KuCoin has vehemently refuted claims of a nearly 80% drop in its Bitcoin reserves, following a report from Onchain School that cited CryptoQuant data. The alleged decline, according to the report, saw KuCoin’s BTC holdings fall from 18,300 BTC in June 2023 to just 4,100 BTC by April 2025. The report suggests this drop was caused by the exchange’s implementation of stricter KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements in August 2023. This move, aimed at curbing illicit activities such as money laundering and terrorism financing, triggered a noticeable decrease in user withdrawals due to privacy concerns, according to analysts. Onchain School argues that KuCoin’s reserve trend aligns with the broader trend of declining Bitcoin reserves across centralized exchanges, though they emphasized the extent of KuCoin’s drop was more severe. Meanwhile, KuCoin vehemently denies these claims and maintains its reserves management and transparency are intact. The exchange asserts on-chain snapshots lack crucial context and shouldn’t be used to draw conclusions about financial health. This incident has reignited discussions surrounding transparency in centralized crypto platforms and how KYC policies might impact user trust and liquidity retention.