Binance Withheld Information From Regulators

According to the research, Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, withheld information from regulators and continued to grow. In a report released Friday, Reuters revealed the findings of an investigation into the regulatory compliance of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. The authors suggest a recurring pattern in which the company's CEO, Changpeng Zhao, manages an organization that, while declaring it open to government scrutiny, systematically rejects regulators' requests for financial and corporate structure information and avoids appropriate customer history checks. The findings are based on an examination of documents such as the accounts of former senior employees and advisors of Binance, as well as internal communications and confidential messages between the company and various national regulators. According to the documents, several senior employees repeatedly raised their concerns about the Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering standards in the company, but were ignored by the CEO. Additionally, the company is reportedly acting against the recommendations of its own compliance department as it continues to recruit new customers from seven countries identified as being at excessive money laundering risk. In response to Reuters' investigation, a company spokesperson said the report's findings were based on outdated or completely false information. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao later said via Twitter: “FUD. Journalists talking to people who were let go from Binance and partners that didn’t work out trying to smear us. We are focused on anti-money laundering, transparent and welcome regulation. Action speaks louder than words. Thank you for your unwavering support!”