Binance ceo theinformation license#

The Justice Department's 2020 letter was addressed to Binance Holdings Ltd., a company in the Cayman Islands, and to Roberto Gonzalez, a Washington-based attorney at law firm Paul, Weiss. BitMEX now says it 'fully committed to operating its business in compliance with all applicable laws' and has made 'substantial investments' in its compliance program. BitMEX agreed to pay a $100 million fine to settle separate charges for breaching the Act. That month, the founders of another exchange, BitMEX, pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and were later sentenced to up to two and a half years of probation. In February, the Justice Department established a national cryptocurrency enforcement team to 'tackle the growth of crime involving these technologies,' with a focus on exchanges. Until mid-2021, Binance customers could trade crypto by registering with just an email address.īinance disputed Reuters' findings, calling them 'outdated.' The exchange said it is 'driving higher industry standards' and seeking to 'further improve our ability to detect illegal crypto activity on our platform.' It said it did not consider Reuters' calculations of illicit fund flows to be accurate.Ĭrypto exchanges are under increasing scrutiny in the United States, where top government figures including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this year have publicly backed greater regulation of the sector. Reuters found that the gaps in Binance's compliance program enabled criminals to launder at least $2.35 billion in illicit funds through the exchange, which also served traders in Iran despite U.S.

Binance ceo theinformation license#

Born in China and educated in Canada, where he holds citizenship, Zhao told Bloomberg in March that he will be based for the 'foreseeable future' in Dubai, which that month granted Binance a license to conduct some operations.Ī series of Reuters articles this year revealed how Binance drove its explosive growth while keeping weak customer checks and withholding information from regulators. 'Binance is requested to produce all documents and materials that are responsive to this letter in its possession, custody, or control,' it said.īinance was launched by Zhao, known as CZ, in Shanghai in 2017 and as of July controlled over half of the world's crypto trading markets, processing transactions worth more than $2 trillion that month.

The letter made 29 separate requests for documents produced since 2017, covering the company's management, structure, finances, anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance, and business in the United States. A Binance spokeswoman told Bloomberg at the time, 'We take our legal obligations very seriously and engage with regulators and law enforcement in a collaborative fashion.'

The probe's existence was reported last year by Bloomberg but until now little has been known about it. The request reveals the broad scope of the U.S. A Department spokesman declined to comment. He didn't say how Binance responded to the Justice Department request. This is a standard process for any regulated organization and we work with agencies regularly to address any questions they may have.' Binance has 'an industry leading global security and compliance team' with over 500 employees, including former regulators and law enforcement agents, Hillmann added. In response to Reuters' questions about the letter and investigation, Binance Chief Communications Officer Patrick Hillmann said, 'Regulators across the globe are reaching out to every major crypto exchange to better understand our industry. Reuters could not establish how Binance and Zhao, one of the most prominent figures in the crypto sector, responded to the request from the department's criminal division. financial system from illicit finance, provides for jail terms of up to 10 years. This requires crypto exchanges to register with the Treasury Department and comply with anti-money laundering requirements if they conduct 'substantial' business in the United States. authorities, the people said, are investigating whether Binance violated the Bank Secrecy Act. financial crime laws that remains ongoing, four people familiar with the inquiry said. The December 2020 request, which has not been previously reported, was part of a Justice Department investigation into Binance's compliance with U.S. Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit