Crypto exchange Binance is expected to pay a fine to US authorities to resolve regulatory and law enforcement investigations into its past conduct, its chief strategy officer reportedly said. When Binance began operations, the executive explained, the company was unfamiliar with the rules it had to comply with in the United States.
Binance plans to settle with U.S. regulators
Patrick Hillman, chief strategy officer at Binance, revealed Wednesday that the cryptocurrency exchange expects to pay a fine to settle an existing U.S. regulatory and law enforcement investigation, The Wall Street Journal reported.
He explained that in the early days, Binance was unfamiliar with the legal framework and regulations in the U.S. to mitigate the risk of bribery, corruption, money laundering and economic sanctions.
The Binance executive said that the crypto exchange is currently working with regulators to identify potential “remedies” that the company will have to go through “to make amends” for past conduct. He expects the outcome to be a fine, but cautioned that there could be more. ‘We don’t know yet. That’s for the regulators to decide,” he stressed.
Several U.S. authorities are reportedly investigating Binance. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly investigating the crypto exchange for violations of U.S. money laundering laws. According to reports, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating the company overBNBcrypto tokens while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating whether Binance offered cryptocurrency derivatives to U.S. clients without registration.
While noting that he could not estimate the size of the fine or when Binance might reach a resolution with U.S. authorities, Binance’s chief strategy officer said his company “feels very confident and really good about where those discussions are going.” He also expressed his He opined.
It will be a good moment for our company because we can put it behind us.
Hillmann noted that it has been a “very confusing time” for Binance to understand the expectations of U.S. regulators and oversight of the crypto sector; Binance is currently unavailable to U.S. investors, and the company has been unable to provide a crypto exchange for more than a year. However, the crypto exchange has a partner platform serving U.S. crypto traders called Binance US, a separate entity operated by BAM Trading Services.
Recently, the SEC has taken action against several crypto companies, including Kraken for its staking program, Paxos for its issuance of the stablecoin Binance USD (BUSD), and Terraform Labs for defrauding investors.
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