The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange is preparing to pay a fine to address existing U.S. regulators and law enforcement investigations into its business as U.S. regulators “closer and closer” to Binance, the Wall Street Journal reported .
Binance Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that the exchange has grown rapidly, starting as a business driven by software engineers unfamiliar with the laws and rules developed to address risks of bribery, money laundering and economic sanctions. , the company has struggled to fill gaps in its early compliance efforts, but still expects regulators to fine it for past conduct.
Hillmann mentioned in the interview that Binance expects to face fines and is “working with regulators to figure out what remedial steps we have to take now to make up for (past violations).”
U.S. regulatory scrutiny of Binance has intensified following the collapse of rival FTX last November, but in fact Binance has been under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington since 2018, according to Reuters . investigation. The U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly issued subpoenas to at least two trading firms in recent months, demanding records of their past transactions with Binance US.
Reuters reported in December that U.S. federal authorities were still discussing a possible settlement with Binance and assessing whether the evidence they had gathered was sufficient to bring charges against the exchange and several individuals, including its chief executive, Changpeng Zhao. It is reported that the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating Binance for possible violations of U.S. anti-money laundering laws. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has also been investigating whether Binance offered cryptocurrency derivatives trading to U.S. customers without properly registering with the CFTC.
Hillmann declined to estimate the amount of the fine or a timeline for the conclusion of the investigation, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, he added that he was very confident that those discussions would progress.