PANews reported on December 12 that the Australian Federal Court fined Bit Trade, the Australian operator of the US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, 8 million Australian dollars (about 5.1 million US dollars) and ordered it to pay the fine and litigation costs within 60 days. The court found that Bit Trade failed to comply with its design and distribution obligations and operated as a credit institution without a license. The fine was lower than the 20 million Australian dollars required by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), but higher than the 4 million Australian dollars Bit Trade hoped for.