Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is under investigation by the United States Department of Justice for potentially enabling Russian citizens to evade US sanctions. This investigation is in addition to recent regulatory difficulties encountered by Binance, including a recent complaint from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Binance under DOJ investigation
According to exclusive information from Bloomberg, the United States Department of Justice is currently investigating Binance to determine whether the cryptocurrency exchange platform has allowed some Russian citizens to circumvent US sanctions.
The existence of this investigation was revealed by 5 people “close to the file” who wished to remain anonymous given the confidential nature of the matter. This information, however, echoes the recent news that Russian citizens were once again able to top up their Binance account with rubles.
Binance had started to apply a set of sanctions against its Russian users in April 2022, as demanded by the Western coalition because of the Ukrainian conflict. These sanctions aimed in particular to prevent deposits and transactions on Binance for any Russian citizen who would hold the equivalent of more than 10,000 euros on the exchange.
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Binance, preferred target of regulators
This investigation by the United States Department of Justice comes on top of previous difficulties encountered by the Changpeng Zhao platform with various regulators.
Recently, it was the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) which filed a complaint against Binance and its CEO for several facts, in particular for having allowed its American customers to carry out transactions in derivatives on raw materials. The platform’s CEO later spoke publicly to respond to the accusations, highlighting the platform’s strict compliance protocol.
In addition, according to a statement sent by Binance to Bloomberg, the company would have greatly improved its legal structure internationally these last years :
“In 2021, Binance launched an initiative to completely overhaul its corporate governance structure, including bringing in a group of seasoned, world-class executives to fundamentally change the way Binance operates globally. […] Our policy is zero tolerance for duplicate registrations, anonymous identities and obscure sources of money. »
Among internal Binance messages from 2021 revealed by the CFTC, some individuals in key positions at the company allegedly acknowledged that some of their customers were there “ for the crime “, before adding ” we see evil, but we close our eyes “.
However, the company would have closed all of its regulatory loopholes last February.according to Patrick Hillman, the exchange’s chief strategy officer.
👉 Related – Crypto exchanges: Israel seizes 190 Binance accounts affiliated with Hamas and Islamic State
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Source: Bloomberg
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Passionate about the world of decentralized finance and the novelties brought by Web 3.0, I write articles for Cryptoast to help make blockchain more accessible to everyone. Convinced that cryptocurrencies will change the future very soon.
Maximilien Prue
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