$22 million is the arbitration award Payward, the legal entity behind crypto exchange Kraken, won against accounting firm Mazars. Payward sued after Mazars abandoned a nearly finished audit during Operation Choke Point 2.0, the period in which professional service firms cut ties with crypto clients under coordinated regulatory pressure.
The mechanism: an audit left mid-stream
Payward had retained Mazars as its auditor. Mazars walked away while the work was close to done. Payward's claim did not allege the audit was performed badly. The argument rested on proximity: the engagement was nearly complete when Mazars departed, the completed work was stranded, and Payward absorbed the consequences.
Arbitrators sided with Payward. The award: $22 million.
Operation Choke Point 2.0
The term refers to the period in which professional service firms and financial institutions pulled back from digital asset clients, an exit the crypto industry characterized as coordinated regulatory pressure rather than voluntary business decisions. Mazars departed Payward's audit in that window, mid-engagement. The timing combined with the near-complete status of the work is what Payward cited as the basis for damages.
Payward pursued arbitration rather than absorbing the loss.
What the source discloses
No breakdown of the $22 million appears in available reporting. The figure is a lump arbitration award. The source names no per-engagement rate, no re-engagement cost, no component damages.
What it does name: one auditor, one abandoned engagement, one award. The audit Mazars left behind was nearly complete.