The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance has admitted violations of money laundering laws in a settlement in the USA. Binance has to pay a fine of almost four billion euros, the previous boss Zhao has to go.
The crypto exchange Binance has pleaded guilty and accepted a fine of 4.3 billion dollars, almost four billion euros. In addition, a change at the top of the company is a prerequisite for the settlement of the proceedings.
After years of investigations by authorities, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Binance had become the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world – partly through the crimes it committed. Now it is paying one of the largest corporate fines in US history.
Violations against Money laundering laws
The US government accuses Binance of, among other things, violating money laundering laws and thereby enabling money flows to terrorists and child molesters. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Binance had enabled illegal actors to trade unhindered. “It supported child sexual abuse, illegal drugs and terrorism in more than 100,000 transactions,” said Yellen.
Binance did not comply with its reporting obligation. This also involves transactions with connections to terrorist organizations such as IS, Al-Qaeda, Islamic Jihad or the Al-Kassam Brigades, which belongs to Hamas. Binance is also said to have enabled transactions with users in countries subject to US sanctions. “Binance facilitated nearly $900 million in transactions between U.S. and Iranian users,” said Attorney General Garland.
Binance is allowed to continue operating in the USA
There were also transactions worth millions of dollars between US users and users in Syria and the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories. The $4.3 billion fine against Binance is part of a settlement that allows the crypto platform to continue operating in the US. This also means that Binance will be placed under supervision for five years.
And: The founder and previous boss Changpeng Zhao has to leave Binance. Garland said the message was clear. Using new technologies to break the law doesn’t make someone a troublemaker, but rather a criminal. Zhao wrote on the X platform, formerly Twitter, that he had made mistakes and that he had to take responsibility for them.
Boss is replaced
Binance said wrong decisions were made. Binance takes responsibility for this past chapter. Richard Teng has been appointed as the new head of the world’s largest crypto exchange. He was previously responsible for local markets.
Zhao founded Binance in 2017. The Chinese-born entrepreneur with Canadian citizenship was considered an arch-rival of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX platform, which went bankrupt a year ago.
Nina Barth, ARD Washington, tagesschau, November 22nd, 2023 4:00 a.m