Crypto exchange Binance expects to pay penalties to settle US investigations • TechCrunch

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, plans to pay monetary penalties to settle investigations into its activities in the United States, a senior executive has said, in a major about-face after publicly challenging the idea that it was being investigated and mocking the media who reported otherwise.

In an apparent admission of breaking the law, Binance Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann told the WSJ that the company’s executives were unfamiliar with the laws and written rules regarding bribes. wine, corruption and money laundering.

Binance is “working with regulators to determine what corrective actions we need to take now to fix this,” he said. The result could range from “like a fine” to “could be more”.

Reuters reported in December that US Justice Department prosecutors had been investigating Binance since 2018 for any breaches of US anti-money laundering laws and sanctions and were split on whether now was the right time to conclude. investigation.

Binance publicly disputed the report, alleging that Reuters was “wrong again” and “attacking our law enforcement team, a team we are incredibly proud of.”

Binance Founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao has launched a campaign on Twitter, alleging newsrooms are “still working for” FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. As usual, Zhao offered no evidence to support his claims and urged his followers to “ignore FUD”.

The change of course for Binance comes as it becomes publicly clear that all is not well for the company. The SEC told Paxos, which issues BUSD stablecoins for Binance, that it plans to take action against the company over the issuance, the WSJ reported earlier.

Earlier this week, Paxos said it had stopped issuing new BUSD tokens under the direction of the New York Department of Financial Services.