The US Justice Department is currently investigating whether Binance Holdings Ltd. was involved in allowing Russians to bypass US sanctions and transfer money via the cryptocurrency exchange. Bloomberg News reported that the Justice Department’s national security division is assessing whether Binance or its officials acted unlawfully when it came to sanctions in relation to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Binance’s Response to the Investigation
In response to the investigation, Binance released a statement to Bloomberg News saying that it complies with all US and international financial sanctions. The statement also explained that the company had recently undertaken a corporate overhaul with the aim of changing the way it operates globally.
Recent Regulatory Challenges for Binance
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has been facing increased regulatory scrutiny in recent months. In March, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao for allegedly offering unregistered crypto derivative products in the US.
Binance is also under investigation by the US Internal Revenue Service for breaching Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) controls.
Binance’s Compliance Policies
In a blog post addressing the issue of preventing and tackling crypto-based financing of terrorism, Binance stated that it takes the matter seriously and is not aware of any other financial institution that does more today to keep bad actors off their platform than Binance.
At the time of writing, Changpeng Zhao has not tweeted about the Justice Department probe. Binance has yet to comment on the investigation.
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