faces legal challenges effectually the globe.

Phantom investments in KuCoin

Founded in September 2022, KuCoin boasted v million users in 100 countries within a twelvemonth. Just over twelve months afterwards, on November 14, 2022 KuCoin claimed information technology had secured $20 meg in Circular A funding from venture capitalists – IDG Upper-case letter, Matrix Partners and Neo Global Capital letter. Simply at least one of those investments did not materialize.

At the time of the proclamation, KuCoin CEO Michael Gan stated:

"The combined forces of IDG Capital, Matrix Partners and Neo Global Capital will help KuCoin abound substantially, expand understanding and adoption of cryptocurrency for millions of potential users, and help these users more efficiently find the best products available in the crypto-globe no matter where on the planet they may exist."

IDG Majuscule boasts notable cryptocurrency companies such as Coinbase and Ripple in its investment portfolio. As of publication of this article, KuCoin appears every bit a portfolio company on the websites of both IDG Capital and Neo Global Capital, just does non appear on Matrix Partners' website.

And yet, despite what appears on Neo Global Capital's website, an individual with knowledge of the affair told Cointelegraph via email that NGC in fact never fabricated any investment in KuCoin. Rather, the firm only gave logistical support to the fledgling exchange.

Representatives of IDG Capital and Matrix Majuscule did non respond to Cointelegraph's requests for comment.

Many questions about corporate restructuring

On March 17, 2022, KuCoin issued a press release from Victoria, the capital city of the Republic of seychelles, describing a sweeping corporate restructuring. It appear the establishment of KuGroup, which "consists of 3 business organisation groups, namely KuCoin Global, KuCloud and the KuChain & KCS Business organization Group."

What appears to be a bland corporate proclamation really describes the culmination of far-reaching changes at KuCoin. The corporate restructuring also leaves the ownership and regulatory jurisdiction of the exchange in question at a time when it is facing mounting legal problems, both in Singapore and the United States.

KuCoin's March 17 announcement came only vi days before the U.S.-based law business firm Schall announced its investigation into KuCoin and some other exchange accused of "imitation and misleading statements to business relationship holders" in a pending class activity. The exchange is besides the subject of a separate grade action bought past Hunt Williams in the Southern District Court of New York regarding the selling of unregistered securities.

Meanwhile, the court order that prevents KuCoin from moving its domain to another provider, and potentially outside the jurisdiction of the Singaporean Courtroom, involves a cybersecurity provider who is suing the cryptocurrency exchange. More details on that story are expected to emerge in the coming days.

The e-mail from GoDaddy to KuCoin, showing its domain locked by courtroom order in Singapore

On October 14, 2022, just days after arbitration commenced in the lawsuit against KuCoin in Singapore, directors of the Singapore-based entity PhoenixFin Pte Limited — the legal entity behind KuCoin and possessor of the KuCoin.com domain — resigned. In that location was no public proclamation made about these resignations, but records filed with Singapore'due south Accounting and Regulatory Authority testify that co-founders Michael Gan and Tang Ke, as well as Lian Meng, a representative of financial backers IDG Capital letter, all resigned equally directors of PhoenixFin Pte Limited. None of them responded to interview requests from Cointelegraph.

Just two days afterward, on October 16, 2022, the KuCoin proper name and logo trademark was transferred from MEK Global, a Seychelles-based entity that had previously inherited the trademark from PhoenixFin Pte Limited. The trademark ended up with another Republic of seychelles-registered entity, FortuneIcon, which has the exact same physical address as MEK Global.

For at least the past yr, KuCoin users were turning to Reddit to sympathise the company'southward corporate structure, lacking clarity from the exchange itself. In the absenteeism of a response from any of the entities or individuals mentioned, it is unclear why this far-reaching corporate restructuring took identify or why the company's trademark was reassigned.

Who is Yous?

With the co-founders of KuCoin and PhoenixFin Pte Limited no longer at the company, new directors such equally Chinese resident Y'all Au were appointed. On November 20, 2022 the ownership of PhoenixFin Pte Limited was transferred from PhoenixFin Limited, a Cayman-based holding company, to You Au. He had been appointed to the lath at the fourth dimension of the October 14 corporate restructuring, but his prior human relationship to KuCoin is unclear. He is not mentioned on the substitution's website, in any of its marketing cloth, in the March 17, 2022 press release, or in the 2022 White Newspaper which described the exchange.

Little is known about Yous Au, except that he is 28 years old and officially a resident in Mianyang, a city in the Sichuan province of Red china. Although Johnny Lyu, the CEO of Phoenix Pte Limited, was appointed CEO of KuCoin Global on March 17, the ultimate owner of KuCoin Global seems to be You Au. If he is indeed a Chinese resident, he would be subject area to People'south Banking concern of Mainland china regulations that prevent the trading of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, conducting initial coin offerings, and the performance of crypto exchanges.

Neither You Au nor Johnny Lyu responded to Cointelegraph'southward requests for comment.

Where on the planet is KuCoin?

In 2022 KuCoin responsed to an "empty office" claim regarding a Hong Kong address, asserting that its operational headquarters were in fact in Singapore. The company's response stated:

"In fact, KuCoin'south public address in Hong Kong is but a mailing accost of 1 of KuCoin's many subsidiary companies. KuCoin Headquarters is in Singapore. KuCoin has always been a global firm, with over 300 employees and four major offices in China, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand."

The exchange'due south current geographic situation is less clear. On its website, the visitor contour states information technology "operates in the Seychelles," a jurisdiction not mentioned in its 2022 blog post. Different Binance, Coinbase and Ripple, KuCoin did not file with the Budgetary Authority of Singapore to asking a deferral of the requirement to operate without a payments license. Such deferrals allow those companies to operate equally payments service providers without a license through July.

Without a license or a deferral, KuCoin cannot legally operate in Singapore. It remains unclear whether KuCoin is even so operating in Singapore or if the exchange is in fact now operating elsewhere.

No answers, despite our questions

Contemptuous journalists love the famous quote of Germany's 19th century "Iron" Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck: "Nothing is confirmed until information technology is officially denied." But despite repeated requests to KuCoin, its former directors and its current directors, all have refused to offer any annotate for this article.

In the absence of clarity from any of the individuals mentioned in this commodity, or from the visitor itself, users of the KuCoin cryptocurrency substitution will likely desire answers on whether they are sending their money to Singapore, the Seychelles, Red china — or anywhere else in the earth.