US financial regulator takes action against Binance

The US regulator CFTC has sued Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao. Financial regulators have accused the world’s largest crypto exchange of not following the rules of the US financial market and conducting certain transactions and services without the necessary authorization. Binance founder Zhao instructed employees and customers to circumvent controls “to maximize company profits”.

Among other things, the platform did not request any information from its customers to verify their identity, the CFTC said. In addition, Binance has not implemented “basic compliance procedures” against terrorist financing and money laundering. “At Binance, they have known for years that they are violating CFTC rules,” said Rostin Behnam, chief of the agency. The supervisor wants to impose fines and a trading ban.

Intensified investigations against crypto companies

Crypto companies have been targeted by US prosecutors and investigators for years. This mainly concerns illegal offers or non-compliance with regulations to prevent illegal activities. Recently, the pace of government investigations has increased significantly.

In addition, the cryptocurrency market has recently experienced several shocks. In November, for example, the cryptocurrency platform FTX, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, went bankrupt. Bankman-Fried was subsequently arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States, where he is charged with fraud, among other things.

rb/wa (AFP, dpa, Reuters)