The world’s largest digital asset exchange, Binance, is preparing for fines and sanctions to settle pending regulatory and law enforcement investigations in the United States.
According to the WSJ on Feb. 15. report citing the firm’s Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann, Binance is working with regulators to address past compliance issues.
Hillmann stated that Binance is “working with regulators to figure out what fixes we need to go through now to fix this.”
He added that the ongoing investigations would likely result in fines, but could be more, saying “it’s up to the regulators to decide.”
Binance has been the subject of several investigations in the US, including one launched in 2018 by the Department of Justice for possible violations of anti-money laundering laws.
In March 2021, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also checked whether the company offered cryptocurrency derivatives to US clients without registering with the agency.
The Securities and Exchange Commission also launched an investigation into Binance’s US arm last February for trading firms associated with CEO Changpeng Zhao.
Hillmann added that Binance “is very confident and feels very good about where these discussions are going,” but could not specify the amount of the fines or the timing of their resolution with US regulators.
He said the lack of clarity around cryptocurrencies in America has made this a “very confusing time for us.”
The SEC recently escalated what industry observers are calling the “cryptocurrency war,” which appears to be targeting certain betting services and stablecoins that it believes are subject to securities laws.
Referring to recent enforcement activity, the Binance executive said that this “will have a really deep and lasting deterrent effect in the United States.”
Bad day for Binance due to SEC investigation and Reuters exposure
Earlier this week, regulators in New York cracked down on Paxos, preventing it from issuing more Binance-branded BUSD stablecoin.
Last week, US-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken was fined $30 million and ordered to suspend its staking services following SEC enforcement action.
Patrick Hillmann concluded that resolving issues with US regulators would benefit the firm and its future.
“This will be a good moment for our company because it will allow us to put everything behind us.”
Binance declined to provide any further comment on the matter.
Credit : cointelegraph.com
