Kraken Digital Asset Exchange
Senior Compliance Associate · Nov 2021 to Jun 2026 · Remote · four rotations
Product Compliance, Token Listing TeamMay 2024 to Jun 2026
- Served as the lead compliance advisor to Product and Engineering, translating regulatory requirements into system specifications and automated risk controls.
- Researched prospective token listings, evaluating project teams, governance structures, tokenomics, and market dynamics to judge legitimacy and assess risk.
- Conducted Howey Test and multi-jurisdictional regulatory analysis (SEC, MiCAR, FATF) on prospective listings to assess legal classification risk, and drafted the legal asset statements that became standard reference documentation for the team.
- Co-developed an AI/ML risk evaluation tool with Engineering. I defined the data inputs, validation criteria, testing protocols, and human-in-the-loop review steps. Reviews became much faster while every decision kept a defensible audit trail.
- Wrote standardized risk assessment rubrics and control documentation that set the pre-launch criteria for new digital asset listings.
- Built Python scripts to automate high-volume vetting tasks and shorten cycle times.
- Delivered cross-functional training on the Token Listing Policy, and created QA rubrics and hands-on training exercises that helped junior analysts work independently much sooner.
Enhanced Due Diligence, Banking PartnersApr 2023 to May 2024
- Screened high-risk institutional entities and prospective investors for a digital asset exchange through KYB, beneficial ownership, source-of-funds, and CDD/EDD reviews, including complex ownership structures.
- Analyzed ownership structures, transaction patterns, and adverse media to assess financial crime risk and support BSA/AML compliance decisions.
- Performed enhanced due diligence on transactions involving third-party payment processors (TPPPs) to assess money laundering, fraud, and sanctions exposure.
- Managed investigations into consumer fraud complaints and regulator inquiries from start to finish, working with state and federal agencies on platform fraud allegations. Every response closed with zero deficiencies.
- Reviewed fraud allegations by analyzing transaction data, account activity, and relevant compliance policies, then prepared accurate responses together with Legal.
- Contributed to the firm's NYDFS BitLicense application. I prepared the BSA/AML program documentation and answered regulator information requests on AML, sanctions, and customer due diligence controls.
- Supported banking partner relationships across the U.S., Europe, and Asia by answering their due diligence requests, presenting findings, and coordinating high-risk onboarding decisions with Legal and the FIU.
- Conducted due diligence on prospective company investors, assessing their eligibility to purchase shares under regulatory requirements and internal risk frameworks.
- Trained and guided my successors after the complaint process moved to another department.
Business Process ImprovementMar 2022 to Apr 2023
- Led cross-functional working groups across Legal, Engineering, and Operations to evaluate OFAC, global sanctions, and restricted-party screening architecture, find control gaps, and deploy updated procedures.
- Assessed sanctions and regulatory risk across jurisdictions, products, and customer types, and turned the findings into new controls and recommendations for leadership and Legal.
- Designed the controls testing framework for cross-border transactions, including the technical requirements for Travel Rule screening.
- Ran enterprise-wide gap analyses and control health checks that removed single points of failure without slowing product delivery.
- Advanced remediation projects across data privacy, Travel Rule, and MiCAR requirements.
- Developed compliance program policies and completed ad hoc projects at the request of compliance officers.
Financial Intelligence Unit InvestigatorNov 2021 to Mar 2022
- Reviewed transaction monitoring alerts and investigated on-chain and fiat activity involving mixers, darknet markets, and sanctions evasion, using blockchain analytics and network analysis.
- Investigated high-risk procurement networks and sanctions evasion using SQL and network analysis.
- Analyzed quantitative and qualitative data to produce written assessments of financial crime.
- Drafted SAR narratives and investigative summaries for high-priority FinCEN filings and moved them through internal approval.
- Wrote the investigative playbooks that standardized case documentation for incoming investigators, and mentored new staff on crypto-financial crime methodology.